Thursday, March 22, 2012

Want More Than Good Enough

Good enough isn't good enough. Sound strange? . . . Must be early in the morning. Seriously though, think about it. If you're just performing "good enough", you're not excelling. You're just doing what you need to do to get by.

I won't let myself settle for "good enough". I want to do more - better - than expected. I want to stand out. I don't want to have to "blow my own horn". What I do should be noticeable. And that's the type of people I want to work with or the type of businesses I want to deal with.

I recently got a new pair of glasses from a large club store (starts with S and ends with s). I had to have lenses remade multiple times because my left eye is sensitive to having as exact a prescription as possible. But each time the left lens was off BUT was "within the acceptable parameters" . . . at the BOTTOM of the acceptable parameters. This was "good enough" for the lab making the lenses and the attitude that was taken by the store employee's. It was also an acceptable practice to them.

I finally returned the glasses for a refund and went elsewhere . . . along with letting friends know what I went through. Can you say, "lost customers"?

When you begin feeling too comfortable in what you're doing - personally or organizationally - it should sound an alarm telling you that you'd better take a look.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I Don't Have Any Competition

You’d better think twice about that title statement. Any person or organization that your customers do business with is a competitor. Notice that word I bolded . . . ANY.

Before a customer calls your business, could they have just talked to a Disney reservations representative about their upcoming Walt Disney World vacation? Could they have talked to FedEx about an emergency pickup? Maybe they ordered some clothing from Zappos.

All of the above mentioned companies are tops in the field of customer service - and for good reason. Just the mere fact that your customer talked to them first can make your “great” service experience feel more typical or even down right inferior. People will unconsciously compare every business they deal with.

Don’t you want to be one of the Disney's, FedEx's, or Zappos’?