Modern Technology has its Perils!

Here is an email I sent to a customer this morning, after he had to twice ask me for some information.  My lack of attention to him is not a very good example of the level of customer service to which he is entitled.


Good morning Scott-----

I am sorry for not responding. I have been on the road so much that I have lost track of what I need to do, such as answering your questions.

We do take Visa and MasterCard. Lead time depends a bit on item chosen, but will range from two days to two weeks. All molding and machining is done in our factory, so we are able to control maximum lead time.

J______ H_____, copied above, is our Customer Service and Marketing Manager and will be in the office except for the first week of March. I will be gone for the next ten days, so for a more responsive (and more responsible?) person, please put us both on your emails.

Again, I apologize.

Regards,

Rich Borglum
Sent from my Android tablet


Modern technology is wonderful. But when you move between office computer, home computer, tablet, and smart phone, even though they are all synched (supposedly), it is easy to lose track of where you are at.


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Taking a step backwards

Last week we had an important customer who asked me to send a price quotation for some products.  Within two hours and several interruptions of receiving his email, I hit "send", happy that I had been able to get it done the morning of his request.  
 
I went on about my day, without seeing that email that my quote had "bounced back" with a message that "The Internet Community" rejected it because something within my message matched a "spam profile".

Fast forward 27 hours to when our customer called asking where the quote was at.  He was understsndably concerned because he needed it to complete a project and put closure on his week.

I tried a bunch of tricks, including sending a jpg screen shot of the message, sending from a different address, changing the subject,  etc, etc.  I  even posted it to this blog and tried to give him the blog address.  I panicked.  I am was on the phone with the customer three times leting him know that I was trying.


I will be scrubbing the egg from my face for a couple more days. It is egg that immediately ran there when he suggested to me that "Rich, maybe you should take a step backwards in technology and use the fax."  Done.  Problem solved!



How often do we all need to take a step back and remember that the old ways still have merit and a place in our world.



Our flagship product, foam markers for agricultural sprayers, has been largely replaced by GPS based guidance systems.  Yet, we continue to sell a lot of units of our "foam based" systems because commercial spraying businesses remember that sometimes  new technology  (GPS)  fails and you need a fallback technology.  We have made that the center of our whole marketing plan for 15 years.  

Guess I forgot my own "wisdom".

Thanks A.G.

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Sales Success Statistics

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
12% of sales people make more than three contacts
2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

I don't know where these "statistics" came from or how accurate they are.  A few minutes searching with Google found a number of websites taking credit for them.

But----- one thing I do know is that persistence is critical in making the sales.  In the past I have asked two people what they had learned after they left Richway and went into business for themselves as fully commission based sales people.  They both said "persistence."  And they were good -no, excellent- sales people when here at Richway.  But faced with having to "sell to eat" they became even better because they became more persistent!


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The part of the pompous ass was played by himself

Recently I sat across the table from an acquaintance during a luncheon.  I have known him for over 40 years, though I have seen him infrequently.  In his younger days, he was always overly convinced of his own importance to the world.   He proved again the statement I have made for several years:  “As we age we become caricatures of ourselves.”

For all of us near him, he went into detail about his many accomplishments, including his involvement with religion.  He was “the head of the whole southern part of the state informal bible study group”, among other things and had “been to a study breakfast already this morning!”

The irony of this was that as he was talking he gulped down two cocktails and said he would have more but they were “too weak” and he might as well drink water. I am sure those were not his first two.

I am not opposed to drinking and drink myself, but there was something terribly incongruent in his behavior.

Later, after leaving, I decided he was the perfect character for a stage play in which:   “The part of the pompous ass was played by himself.”

Circumstances have been changed somewhat from reality to protect me from retribution.
 

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Eagles and Artists

We have been lucky to have become acquainted with two superb artists this fall, one in Florida and the other right here in Janesville, Iowa.  Both specialize in carving, but from what I have seen are talented in other media as well.   I have seen drawings, paintings, etc from both of them.  

Here is a life sized eagle carved from a log by Terry Dengler of Janesville.  This was commissioned by my wife as a Christmas gift for me.  I am most pleased, as you might guess by reading my blog post of two weeks ago.  I am not happy with my photo, as it does not really capture the piece very well. 

To the right is a Tiki which Mike Bryan of Palm Bay, Florida carved for us and we gave to one of our daughters for Christmas.  Again, the photo is not the best.

Both Mike and Terry are experimenting with a new carving medium right now and I will let you know about it within a few weeks.    Oh yeah, for big pieces like these, they do most of their work with a chainsaw!

Below is an eagle in a tree across the river from my house, which I photographed a few days ago using Canon SX50 which has a 50X optical zoom.  A tripod is a necessity.

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It is Christmas, not just a holiday!

OPINION:   Below is a response I yesterday sent to a friend who was attempting to be "politically correct" by wishing me a "happy holiday" at the conclusion of an email.

 

Please do not use the term “holiday” when we all know that it is Christmas that we are celebrating.  All those “nattering nabobs” who call it a holiday rather than acknowledging the real reason (and denying prayer and everything else) need to NOT take the holiday off and not be paid for it, etc.  It is Christmas, dammit, not just a holiday!    Those who are offended by calling it what it is, need to get over it, rather than the rest of us denying it so we don’t upset them.  BTW, I’ll bet we are in the majority.   Thanks for reading my mini-rant!

-----rich

Braden responded "Haha. I love it and couldn't agree anymore!  I love it! Merry Christmas and take care Rich!

  

If "nattering nabobs" is not familiar to you, yo can "Google it" and learn about Spiro Agnew, a former Vice-President of the United States. 

Follow-up:
Six hours after I posted above, I read a piece "Huckabee weighs in on Duck Dynasty" controversy.  l have never watched Duck Dynasty, though I know the story of the Robertson family and the bios of at some of the family members.  Thus I had not paid much attention to the firestorm of controversy during the past week.  

Suddenly, I have realized that I have "done a Phil" by expressing my personal opinion, even though it conflicts with the view of what is probably a minority of our population.  But what a loud and vocal bunch they are!  There will be no sanctions against me, but we must all be able to express our opinion without fear of retribution.

That is a central core of the foundation of our country!

Click here to read the Huckabee story from CBS News.com

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The Eyes of the Eagle

I have been fascinated by bald eagles for quite some time.  Ten years ago, when designing our new house, I did not want the overhang on the back porch (overlooking the river) to be too great so "I would be able to see the eagles."  Mission accomplished.  In the winter, when the leaves are gone from the trees, we see eagles nearly every day.  In the summer, we only see eagles when we are not under the trees.

My college friend, Burt, and his wife Marilyn, "retired to Iowa" after 40 years in the Dallas area. (They are both Iowa natives, with family here, including their daughter.)  They live very near the Mississippi River and Burt spends time every winter photographing eagles, primarily near Lock & Dam 14.  Over the last few years, he has sent me some great eagle pictures, but this one may be the best.  It appeared in my email on Friday the 13th (of December).  It is with his permission that I publish it.  After a career as a software developer, he has become an advanced photographer and eagle expert.  The eyes on the original that he sent me really caught my attention, especially when I enlarged it on my tablet.

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40 years of Richway

Yesterday we had a luncheon at Richway to celebrate 40 years of Richway.  At the end, I was asked if I had anything I would like to say.  Me being me, I did.

I went through a brief history, which actually started 41 years ago this month (December) in a two car garage and my basement and in a few minutes took us to the present day with some of the "physical" things.  But, as I explained, that is not the history that is most relevant.  The most relevant history is about people.  There are lots of people who have contributed to our forty years.  Some from the past and some are still part of Richway.  It is all these people who helped us establish "what we are" for our customers.  I recalled groups of people working until 2 or 3 or later in the morning to complete a rush order for a customer (this happened several times), people working New Years Eve to meet our customer's needs, and other examples of "busting butt" for our customers.  We rather routinely went beyond what our customers expected and we still do. 

In return for all that people have given to Richway, we have tried to give something back.  A sense of belonging and contributing to something.  The opportunity to go home at night knowing that they have been appreciated and that their ideas and thoughts have validity.  I have often said that we give people a lot of rope; they can hang themselves or swing just like in a great big swing.  They can laugh and have fun.  It is important to laugh and have fun at work.  We have tried to give opportunities for a sense of accomplishment, self worth, and job satisfaction.  We have not always been successful, but that has been the goal.

Finally, I told them that if you read my blog (this one) you would see recurring themes:  Success takes hard work.  The importance of customer service.  And lastly the story from my mother that has been a guiding principle for me:  To succeed you must do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and you must do it regardless of whether you want to do it or not.


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We bust ours to keep you on schedule!

Thanksgiving Remembered

I am posting this on Thanksgiving Day.   It is easy to lose track of all that we have to be thankful for, but our abundance is overwhelming.  It reminds me also of my post from July 13, 2013, in which I noted that there are two types of people:

1. Those who are thankful for all that they have, regardless of how little "all" may be.

2. Those who are unhappy because of what they don't have, regardless of how much they do have.


At the time I wrote, "Most of us know which is our own predominant 'type'"  but I am not so sure about that.  I suspect the thankful know themselves, but the others may not recognize themselves for what they are.

Click to read about the first Thanksgiving  which was celebrated by the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower. 

I am a Mayflower Descendent, from Richard Warren.   My maternal grandmother did a lot of genealogy research in the 1950's and 1960's to complete an extensive family tree.    But, The Mayflower Society notes on their website that "Today, tens of millions of Americans have at least one ancestor who was among this group of early settlers."  Thus, being a "Mayflower Descendent" is not really such a big deal.

CLICK HERE to read about Richard Warren      from Wikipedia



   


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Happiness is Positive Cash Flow

This slogan was from Boardroom Reports, a business newsletter to which I subscribed for many years.  "Watch the cash" became sort of a mantra for me by necessity, because a lot of times there was not any too much.  Frederick Adler was the author of a book by the same name (which I never bought) which was published by Boardroom Reports.  I did not buy the tee shirt either, but I did buy  the concept. The founder of Boardroom Reports recently died. The original newsletter is no longer published.


No matter how much profit you are making (on paper), if you do not have positive cash flow, sooner or later you will be in trouble.

 

This is an original 1982 tee shirt

The Janesville volleyball team won the State Championship in Class 1A last Friday evening.  My Congratulations to them. Coach Shelly Sorensen attributes it, in part, to hard work on the team's part which began when the current seniors were in fourth grade.  I have been planning a "Secrets of a Master Coach" post for a number of months and this makes it even more compelling.  Whatever all the reasons are, it points out once again:  

Success takes hard work!     

(By both the team and the coaches).

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Errors -- Errors -- Errors

Every time I decide to read back through old entries to this blog, I find errors.  Many of my regular readers have probably already spotted them, but said nothing.  Just today I removed a "before" where I had a "before before" and changed "morale" to "moral" (as in the moral of the story).  There are more, I am sure.

That is why I usually asked someone to proofread important things before I considered them final.  (They usually found errors too)  Most of the time, I know better, but it is hard to proofread your own work, at least for me.

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BTW      US Senator Chuck Grassley  sometimes uses   -30-  in his website, especially if he is publishing a Senate Floor speech he has made.

You have every right to complain

about bad customer service.

And a huge obligation to compliment good customer service!

 

When our children were growing up, I used to tell them this often.  And much to their chagrin (or worse) I demonstrated what I meant.
  
It embarrassed them when I complained and they did not realize that few other people bothered to compliment good service.

Not infrequently, I would go into a restaurant kitchen, seeking a manager, so I could tell them about good service or good food.  Once, I even asked a server to bring the chef out to the table.  She agreed, not quite knowing why.  When he arrived, I told him my Grouper Escabeche was excellent and gave him a $10 tip for my $25 meal.  I figured the chef seldom gets to hear directly when his creation has excited a customer in a positive way, but they need to hear it.  (If a customer is unhappy, the chef may get it back in the kitchen for some sort of "rework.")  Later, the server confided that the chef was her boyfriend of some three years and he had never had that kind of compliment. [BTW .. I still go into kitchens.]

Over the years, my wife and I have sent letters to hotels and motels praising extraordinary service, sought out and thanked store managers for special help received from someone on the floor, and thanked people directly for their attentiveness or going beyond doing only "what is expected."  

More and more, we are becoming a service economy.  Even for us who make products, our service, more than any other thing, will set us apart from our competitors! 

 

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Colonoscopy

I originally started this post while "recovering" from a colonoscopy earlier earlier that day.   If you have not had one and you are over 55 or 60, you should!  I had my first one six years ago and polyps were discovered and removed. Three years ago, another colonoscopy and more polyps.  Thus, I have just had another, with you guessed it, more polyps, which were removed.

These were flat polyps, "so come back in one year!"  Flat polyps are more difficult to detect and remove, so having a skilled, diligent, and experienced physician is especially important.  Flat polyps are more dangerous that other types, so they are tracked more closely. 

Entrepreneurs , lawyers and doctors all seem to have a level of belief about their invincibility and hence put off such screening tests as colonoscopies.  I have a friend, a lawyer, who does "not want anybody messing around with putting any chemicals into me which will affect my brain" and thus he will not consider a colonoscopy, even though he is over 65.

I once had a doctor tell me that he believed doctors had an "extremely high and unhealthy level of feeling of invincibility   ---  just like lawyers, and entrepreneurs, (including farmers)."

You have to believe strongly in yourself in lots of careers!!!!!!!!

But no matter what your level of self perceived invincibility,    

GET A COLONOSCOPY.

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Customer Service at (insert your favorite store here)

My wife is hard to fit for clothing.  She is skinny.  Thus she has a hard time finding clothes that are small enough.

In our metro area we have two Buckle stores.  (They cater mostly to younger people who are more likely to be smaller, though they have a wide range of sizes) 

My wife usually goes to store "C" where they are always friendly and helpful.  A couple of days ago, she went to store "W" because she was in that area.  She told them the size jeans she was looking for.  Most of the staff was disinterested, but not busy.  One person said "we don't have that, but how would you like to try on" a larger size.  My wife said no, that would be too large.  So the salesperson tried again with the larger size idea, because "I know we have that size."  No one made an effort to look for the waist size my wife asked for.  Frustrated, to say the least, she left.

At store "C" she was greeted near the door by a salesperson who asked, (with enthusiasm) how she could be helped.  She told the person the size and style of jeans she needed.  The person (college aged) asked her name and then said to a couple of other staff members who were not busy "Karen is looking for waist size "X", can you help find some."  The store was abuzz with activity.  They found some and Karen bought them and passed out compliments to staff members in  the process. 

That is why she keeps going back to the Buckle in the College Square Mall.

She has talked before of their customer service and I have observed myself the level of attention and service at the College Square store.  We had assumed it was a corporate culture, but now I think it may be a local store manager more than a corporate culture.

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I struck a nerve

Special mid-week post

I have had lots of comments about last Friday's car dealership piece.  Most of them were about the "air of superiority" and "arrogance" of car sales people.  One person told me of a saleswoman for a dealership that grew from a modest building into a larger new and fancy building.  The ego and demeanor of the saleswoman seemed to grow worse even faster, so my reader stopped even trying to buy from her.  I suspect that maybe she was given a choice of becoming "big dealer like" in her sales approach or leaving the company.

Others mentioned that they, too, had a "good" purchasing experience at a smaller dealership at some point in the past.  One even told of a good experience at a big high volume dealership.  One lady said she rather liked the games and deal-making.  I should add that she is a very effective purchasing manager for her company.

A couple commented about car salesmen they knew on and off the job  --- and the difference in personalities they exhibited both places.


Following are two direct quotes from people who are professional salesmen and have been for some time.


"Buying a car is THE worst... My experience like yours has been most of these guys are incompetent hacks hiding behind their arrogant facade."

"Right on!  I have often felt in the years of car buying experience the feeling that we weren’t good enough to buy a vehicle from the dealership we visited.  Always made sure that I was nicely dressed, clean shaven and had deodorant on.  Did not seem to make a difference."  

I once looked at a used flat-bed equipment trailer at a dealership near here.  When I noted that the frame was rather badly rusted, the salesman replied:  "If the next guy does not notice that, it will be his problem, not ours, as soon as he pulls it off the lot."  The salesman was the son of the owner!!!!    I have never visited that dealership again in 15 years. 

So there you have it folks.  It seems fairly universal, especially in the larger dealerships. 

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