GAINING COMMITMENT
CEMEX, a large cement company in Mexico City had a major problem in delivering cement to its customers on time. The hot sun, and probably the worst traffic jams in the world, caused most deliveries to be late, resulting in higher costs for their customers. Magically, CEMEX went from a problem cement company to one of the world’s best, now delivering cement profitability to other
countries around the world. And they did it by teaching and getting commitments to deliver on time from every single employee. They could not change the traffic conditions in Mexico City but they could change the attitude of their employees to
promise to live up to their commitments.

Years back, I used to be late to many management meetings. It was a pattern I just could not avoid. Until one day a teacher who I valued very much told me that the door to his class closed exactly at 7.00 PM. From that moment on I was never late to class and in most cases I am precise when meeting with people.

 GIVE POWER TO THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE CUSTOMER!”
A few months back I bought a new fast 800 MHZ Dell computer with all the bells and whistles. After transferring my files from my old computer I started to experience occasional crashes. Being busy with my new newsletter, I neglected trying to correct the situation immediately.

Eventually, after some weeks I called a Dell tech support person who spent some time with me removing some start-up software. These changes seemed to help, but it didn’t cure the problem. I called back again and was told to reload my Word program. I reloaded word but it had no effect.

I called somewhat later again and spoke with another support person and was told to consider reloading windows 98. I couldn’t find my 98 disk so I lived with the problem. A little later I called in a local computer technician to help me but he couldn’t solve the problem. The situation only got worse with crashes more frequent during the days, so I decided finally I would do whatever was necessary to get the problem solved.

Calling Dell again I was advised to take everything off my computer, reformat the hard disk, re-enter Windows 98, and then load my old software. I didn’t have the Windows 98 disk. He told me he couldn’t send me a 98 disk, that I should call customer care who could send the disk to me. It took a while, but on reaching customer care I was told that my warranty was only good for 30 days, and that I should call Microsoft to get the disk.

I couldn’t believe what was happening as Dell has a great reputation for customer service. In my last company I was an excellent customer for Dell. This customer service representative either didn’t believe me or was just going by the book and didn’t care if I was displeased. I asked her to have her supervisor call me. Then I said I would call Michael Dell. But this didn’t phase her one bit.

I always call the top person in the company. If you want something done always go to the top, it doesn’t mean you will get there, but if you are persistent amazing things can happen.

But how could I get the telephone number for Michael Dell. Not easy. I went to the Dell internet site and searched carefully but couldn’t find the corporate offices. There was no address or telephone number listed at the site. I did notice the press releases and called a media person who was wonderful. She asked me to state the problem in an email, which I did. She then emailed me back later and told me she would look into my problem and find a solution. The very next morning I got a call from Michael Dell’s assistant, a truly lovely person, who immediately said she would send me a windows 98 disk via Federal Express and that if I couldn’t resolve the problem in two weeks Dell would replace the
computer for me. I told her how pleased I was with her telephone call and that wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of the customer service people had her skill and power.

Lessons to learn :

1. If there is a problem there is always a solution; just be calm and persistent.
   Whatever you do don’t fight.


2. Train all of your people to act as if they had the power to solve the customer’s
   problem. Be careful in saying ‘no’.


3. The world is filled with crooks but you can’t run your business with the attitude
   that the customer is out to beat you. You might have to take some losses to
   please customers, but you will absolutely win in the long term if you satisfy
   your customers.

This experience reminds me of Stew Leonard, Jr. whom I interviewed for an upcoming newsletter. He runs the world’s largest, in volume, grocery store in Westport, Connecticut. The company’s customer service policy is chiselled on a large stone in front of his store.

I called Stew Leonard’s customer service department and asked them how they lived with that policy. A customer service person simply told me, “We listen, we agree, and at the end of our conversation, the customer is always right.”

“If the customer is ever wrong, we have a good chance of losing that customer – and we are only in business to service our customers. Without customers we don’t have a business.”

 U-SCAN-I SCAN-WE ALL SCAN HURRAY FOR US!
I saw U-SCAN at A Fred Meyer’s food / department store in Portland, Oregon, built by Optimal Robotics Corp. It is a “Do-it-Yourself Checkout System.” While Kroger’s, the parent of Fred Meyer, had already installed some elsewhere, this was a first for Portland.

Do you remember Tom Sawyer in Mark Twain’s book when Aunt Polly insisted he paint the white picket fence? Not wanting to do it he slyly was able to con his friends to actually pay him something for the pleasure of painting the fence for him. Tom stood by and watched his friends enjoy what he originally felt was a chore.

When I entered the store I thought of Tom Sawyer. Here was Fred Meyer conning their customers into checking themselves out including packing their own merchandise. But like Tom Sawyer, I was wrong. The customers were happy to do it.

I stood there for a few moments a little confused as to exactly what to do. It was as if I had momentary stage fright.

I looked at the screen in front of me, but my mind couldn’t fully register as to actually what to do to check myself out. However, someone quickly came over to get me started.

All I had to do was look at the Touch-Screen Monitor and then follow the directions. Since all of my items had bar codes on them; I scanned the items against the bar codes; I then noticed on the screen the total amount due; I put some cash into the slot on the machine; took my change; and bagged the items myself.

I felt good. I had accomplished something new. I felt like Tom Sawyer’s friend actually enjoying the process of learning how to check myself out. I bagged the items myself and felt really good about doing it.

I then stepped aside and watched other shoppers weighing their fruit, entering the fruit codes on the key pad, then scanning their credit card and walking over to the attendant to sign the credit slip (one attendant handles 4 U-SCANs).

Since it was a new system most of the shoppers required some initial help. I stood there fascinated. The Optimal Robotics check-out system did everything the cashier would have done except you did all of the labour yourself.

I spoke with a few of the shoppers; all were pleased with themselves and the new learning experience. It was fun.

It is a great technology and should attract by itself, customers to come by, experiment, and feel pleased about the process of checking themselves out. It surely beats standing in line and waiting.

It is funny. I have bought groceries from supermarkets for many years. And even though I have observed hundreds if not thousands of times cashiers checking my purchases for me, I couldn’t do it easily for I never experienced it for myself. When you do it for yourself, you have an opportunity to gain a whole new experience.

Even though I was uncomfortable for a moment, there was an actual reward for me :

• I experienced something new
• I was at first troubled but it proved successful
• I had a sense of accomplishment
• It felt good to learn something new
• In just a few minutes I acquired a new skill
• I enjoyed bagging the groceries myself.
• It was a memorable experience

Yes, like going to Disney World we want our customers to have memorable experiences. When the customers are happy doing business with us they do come back.