ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - July 5, 2002

ON SERVICE AND THE ANGUS BARN
My note in last week's EHC about dinner at the Angus Barn in Raleigh, North Carolina brought the following note from human relations consultant, Robert Kausen:

Your comments on the Angus Barn reminded me a lot of the interviews I conducted with Nordstrom employees and management while writing my book, "Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed." Nordstrom, of course, is legendary for their customer service in retailing. As I probed to get to the source of this "serve the customer so he/she wants to tell others" climate, I found consistently the same answer. "My manager bends over backwards to make sure that I am enjoying my work and have everything I need to do my job." Right up the line store managers and regional VPs all said that their bosses were always looking out for their best interests. As one employee put it, "It's easy to focus on the customer experience when my boss is looking out for me." A regional VP admitted that Nordstrom is very forgiving about many things, but never about poor treatment of people -- employees or customers. In addition, they hire only people who are happy and mentally healthy, and who genuinely like people. The job skills are easy to teach. As we have seen for decades, an organization is indeed the shadow of its leadership.

Some notes from the Doc:
Re-read Robert's comments a few more times then get honest with yourself. What sort of a shadow are you casting on your organization? The whole focus of my Coaching Program is to help operators better understand how to create this sort of impact on their companies. Look for a Management Insight Series interview with Van Eure, owner of Angus Barn in August. Gold Group members will soon receive a free copy of Robert's book, "Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed." If you are not a subscriber to these programs, you can find information on my website.

ANY IDEAS?
I was recently contacted by a colleague with a question that stumped me. He has a client looking for someone to come in and manage facilities maintenance nation-wide. The client has roughly 100 restaurants around the country. The facilities management company would be responsible for coordinating with project managers and store operators to complete any remodeling/renovation/upgrades/preventative maintenance -- everything from the kitchen to the HVAC. If you know of a company that might do this sort of thing, please let me know.

SCAMS R US
I just received another box of Max Hitchins' new book, Hospitality Scams. As you may recall, Max is my marketing guru buddy from Australia and the book outlines over 200 ways that restaurants and hotels have been deceived over the years. While I am sure that you may have heard of some of the tricks . . . is your staff aware of what to watch out for? It wouldn't take much to save far more than the $50 cost of the book. Max guarantees that it can save you up to $10,000. I only guarantee that if you don't like it, I'll give your money back! I have 30 copies available. If you want one, go to the order form.

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