Loyal beyond reason

Here is the post that I have been meaning to get to. I hope I can give it justice from all of the jumble in my brain. My point is to emphasize the importance of customer service from both and employee and client perspective. At my new job at the St. Regis, we had a training about being 'loyal beyond reason.'  


To give a little background/exercise, our presentor asked us, "What brand are you loyal to beyond reason?" I liked this example most so I will use it. Someone said "Starbucks." You know that everytime you go to Starbucks, you will get an amazing drink. If you get a yucky drink, you will most likely still return to Starbucks at another time to get another drink and you will give them another try. Now, how much would it cost you to make a cup of coffee? A teaspoon of beans costs (wholesale) about twenty-cents. So, add your twenty-cent coffee to the price of a cup and any extra add-ins, and you're paying about $1 for your product. Does Starbucks charge $1 for coffee? No. So, what are you paying for? Are you really paying for the coffee, or are you paying for the experience of going to Starbucks? Why don't you take your $5 and get your coffee at the local coffee shop that is closer to your house? You then come to realize that it isn't just about the cup of coffee, that it has to do with more than that-- the ambiance, the service, the experience! Now, what do we love so much about Starbucks?  


People have 5 human needs: We want to feel like we belong, we want to feel special, we want to feel in control, we want to be understood, and we want to reach our potential.  


Is Starbucks not meeting most of these needs? WE BELONG: they call us by name to hand deliver our coffee. FEEL SPECIAL: they make that cup of coffee how ever we want it, and it's made just for us! CONTROL: We tell them how we want it, and we expect it quickly and it is delivered as expected in quality and speed. UNDERSTOOD: If I want my drink a certain way, I make sure that they know it, no matter how complicated it is; after all it is MY drink- they'd better get it right. You can see how much more complex and complicated a cup of coffee has become. Though we may not recognize these steps consciously every time we go, we do think about these things. We trust Starbucks. You are loyal to them beyond reason. When I leave Starbucks, do I remember my cup of coffee and how much it costs, or do I remember the experience/interactions that I had there?  


This concept works at any company that you love. That company that you are loyal to beyond reason should work as hard as they can to meet some of your human needs. On the flip side, as an employee, how are your needs being met? How is your company working with you to understand you, make you feel like you belong and that you're special, etc...? What are you doing to meet your customer's 5 needs? Is the customer going to remember what they ate or bought for dinner? Probably not. But will they remember if you did something to exceed their expectations? Absolutely. Even more importantly, will they remember if something negative happened to them? Yes. They are more likely to remember and share a negative experience than a positive one.  


A customer at a hotel had an issue, and in a hurried attempt to "solve the problem" the manager hand wrote a note and gave him a bottle of wine. The customer was still upset because he wasn't being "understood," just "dealt" with. He was a recovering alcoholic and in the quick attempt to go from "problem" to "solution" his needs were not being met.  


I really like this whole concept of human needs and loyalty, because it does work both ways- employee & customer. Happy employees = happy customers, and vice-versa. After having this training, I could immediately tell a difference in my demeanor as I went to my second job 2 hours later. I could tell I was more friendly and helpful than I usually was after working an 8-hour shift followed by a 4-hour shift. The other cool thing is to look at the brands that you are loyal to (Nike, Adidas, Gap, Costco, Starbucks, Burton, etc…) and to see how you are paying for the name, the experience, and the human needs and that you’re not just buying a cup of coffee.

Here's what's coming...

I have this really great post to post; however, I know that it will take me at least 2 hours to fully give it the justice that it needs, so in the mean time, be prepared. It is full of thought and depth, and it really makes you think and reflect.

Calling card

Calling cards... I always thought it was funny when my mom used this term. No, I'm not talking about a prepaid calling card so you can call anywhere in the U.S. for just 2 cents a minute. I'm talking about what someone leaves behind to let you know they were there. The Joker, for example, left a joker card behind so people would know who's handy work to admire (admire or clue-in Batman?). Regardless, you see this happen with a lot of villains now days in movies. My point is, that I'm housesitting for my parents right now and watching their black lab, Dozer. Dozer is big. Dozer left a "calling card" this morning. Both dogs seemed fine last night, and both dogs seemed fine this morning when Brenan took them out. However, Brenan can't see at 6:30 in the morning since he doesn't put his contacts in. He can smell things though. 2 and 2 were not adding up, so he put in his contacts, and came back upstairs with some disparaging news. Dozer left us a calling card... How do we know it was Dozer? Well, compare a pug to a lab and you'll understand why. So apparently poor Dozey was sick last night. All three types of sick. Nothing stayed in. Nothing. Now, I'm not trying to gross anyone out, but rather simply trying to set up the debacle of cleaning such a mess without paper towels, napkins, or gloves (because there were NONE of these in the house). Problem number three- My parents are in Arizona at my sister's wedding which, at this point, started in 30 minutes. So we frantically are calling them trying to find something...ANYTHING to clean the mess with. Our solution? A dust pan, a tupperware lid, garbage can, toilet, toilet paper, 409, and Lysol. It was no easy task. We were gagging and luckily, we hadn't eaten breakfast yet, or there would have been bigger problems. So, remember, next time you're watching a dog, make sure its owners didn't leave Halloween candy at dog level and you will have a happy dog.

Halloween!

This is our second Halloween together, but this was the first time that we celebrated together. I spent last Halloween working until Midnight at the slave factory (Melaleuca's call center). After work we popped on over to my parents for a "halloween party." We were the only adults that were dressed up...

Walter, our pirate

  

Close up of the costume

Brenan & I; the wrestler and the zombie bride

Carson (our cousin) was octo...something. The villain from Spiderman...

Notice all of the adults in the background are NOT dressed up.

Family photo :)

Yes, Walter did get a hold of Halloween candy and yes, he did sneeze chocolate all over my wedding dress. My REAL wedding dress...not a costume.

On a side note, I got a gift bag from my aunt for my birthday which included some Ralph Lauren lotion (yum), some Bath & Body Works hand soap, and some Estee Lauder lipstick. Yes, lipstick. I am finally (and reluctantly) overcoming my... hesitancy ?/ fear of wearing lipstick.

80's classics to whistle to while you work

Today I was cleaning the house- both of my parents taught me how to clean from an early age. Though I didn't live with my dad for a long time, I remember him harping on my step bro/sis when they were little to clean their rooms, clean the kitchen, etc... The only thing I remember as a child was him telling me to clean my room, only to send my sister up with me to help (I think we shared a room). So as you can imagine, a 3-5 year-old won't clean as well as a 10-12 year-old; and I can remember my sister (Amanda) always putting on music so that we would clean quicker. "The faster the music, the faster we clean". Today I thought about that as I was neurotically cleaning the kitchen. If only I had had some awesome late eighties music to jam to i.e. Madonna, Boyz II Men, Debbie Gibson, New Kids on the Block, MC Hammer, and Vanilla Ice. Ice Ice Baby! If you were born in the late seventies to the mid-eighties, you will know exactly what I'm talking about! Next time you are cleaning and need some motivation, pop in some old tunes on your i-pod or computer and clean away :)

Pumpkin carving/decorating, round 1

Today, we (and by "we" I mean "I") carved our first of two pumpkins. A while ago I found dog patterns in the Better Homes & Gardens for October. Needless to say, I got online and downloaded the pug pattern. I didn't realize how over-my-head I was in carving this, but I gave it my best shot.













These are the white pumpkins that I painted bats on. The idea is to hang them from stakes or ceiling/roof so that they are suspended in air. Unfortunately I don't have any stakes, and I don't have any string to hang them with, so they are sitting on our porch wall.

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Happy Birthday?

My birthday this year snuck up on me. I didn't really have time to prepare. Even birthday week was...lacking, to say the least. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday- work. WORK ON MY BIRTHDAY! Ugh. Friday night, for my birthday, I wanted to play Nintendo, original Nintendo. Brought it home, went to set it up and...NO POWER CORD! My hopes and dreams were squashed. Brenan is sick, so I didn't work with him today (and if he would have been there, the day really would have been about 100x better than it was). To make work worse, people (customers) as a whole were kind of rude/snooty to me all day.  So, later I went and bought myself lunch (alone) and as I was walking back to work, the bag broke and it all fell on the pavement (while splattering sauce all over my shoes and pants)! Grrr... I need to preface my next story: at Banana Republic, we ask every customer if they want to sign up for a Banana Republic credit card. Every day/week/month we have goals we need to meet for signing people up. If you don't sign anyone up, you get put on a "naughty list". So, needless to say, I ask everyone even though it puts me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes we get rewards from our managers or our district people for signing people up.
Today, as I was ringing someone up (like, I was about to ask them if they wanted a card since they were spending so much) my manager came over and asked my customer if they wanted to sign up for a card. They said yes, and she took the credit!!! IT WAS MY CUSTOMER!! It should have been my card! The nerve.
No one at work even knew it was my birthday until I said something near the end of my shift. In their defense, one of my managers did go buy me a frozen yogurt and made me a card before I left. 15 minutes before I left. And Brenan did clean up the house while he was home and made me dinner. Now we're watching TBS, "very funny". That is my birthday celebration. TBS.

No cake, no ice cream, happy birthday.