Power to the People!
While I was pumping my gas the other day, I noticed an advertisement sign sitting on the top of the gas pump. The sign said that if all Americans would keep their tires inflated to the proper pressure, as recommended by the manufacturer, we could collectively save 700 million gallons of gasoline per year. The sign was an advertisement for ExxonMobile tire linersthat are intended to help reduce the amount of air lost through the tire. While I found the concept intriguing, it wasn’t the first thing that popped into my head as I read the sign.
There I was, standing outside of my car waiting for the gas to finish pumping. I read the sign and was suddenly motivated to make sure that my tires were properly inflated. I looked around and noticed one small problem; the very moment, at which I was motivated to act, I was not empowered to act. I looked around and spotted the air compressor, far away on the other side of the parking lot in an area that is not well lit. My heart sunk. See, I know myself well enough to know that my likelihood of acting on my impulse goes down considerably with time. I was stuck there waiting for the gas to finish pumping, with the time to inflate my tires, and couldn’t do it. So what happened? I got in my car, drove out of the parking lot and didn’t think about my tire pressure again that day.
You may think I am strange for not taking the time to go over to that air compressor and check my tire pressure, but am I really any different than everyone else? I’ve never seen a line at the air station. Actually, the only time I ever see anyone at the air station is when they have an obviously flat tire. Why is this? We all know that driving on under inflated tires is bad for fuel economy, tire life, and possibly a safety hazard and yet we rarely if ever check our tire pressure and make sure it is where it is supposed to be. I believe the problem is just as I described above; at the very moment in time which I was motivated to act and had the time to act, I was not empowered to act.
So what is the solution? My proposal is simple – make compressed air with a tire gauge available at each fuel pump. That way, I can check and adjust all of my tire pressures while I am waiting for my gas to finish pumping. Empower the people to make a change at the exact time and location where they are motivated to do it!
I don’t own a gas station so I can’t say why they don’t do this today but I’d bet if asked, most would point to the underutilization of the one air station they have today as justification for not buying 15 more of them. Why buy 15 of an item that only gets used 2% of the time? Maybe we are looking at it all wrong. Maybe the reason it is only utilized 2% of the time is because we put it in a place that is so inconvenient to use that people will only use it when they absolutely have to (about 2% of the time). I would be willing to bet if a gas station were to invest in the installation of compressed air at each gas pump, the utilization rate would be much higher.
This post is not just about gas stations and properly inflated tires, but rather about empowering your people to act at the right time and proper location.
If you own a factory, think of these questions…
How many brooms and dust pans are in your factory?
How far does the average worker have to walk to get a broom and dust pan?
How much cleaner could your factory be if every place where a worker ran into a mess on the floor, magically there was a broom and dust pan within arm’s reach?
How much cleaner would your factory be if you empowered your people to clean at the very moment when they felt motivated to do so?
Think of how many times we do this in our own lives. How many times do we walk over some mess because there isn’t a convenient vacuum around to clean it up? How many times do we drive on underinflated tires because there isn’t a convenient air station to use? How many times do you improvise and try to pry open a can of paint with a screw driver because there isn’t a convenient can opener within reach? How many times do we not do what we are motivated to do, because we are not empowered to do it at that very moment?
Too many times!
It’s time to start making a difference in our own lives. Empower ourselves and our people to act. Next time you are out buying a broom, buy two or three. Place them in strategic locations that are likely to have a mess. If you own a gas station, invest in more air compressors and see if they get used more (you would not only be helping the American people save fuel but would also be setting your gas station apart from all of the other gas stations around). If you are in the customer service industry, empower your employees to go above and beyond for your customers whenever they feel motivated to do so. This small investment in resources will create huge returns in customer satisfaction.
Let’s all start making a difference by empowering our people to act when they are motivated to do so.
Good luck and feel free to share your story if you have experienced a change in behavior due to empowerment.
Service Worthy of a Treat
In today’s world of blogging, there seems to be much more complaining about poor products and services than there is praising good products and services. I think it’s important for us to recognize great service so we can learn from it just as we do with the more commonly discussed examples of poor service. So, here is a recent experience I had.
A few months ago my wife and I went overseas for a European/Middle-eastern vacation lasting over two weeks. This meant that leading up to the trip there was a lot to plan for, which for the most part was fun. We researched a lot on the internet and we figured out what we wanted to see and experience in the different cities and countries we were going to visit. Unfortunately, there were other things we needed to consider while we were planning the trip. We had to think about not just our vacation, but who would watch our house and even our dog. We have an Old English Sheepdog (think Shaggy Dog), named LaFleur, who at the time was just 9 months old. If you’ve had a puppy, especially of a larger breed, you know they have to somehow spend a lot of energy. LaFleur is certainly no exception. He can be a lot to handle and we knew it would be too much to ask of any of our friends to take care of him for the entire duration of our trip.
One option available to us was to let LaFleur stay at a place called Canine College where we occasionally take him for ‘daycare’. Taking him here is great because while we’re at work or busy with other plans on the weekend, he gets to play with plenty of other dogs which he loves. We love it too since it usually wears him out so much that after we pick him up he becomes very low maintenance because he’s so tired! And if our plans mean that he needs a place to stay overnight –they have boarding for the dogs as well. They get their own ‘dorm rooms’ to sleep in and everything (and no, it’s not a cage). In our experience, the people at Canine College have always been great with their customers (us) and their ‘students’ (the dogs) too.
The idea of leaving LaFleur at Canine College for two-plus weeks made us a bit nervous mostly because he had never stayed there more than 24 hours. Still, we decided to do it. When we left LaFleur there, we knew that he would have fun and be able to wear himself out every day (which meant he wouldn’t be chewing up a friend’s shoes). Still, when we dropped him off the morning before we left on our trip, it was tough. We doubted if we were doing the right thing. When we left him there, we left my parents’ names and number in case they needed to contact anyone while we were away. We hoped LaFleur would last the whole trip there and that they wouldn’t need to call my parents at all, especially since my mom isn’t much of a dog person. But if that was the case, this whole story would be far less interesting.
Three days later we’re on a bus in Malta and we get a phone call from Canine College. Between the cell reception and the noise of the bus, it was difficult to hear what was being said at the other end of the line. Sure enough the call dropped… There we were in Malta enjoying our vacation and now suddenly we’re just worried. It must be bad if they’re calling us. They had my parents’ cell phone numbers. Something must really be wrong with LaFleur. Through my mom, we got back in touch with them and addressed the concern. Turns out his fur got pretty matted down and tangled which meant they had to cut some of the tangles out. We were having him brushed every two days or so to prevent this –but when he’s outside playing (especially in the snow), it can get bad fast. They were simply calling us prior to cutting his hair because he might look a little different and they wanted to make sure that was ok with us. This would be his shortest hair cut yet. But they took care of it with our approval knowing it would be best for him to stay comfortable.
Next issue: About a week or so later, he runs out of food. Turns out he eats much more than usual when he’s so active playing with so many other dogs all day. They call my parents to bring in another bag for him. Problem solved, right? Not so fast. This bag has worms in it! They call my parents again, they come out to see the issue and pick up the bag to return it to the store and replace it with another.
A day or two later my mom gives us a pretty detailed update on LaFleur and the recent issue over the phone. At this point, my wife and I are kind of surprised that my parents seem to be so comfortable and even interested in what’s going on at Canine College. During the call my mom explains to us that while checking in on LaFleur in regard to one of these issues, they were given a tour by one of the ‘faculty’. My wife and I have been there many times and always felt pretty good about the people there and the service they provide. My mom on the other hand had never been there prior to responding to these issues while we were away. I imagine she might have even been a bit nervous going there the first time as she’s not much of a dog person to begin with. As she was telling us about the tour she and my dad had been given, she seemed to be somewhat enthusiastic. She described the facility, the ‘dorm rooms’ that the dogs slept in, the play areas and how they were divided into Freshman, JV and Varsity, how they prepared the food for the dogs and kept each dog’s food separate from the others, etc. Now I was impressed with how much she seemed to know about the place. And my parents both were clearly impressed with how friendly and professional everyone was which made us feel at ease from halfway around the world.
There were other things that Canine College did to give us peace of mind as well. For instance, they have a facebook page where occasionally they’ll post pictures of the dogs staying there and they made sure to post several of LaFleur so we could see him while we were away. On their website, they have a live webcam streaming video so after a long day of walking around and sightseeing on our trip, we could sign in to watch him play for a few minutes if we wanted to.
We even thought about it some more and in regard to that first phone call we received when LaFleur’s fur became matted, we took comfort in knowing that we would be contacted before anything ‘drastic’ was done. All of this made us feel like we definitely made the right decision having him stay there while we were away. My wife and I were able to enjoy our trip knowing we had peace of mind with LaFleur in good hands.
Canine College went above and beyond to make sure my parents and my wife and I were comfortable with everything going on at their facility. The service was truly exceptional. It was not free of course, but it was definitely worth it. And with service like this Canine College deserves to be praised and they will certainly gain many repeat customers because of it. Oh, and LaFleur enjoys it every time he’s there too. I know because that’s what his ‘report card’ says.
To learn about Canine College, go to www.caninecollegemi.com
The Power of LEO: Optimize Designs for Long Term Growth
I am often amazed at how easily designers can brush off the fact that their designs are not truly optimized. Dr. Genichi Taguchi’s definition of optimization is:
“the state of performance where the technology, product, or process is minimally sensitive to factors causing variability (either in the manufacturing environment or user’s environment) at the lowest possible cost”.
His definition can be restated as making products that work the same way, every time, no matter what the condition. They must work for a very long time and still be affordable. A good working definition I once heard for optimize was:
“to make as effective, perfect, or useful as possible”.
I often have the opportunity to ask designers if their designs are optimized. They always say yes. I then ask them what they mean by the word “optimize”. They say things like, “finding a balance between cost and quality” or “making the right trade-offs”. They have entirely missed the point! Optimization does not involve trade-offs.
Whether you practice Dr. Taguchi’s methods for optimization or not, the goal for every designer should be perfection or as close to it as possible. Customers are greedy, and rightly so. Why shouldn’t they want perfection? They’re the ones spending their money on the product or service. Compromises are often necessary in product and process development, but jumping too quickly to those compromises can seriously limit your company’s growth. I once heard Akashi Fukuhara say:
“If you just meet the customer’s expectations the best case scenario is that they will only flirt with the competition, in which case, you will either lose a customer or have a reluctant repeat customer. To have excited repeat customers you need to exceed their expectations.”
Toyota has long been the benchmark for reliability in the automotive industry. Their reliability has been so good that it continuously exceeds customers’ expectations. I really thought that with the recent recall for acceleration problems on some vehicles, they would lose many of their die-hard, life-long customers. But the sales data doesn’t prove that out. I still hear people talking about how their old Toyota has 200,000+ miles and that is what they will buy next time. I wonder how many resources Toyota spends on trying to find out what is the exact mileage that their cars can start to fail, and it will be ok with the customer. I would be surprised if they spent one Yen with that type of investigation.
I believe most companies today do not understand this philosophy. They spend far too many resources trying to learn exactly what the limit will be for lack of quality before their customers complain. They totally disregard the concept of pursuing and attaining perfection in favor of discovering what they must do as a minimum to make a sale. If they put all the effort they used trying to understand exactly what that minimal level of quality their customers will accept into truly optimizing their designs, they might actually exceed their customer’s expectations, and have customer’s for life. This type of thinking is just one small aspect of the Power of LEO.
Quality is More than Quality
Quality is a lousy word. It’s hard to define. Quality sounds a little boring. But Quality, we often hear, is King.
Seth Godin talks about quality in his new book “Poke the Box.” On page 20: “Just about everything on offer – from a car to an iPad to an insurance policy – does exactly what it’s supposed to… Most of your competition is now without defects as well…” Is doing “exactly what it’s supposed to” quality? It is part of quality.
To be a useful word, to be King, quality must be more than not failing. Quality is the way the phone feels in your hand, quality is the sound of your voice the client hears over their speakerphone, quality is the solid feel of your car when you make a right turn; quality is the ease of entering your destination into a GPS system.
Quality is a thousand subtle things about the products you use every day.
If your product gets 400 of those thousand things right, it’s a dog; 800 of those thousand things right, the product’s a winner; 900, a legend.
Sadly, we hear about quality when it’s lacking. Talk about quality, talk about complaints. Ask customers about quality, you’ll hear what they don’t like – at least at first.
“Quality,” Dr. G. Taguchi once told me, “is what the customer doesn’t want!”
I don’t want my car to be noisy, I don’t want may phone to drop calls, I don’t want my LCD television to lock up, I don’t want slow downloads, I don’t want uncomfortable furniture.
The trick in today’s market is to give the customer exactly what they want – give them the 1000 things that they can’t even tell you about. So, quality is not about giving the customer what we think they want, or what a survey says they want. Quality is about understanding your customers at an “anthropological” level (David Kelley, IDEO).
“Know your customers better than they know themselves,” said Akashi Fukuhara.
All well and good. Quality is giving the customer exactly what they want. How?
Start by listening. Stop talking, start listening and seeing. Listening is observation and understanding. People who design products or services observe their potential customers, human beings, in the customer’s “natural habitat.” Passively observing customers without judgment or editing is the path to products and services that “get it right.” This is not analysis or research. It’s a visceral understanding of how human beings can best use the products or services you produce. Get out of your studio, your office, you cube and start listening.
Want the highest quality products? Don’t talk – learn to listen & see.
iConfused
I have owned an iPhone 3GS for about nine months now and will be the first to admit that I love using it. From day one I found it extremely easy to use and understand. It was as if Apple personally sat with me and figured out exactly how I would want to use the phone and what I wanted it to do for me. This phone has opened my eyes to the wonderful world of podcasts, audio books, Bluetooth connectivity with my car; not to mention fun activities like WordswithFriends.
However, with all of this love that I feel for the iPhone, I HATE using iTunes. For some reason, all of the user-friendliness, intuitive operation and simple layout that the iPhone was programmed with, was lost on the group that programmed iTunes. I find the simplest tasks in iTunes to be extremely time consuming and annoying. The usual drag and drop feature that I’ve been programmed to understand from years of Microsoft based PC’s doesn’t work in iTunes.
For example, I recently downloaded an audiobook through iTunes for the first time. Once it was done downloading, I wanted to transfer it over to my iPhone. Naturally, I hit the Sync button to sync my iPhone with iTunes; nothing happened. I try to drag and drop it over into my iPhone icon, nothing happens. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get that one simple audiobook off my computer and onto my phone. What I finally realized was that I had to go in and check a box to tell iTunes to sync audiobooks too. Then I hit the Sync button and there goes the book over to the phone.
So, what’s my point with all of this? I love using the iPhone and think the product development folks did a fabulous job at making it simple and intuitive. However, I find the iTunes program to be extremely hard to use. Maybe I shouldn’t have even bothered using my PC to download the book. Maybe I should have just tried doing it through my iTunes app (which strangely enough I find to be very easy to use). I think from now on I will avoid the PC based software at all cost and just do more surfing and purchasing from my phone…..or is that what they are trying to get me to do in the first place?
Was that good service?
When my family and I go to a restaurant (which is less often with gas prices at $3.50 a gallon) whether it is on the weekend around home or when we are on vacation, we can’t help but observe the service we are receiving like:
- Do they have what the menu says they have
- Is the restaurant and restrooms clean
- Does the waiter know what is on the menu/specials
- Are they willing to make changes to dishes to accommodate our requests
- Are they attentive/timely and get our orders right (have you ever had a waiter that does not write down a big order and then gets half of it wrong?)
Often we are very pleased when these criteria are met (and complement the owner/manager) or very disappointed when they are not (to the point that we may never go back again). When I think about this restaurant example, or others like staying at a hotel or shopping in a grocery or clothing store, I remember when it was rare to get bad service at a restaurant, or have a store employee not help you (a paying customer) with a request to find an item or go a little bit out of their way to help you.
My point is this – I find myself being thrilled with service that when I really stop and think about it, should be standard, basic service. But, perhaps I am remembering the “good old days” WAY too much. Either way, this ‘service’ thing could be the differentiator between staying in business or not. Am I expecting too much?
In future posts, I will comment on other aspects of good and bad service(s).