Bodies

In the early 90’s, I worked at the classified ad counter of a local newspaper. Every now and then a business owner would come in and say, “I need bodies.”

Bodies.

Here’s a simple thought: if you are hiring bodies, your business will suffer.

You don’t need bodies, not even WARM bodies. You need service professionals. Or at least people who are interested in being service professionals.

Ilise Benun’s post from a while back on shyness made me think that many people, even people in service positions, are shy. So shy that they are afraid to try to get another job that suits them better. So, in the meantime, they are messing up your business.

Why do people who have no interest in service jobs take service jobs? Because they pay money. And people need jobs.The trouble isn’t that they look for these jobs, the trouble is that they are hired for these jobs. You want to populate your front line with Service Stars. And service stars start out as people who are interested in providing service, not just a paycheck.

In other words, it’s not them, it’s you.

Tig Wallis works with businesses who want to improve relationships with their customers and employees. Contact him at The Wallis Group

I’ve Been Crystallized!

Recently my wife, her mother and I went on a cruise to Mexico on Crystal Cruises. Talk about Spectacular Service! From the time we boarded to the very last day (which I’ll tell you about in a minute) every staff member made us feel like we were VIP’s.


The food was fantastic, yes. The staterooms were large and comfortable. But what really sold us on Crystal (and what really sells me on anything) is the SERVICE. These people have it DOWN.


Example: The second day, my wife mentioned that her mother (who was staying in the cabin next door) really liked marzipan. Lo and behold, what appears at the foot of her bed the next night? Marzipan! Not one or two pieces, mind you, a whole PLATE of the stuff. No charge, of course.


For me, one of the best service experiences came out of a bad experience. After seven days at sea, we returned to L.A., and someone had taken one of our suitcases. We saw one case that looked a lot like ours, sitting all by itself. We knew what had happened. Someone took our case, thinking it was theirs.

We spoke to the Crystal reps at the terminal (who were right nearby, thank you) and told them what had happened. One of them RAN out to the street and SHOUTED the name that was on the case left behind. Well, he had already gone. but his son was still there, waiting for a taxi. Long story short, he calls his Dad’s cell phone, Dad turns around and comes back to the terminal.


Oh, and did I mention? The entire twenty minutes or so that we waited for the gentleman to return, the Crystal reps NEVER left our side. They made sure we had our stuff, and made sure we were happy.


Now THAT’S Spectacular Service!

Tig Wallis works with businesses who want to improve relationships with their customers and employees. Contact him at The Wallis Group