Work, Life & Critical Thoughts

Chill Sports Media, Chill!

2012-02-11T22:24:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I peruse Google News and I see the headline that Eli Manning would really help his chances of getting into the National Football League HOF (Hall of Fame) if he wins Super Bowl XLVI (46). A few days ago, I heard on ESPN radio that Eli’s coach, Tom Coughlin, of the New York Giants, could make it as well if he wins the “big game.” Some of these sports analysts, broadcasters and writers have no qualms about predicting when coaches, players or owners have a strong chance of someday being enshrined in Football’s HOF if they win at least two super bowls.

I also see this same hyper-scrutiny apply to Major League Baseball (MLB). Early last summer, in May 2011, I’ve read/heard on ESPN and Fox Sports certain MLB (Major League Baseball Players) mentioned as possible MVP or Cy Young candidates. Mind you, we’re talking in May when the season is completed at the end of September – May is about 25% of the way through the baseball season. Have these journalists and announcers lost all perspective? Is this conversation encouraged by listeners and readers? Some of these networks even create discussion on “The Comeback Player of the Year” after 60 games in MLB – with a 162 game season, is that overkill?

Chill sport's media, and especially ESPN! Before getting into an argument or discussion about a potential Cy Young or MVP candidate, can we just “relax” and let the games and competition play out? Is it possible to wait until most of the season (75%) has transpired before we discuss who will win the MVP, Player of the Year, Cy Young winner and Comeback Player of the Year? Regarding the HOF and potential induction, can we wait until after the big game? Or better yet, wait until their careers are complete before we banter about regarding one’s chances. Let history be made before speculating on future HOF candidates.

I know, I know, many analysts and readers will tell me if I don’t like it, turn off the TV or Radio. Or better yet, don’t read about such blabber on the Internet. Indeed, I get it; I need to make the move. When it becomes insufferable, my next move is to block such content and move on to National Public Radio.

I'm Thankful for My Flat Tire...

2012-02-04T14:19:00.001-06:00

THANKFUL, THANKFUL FOR THAT FLAT TIRE
On Saturday morning, I noticed a flat tire on my 2001 Honda Odyssey – on the rear passenger side. Predictably, my wife was not happy and she complained about “one more thing” for us to fix although it’s worth noting that her fingernails will not get dirty during this process. My modus operandi says when you own a home with 2 cars, things will break or malfunction.

The glass half full mentality says it’s good this occurred in the garage on a Saturday. We all know there’s never a great time to have a flat tire but when it occurs, this is close to the ideal scenario.

The minivan is 11 years old and it’s the first time I’ve had to change the tire. Amazing but true. I guess I’m lucky considering we’ve driven to Florida and Colorado at least every year during the last decade. I’m also fortunate that I can afford some of the best Bridgestone tires…Sometimes, during my retail interactions, I focus more on price than quality but not with car tires. Being very busy and sometimes driving around my family, safety and security take precedent over price.

I’m ready to get down to business although I’m unaware of the location of the spare tire, wrench and jack. I spend about 5 minutes looking in and around the car without any success. Am I losing my mind? It’s not near the engine or underneath the vehicle but I still can’t find it so it’s time to find the manual.

Kevin Schwarm protocol recommends keeping the owner’s manual in the glove box where it originally resided but it’s not there. My wife joins in on the fun – find the spare tire or owner’s manual – anything at this point would be encouraging.

Again, I’m thankful this issue did not occur on a busy highway in Chicago during a snowstorm! We locate the owner’s manual in the rear compartment and learn the spare tire and jack are located under the floor maps between the 1^st and 2^nd row seats. That wasn’t even considered as a possible location in my search approach.

The tire is difficult to grab – it’s only after moving the front seats forward as much as possible (AMAP) are we able to wedge the spare tire out of the compartment.

Who hasn’t heard of the tire changing horror stories when the lug nuts are impossible to loosen? You know, where those who installed the tires used a machine to tighten the nuts…interestingly, I had no issues with this step. The challenge occurred one-step later as I was unable to remove the tire from the car. It was only after some gentle bangs with a wooden mallet, lubricant and elbow grease was I successful in removing the flat tire. I later learned from an auto mechanics they see that stickiness or corrosion between the base and tire rim making it difficult to pry away the tire.

Even though it’s not always palatable, I need to be more responsible when it comes to performing basic auto repairs on all my cars. I’m certainly familiar with changing a flat on other cars I've owned over the years but never had to change a tire on a 11 year old minivan. Perhaps the car gods were watching out for me to allow me to do this in my garage on a Saturday afternoon.

Breakfast Reengineering 101

2012-01-29T08:58:00.001-06:00

TRADITIONAL BREAKFAST REBOOTED...
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I'd imagine nutritionists say that. Nutritionists might also say that eating breakfast helps “rev up” your metabolism for the entire day.

I’ve sometimes been a “reluctant joiner” when it comes to the important meal of the day but for the last 9 months, I have a new approach.

At least 5 days a week, my blender is my frying pan and my toaster. My focus is fruit – I use fresh bananas, frozen wild blueberries, strawberries, cherries, and boysenberries. Super heavy on anti-oxidants. In fact, I’ve heard ounce for ounce that wild blueberries contain the most anti-oxidants of any fruit. If my fresh bananas begin to ripen too fast on my kitchen counter, I will add those to a resealable plastic bag and freeze for later use.

I’m not lactose intolerant per se although I’m not terribly tolerant of cow’s milk so "three cheers" for alternatives! If I use milk as a base for my smoothie, I’ll use milk from almonds or soybeans. Costco has the Kirkland Vanilla Flavored Soymilk, which adds some a nice vanilla flavor to the mix. I’ll sometimes add water (to reduce the thickness) and to improve the palatability or sweetness, one could consider a little some orange juice (OJ) or apple juice.

Every other day, I’ll add plain non-sweetened yogurt to the mix – either Greek (Fage) or standard yogurt. Typically, it’s low fat or fat free. It’s packed with friendly bacteria so my gut receives a treat too. If I find extra flavored yogurt or kefir in the fridge, I will add for variety and it also helps organize the refrigerator.

The vanilla soy protein comes from Trader Joe’s -- there are 120 calories per serving or 2 scoops. Besides the good taste, my overall smoothie goal is to ensure I’ve added enough anti-oxidants, fruit and friendly bacteria into my system.

I have not priced this anti-oxidant smoothie but I suspect it’s between $1 and 1.50. Considering the nutritional value and convenience of this drink, I feel it’s money well spent.

My daughter used to work at Panera so I have some of those large plastic soda containers (with lids) that I use, reuse, and reuse to transport my smoothie to work. The smoothie is made at 6 am although it’s not consumed until 8 or 9 am at my office desk.

If I drink my anti-oxidant smoothie by 8 am, I’m typically not hungry until 30 to 60 minutes or so before Noon. Interestingly, I’m not physically or emotionally hungry until then – so food is not my focus until right around midday. It is understood that the mixture of protein from the protein powder and yogurt, fruit and nutrients certainly satisfies my appetite for several hours.

This smoothie regiment has been followed for nearly a year although it doesn’t appear to have helped me shed a few pounds...I need to reduce my evening snacking to help with that. Not to be deterred, my main reason for reengineering my breakfast was increased health and energy – I'm on my way.

As time goes on, I may "tweak" the smoothie and focus more on calories and fat. I could dilute the almond milk or OJ with water. Another option is to use 10-20% less fruit, which should pay dividends in the end. Strictly using fat-free yogurt would help too. As it stands now, I use 4-6 ounces of fruit and one banana in addition to milk. A slight reduction in any of these portions could help me lose weight over several months.

Sometimes, especially on weekends, I’ll deviate from my normal smoothie faire, and add bananas, soymilk, protein powder, and add caffeine to the mix, by adding Nestle instant coffee. Interesting consistency – a soymilk and banana based shake with a strong coffee aroma and mocha taste. Life is often about options and alternatives.

Once the smoothie it's made, which takes about 5 minutes any day of the week, there's no need to fret about where or what I’ll eat for the most important meal of the day. Indeed, it simplifies an important morning routine with complete control knowing what's going into my body! A win-win in my eyes.

Consider the alternative to the kind of breakfast many Americans have…this is among the healthiest.

Is It 3,000 or 5,000 Miles Between Oil Changes, Libertyville Toyota?

2012-01-22T09:33:00.000-06:00

I got my oil changed the other day at Libertyville Toyota and the technician said I should be good for another 5,000 miles. I think he means, come back when your odometer has moved another 5,000 miles unless you have another automotive issue. I’m thinking, “That’s twice per year” as I drive less than 1,000 miles each month with my '97 Toyota Camry. It was good to know a Toyota mechanic validating the 5,000 miles rule – I've heard that from others although I've heard differing opinions so I'll accept his professional input.

As I drove away, I noticed the oil change reminder sticker (the service technician had added to my windshield) said 3,000 miles for my next oil change. I've never given this much thought immediately after an oil change – why the inconsistency? Is 3,000 the official number sanctioned by the Auto Industry or Toyota? Maybe the party line states 3,000 miles but most mechanics today will tell you that amount is overkill – 5,000 miles between oil changes should suffice.

Reminder to self, whenever I see the reminder sticker, I need to add 2,000 to that amount before scheduling an oil change. I was thinking of “writing over that number” with a sharpie but with my handwriting and less than a steady hand, I’ll just stick with my initial approach of mentally adding 2,000 miles to that sticker amount.

How many others motorists haven't realized the inconsistency (at least at Libertyville Toyota although I suspect many others) between what they hear and see with mileage between oil changes? How many other motorists follow that reminder sticker religiously – engaged in unnecessary environmental and economic costs perhaps a few months and a few thousand miles before it's needed? Is this intentional?

Does the service department at Pauly Honda in Libertyville do the same thing? My 11-year-old Odyssey needs an oil change so time will tell…

What’s going on in Tuscaloosa and Alabama?

2012-01-14T21:21:00.001-06:00

On Google News, among other sections, is the Editors’ Picks section, which features unique, innovative news content that the news publisher has published at a given time. Each news organization selects their own links to be displayed under their website.

Yesterday, I noticed the articles provided by Tuscaloosanews.com certainly piqued my interest. There were five articles included here, and three of the articles were: Tide arrives in Big Easy; Late buyers may get a ticket for $750; Jones ready for rematch. Of all five, four were associated with the LSU versus Alabama BCS Championship on Monday, January 9, 2012.

Look, I know those ‘Bama fans love football, and you can’t live in The Heart of Dixie if you don’t root for the Crimson Tide and it’s a really big game, but should this online news source include 80% of the articles being 'Bama and college football related? Are there no other important issues occurring in Tuscaloosa or the immediate area? Is that what readers want this time of year? If I want coverage of the LSU Tigers or Alabama Crimson Tide BCS Championship, let me page over to ESPN.

There are other information service providers besides Tuscaloosa News in the Editors’ Picks section of Google News. These providers included news from Reuters , NY Times, The Atlantic, Global Post, Barrons and Washington Post. What articles were they including or publishing?

It turns out, little if any about the big game. These other news providers' coverage included, the unemployment rate at 8.5%, Bombings in Iraq, Stock Market is flat, New Hampshire Republican Primaries, and the Resurgence of Rick Santorum. Don’t know about you, but they were covering important events at home and abroad.

I'm not suggesting this is a typical representation of what you'd see on Tuscaloosa News, but if it were, one would not be surprised if many of these readers came away not well informed on domestic and international issues.

My Two Main Takeaways from 'Steve Jobs' by Walter Isaacson

2012-01-07T22:45:00.000-06:00

STEVE’S PERSONALITY
If you read several business or technology articles about Steve Jobs, chances are you will learn he was a very demanding boss and extremely difficult to work with. Essentially, Steve Jobs was an asshole. I think Steve Jobs acted like a real jerk because he could get away with it. He helped design and made amazing products since the 80's although he had a temper and could be rude, outspoken and hurtful to family, friends and employees. He was certainly successful in spite of being outspoken and opinionated. Did his temper hurt his professional relationships over time?

The author, Walter Isaacson, in writing this book, did more than 100 interviews and spent countless hours with Steve Jobs for over 2 years – getting to know him well to help write an accurate portrayal of Steve’s life. According to the Author, Steve could have toned it down over the years if wanted to. Perhaps he would have experienced more professional success and less employee turnover at his companies if he had evolved into a more patient leader and learned to control not only what he said but how he said it. There was very little filtering that occurred and he was not shy about expressing his opinion – regardless of who, what or where. Perhaps it was a habit he didn’t want to shake. I suspect, his anger or rage was like a drug, which may have kept him focused on design and all the little details of a given project.

Of course, his legacy will be a brilliant designer of technology products and a leader who often was impossible to work with, except for a few exceptional colleagues. It's unfortunate he didn’t change over time and become more calculating and supportive on how he dealt with colleagues and business professionals. If he had, perhaps there would be no caveat to Steve’s legacy – it would read: combing art with technology and designed brilliant technology products that many consumers could not live without.

MICROSOFT VERSUS APPLE OR GATES VERSUS JOBS
The second significant take away from Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson involved the relationship between Steve Jobs (Apple) and Bill Gates (Microsoft). Steve certainly respected Bill Gates’ intelligence and programming ability and at the same time, and overall, didn't think Bill was terribly innovative.

Jobs’ approach, mentioned repeatedly throughout the book, involved the intersection of science and humanities/liberal arts. Not designing products that consumers requested but designing products that consumers realized they couldn’t live without. Having the intuition and instincts to help "predict" what those products could do. Steve felt Microsoft was irrelevant – especially over time in terms of designing new products and with innovation but did a good job with the business side of things. If the goal of Bill Gates was to build a very successful software company, he succeeded. This meant, according to Jobs, winning business by Microsoft was much more a priority than designing brilliant products. Even though Microsoft’s open system was popular and many hardware and software companies took advantage of their “open system,” Jobs never felt they excelled in design or anticipating customers’ needs and desires.

In terms of business philosophy, Jobs believed in a tightly integration of hardware, software and contents into a seamless package. Steve's obsession was to make technology intuitive and romantic – to design delightful gadgets to be interface friendly.

Which approach is correct? Open or closed system? The book suggests the consumer will be the final arbiter of that question.

It's interesting to read how surprised Gates was with the development of the iPad. I suspect it caught him off guard and he was truly "wowed" by the design and user interface. When I finished reading this book in December 2011, it was revealing to read that the Chrome browser had surpassed Internet Explorer (Microsoft) as the number one browser in the United States. I guess the marketplace is deciding.

After reading the book and reflecting on Jobs' opinion of Microsoft, Jobs may have a point when it comes to Microsoft. Their software is powerful with many features and options but often, something may be missing. Is it brilliantly designed? Or designed for the user in mind? From my “hands on” experience, it’s often just too quirky. Is that a reflection on their past and current leadership? From my 20 years of experience with Microsoft's operating system and software, generally, it's not designed to work with you, you have to figure out its nuances and work with it. Is this a game of cat and mouse between MS developers and consumers when it comes to many of the software and OS features? I don't know.

Can the same thing be said about most Apple products?

Being More Frugal, Efficient & Productive at the Office

2012-01-01T16:09:00.002-06:00

FRUGALITY AND EFFICIENCY AT WORK AT WORK
PACK A LUNCH...Bring your lunch to work -- this could be leftovers or something you made the night before. You control what you eat and save $4 to 5 each day (if not more).

EXTENDED DESKTOP FEATURE...If there's an existing monitor at your desk and you're given a laptop, leverage that equipment by using the extended laptop feature in Windows. This really helps when working with spreadsheets or comparing separate documents. If you’ve never tried this, try this and gauge whether you’ve become more productive.

BRING YOUR BREAKFAST as I’m out the door at 6 am (to avoid traffic) so I don’t eat breakfast at home to improve my morning efficiency. Having breakfast is important so I rely on my “anti-oxidant smoothie” to typically deal with the first piece in the morning. It's primarily strawberries and blueberries with soymilk and protein to help rev up my metabolism. It avoids that $2 to $3 charge ordering breakfast in the cafeteria. I reuse the container so it’s eco-friendly.

THE FREE OR INEXPENSIVE COFFEE OPTION is something to consider. Our office has free coffee, which is a nice benefit. You can save you between $1 and $4 per day. Another option for offices without free coffee is to find hot water and bring in instant coffee, which may cost about 15 cents per day. Nestlé's Classico instant coffee is among the best tasting. One other point on this matter, if you love coffee, bringing a thermos of coffee to work is another option. It's old school but can certainly cut down on the cost and is reusable.
GET A HANDLE ON YOUR INBOX... Many of us struggle with keeping our work inboxes clean. It’s recommended to schedule a few times each day reviewing all emails in Inbox. Only in urgent or critical times should you regularly check your Inbox which can significantly hamper productivity. Do not turn on email alerts which will reduce your effectiveness.

I’ve read to receive less you need to send less. Keep your e-mails short, and write fewer of them.

DRIVING THE MORE EFFICIENT AUTO helps to save money. I can choose between a mini-van or a 14-year-old Camry as my mode of transportation. The Camry’s gas mileage is 50% better. Unfortunately, my commute is 50 miles each day (250 miles per week). If I use the Camry, I can save around $15 per week if gas is $3 per gallon. If gas is $4 per gallon, the savings is $20 per week if I just drive the Camry to work.

SNACK FOOD ALERT is another way to be organized at work to help save money and eat well. I will bring in a box of my Kashi granola bars, raw almonds or some fruit and keep at my desk. When I’m hungry, I grab for those instead of brought it bagels or a cake displayed for someone’s birthday. I avoid the vending machine too. It saves money in the end and is healthier too.

ORGANIZED IRONING is something I can do over the weekend if I want to stay organized. I may iron 5 or 6 shirts every few weeks – reducing my dry cleaning costs by at least 50-60%.

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM when you leave early for work. Sometimes, you can't control how late in the day you're going to work but you can control when you begin work. To save time, especially in the Chicago traffic, leave early for work will save you time in the morning. If you save 20 minutes each day, by leaving early, that time can be tripled in inclement weather – especially snow! Having that alone time in the morning will help with planning and any intellectual heavy lifting that may be needed.

ORGANIZE EARLY IN THE MORNING so once at work, I’ll get my coffee in my mug. I’ll also refill my refillable one-liter water bottle. In addition, I have my anti-oxidant smoothie nearby too, which is consumed around 8 or so. I’m properly hydrated and fed to begin my day.

KEEP LISTS so you need to document your goals and tasks on a regular basis to avoid worrying in bed about crucial details you may have forgotten that day. Create multiple lists: short terms tasks and long-terms items. Short-terms items may include things you need to accomplish during the week or the next few days. Long-term lists could be a week or longer. Things may sometimes jump from short-term to long-term or vice versa but you need to track what things to work on. Keep the short-term lists manageable in size to prevent you from feeling overwhelmed about accomplishing goals.

MOVE YOUR BODY SOMEHOW OR SOMEWAY throughout the day. There’s a health club on site, which I have not joined. I’d rather walk around the building and parking lots. Often, I’ll climb stairs once a day to get away from my desk and get moving. I’m thankful the building is 6 stories so climbing all stairs a number of times is a refreshing change from being confined to my desk and gets the blood moving again. Keeping a pair of tennis shoes in your desk often works out well. Sometimes, I’ll do some stretching at my desk to stay active and loose.

THOROUGH DOCUMENTATION throughout the day as I do a lot of writing and understanding different products and procedures -- taking notes as I’m talking with people. All of these notes are dated and are stacked in chronological order.

NOTES CAN ACT AS A REFRESHER to all meeting participants so I will add my notes/agenda to the meeting notice in Outlook 2007. If the meeting is scheduled for a week or two, I can review the meeting notice to help me prepare for what’s to be covered in the meeting.

KEEP DESK CLEAN is recommended to help productivity. Spend the last 10 minutes of each workday cleaning off your desk. At the end of the day, you’re most familiar with those desk items so take action then. And handle each item on your desk only once – thinking about what you need to do with it before you do clean-up.

OFFICE NOISE POLLUTION is more common today even though more people work from home. To mitigate, earplugs are a necessary aid in some offices. Another option to combat some of the noise in the office is to reserve a training or conference room for a few hours. Most employees reserve rooms for meetings but if there are rooms available on a given day that will not be used for meetings, use any available ones to get some heavy lifting done.

MIRRORS DON'T LIE so having a small mirror by your phone is invaluable. Throughout the day, you can look at the mirror which could “serve as a gut check” in terms of your mood and how you’re dealing with stress.

PLAN FOR TOMORROW TODAY by listing your objectives for tomorrow at the end of your workday. While your work is fresh in your mind, list some of the objectives you want to accomplish during the next few days makes you more productive. This principle applies to work weeks too – listing what you want to accomplish next week on Friday of the previous week.

SHARING SCREENS IS COLLABORATIVE Sharing screens might be useful. When we review a document, screen sharing might be useful -- especially if there are changes and edits that are needed. Having everyone see the changes made and collaborate at the same time can be useful during document development.

SWEAR OFF SOCIAL MEDIAL AND PERSONAL EMAILS...If it doesn’t make you more productive at work, save the Twitter and Facebook for home. Personal emails should fit into this category too.
Some companies do employees a service that limits employees (proxy limitations) access to social networks – those who bring their smart phones to work in this scenario need to be disciplined and avoid all Internet at work on their smart phones.

Extra Service at No Extra Cost?

2011-12-24T12:17:00.000-06:00

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20111221/news/712219965/

Interesting marketing strategy at the Shell gas station in Libertyville.

At least through March 31 of 2012, a service station attendant at the Shell station will pump your gas and clean your windshield at no extra charge. According to the article, the station’s owner is also committed to providing among the lowest gas prices in town. Extra service without an extra charge?

For many younger Americans, the full service gas stations are a foreign concept – years ago, the attendant (typically a young man) would fill up your gas, wash your windows and offer to check your oil. When done well, the service was appreciated and often expected.

Today, there are only a few full service stations available and the majority of these stations add a surcharge for their gasoline to help supplement the full service cost.

The article suggests this is an innovative concept. I would agree, especially if you define innovation as a new idea or method -- indeed this new service in Libertyville would quality. Who knows, consumers could get accustomed to this service, especially during cold winter months. The Libertyville Shell station is trying to be remarkable with this new service approach and they may well succeed.

Did you ever hear of Fatima, Lourdes or Guatalupe?

2011-12-18T13:09:00.000-06:00

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY KIRT SCHWARM

Did you ever hear of Fatima, Lourdes or Guadalupe? Catholics believe that Mary, the Mother ofGod appeared to people at these and other locations here on earth. These official sites have been recognized bythe Church.

In the early 1800's, in a very wild Wisconsin, Mary appearto a young Belgian pioneer woman walking to a grist mill. This occurred just outside of Green Bay. The Church takes these events very serious. Only after significant miracles occur, willthe church acknowledge that such an event may have TRULY occurred. A church was built on the site of this MarianApparition, believers have worshiped there for decades.

Meanwhile about 1870, there was a huge fire in Chicago whichwas well know as the Chicago Fire. Mostpeople do not know that on the VERY SAME DAY there was a much larger fire referredto the Peshtigo fire in north east Wisconsin. About 4 times more people died in Peshtigo and much more valuelost. The area was huge. In fact...look at a map of Wisconsin. The fire jumped from Peshtigo across the bayof Green Bay (several miles of water) and burned in the lower part of the"thumb" of Wisconsin. The firenot only burned trees, and everything in its path, but went into the ground andburnt the roots of the trees as well.

During the fire, several people went to the church on thesite of the Marian Apparition to pray. The next day after the fire, the miracle was apparent. The six acres that the church sat on wasunblemished by the horrific fire. Infact the outside of the fence was scorched but the inside of the fence wasunharmed. It was literally an oasis ofgreen in a scorched landscape.

Several other miracles have occurred since.

Approximately 1 year ago, our new Bishop Ricken,investigated the events that had allegedly occurred. 140 years later, the Pope acknowledged thissite as an official site that the Blessed Mother Mary had appeared. THIS IS THE ONLY SITE OF THIS KIND IN THEENTIRE UNITED STATES.

Bishop Ricken chuckled when he was informed that the GreenBay Packers have not lost a home game, and won a Super Bowl since this site wasdeclared an official Marian Impartation site. Coincidence??? You decide.

By the way...Vince Lombardi as a devout Catholic attendedMass 7 days a week.

Sunset Foods - Review Of

2011-12-12T21:19:00.003-06:00

Sunset Foods The Specialty Store

There are five different Sunset Food specialty stores throughout the northern part of Chicagoland and I’ve visited all stores except for the new store in Long Grove, IL. Sunset is synonymous with customer service and fresh foods and I'm happy to report I've never had a negative experience at Sunset. Maybe a few situations where the service was "just average” but never a bad experience. Sometimes, first time visitors to this specialty grocer remark about their service to customers – it can be a little unnerving, especially if your grocer focuses much less on service. Sunset is located in Highland Park, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Long Grove and Northbrook.

At the Libertyville Sunset, one of the first areas you’ll see once inside is the bakery and deli. Some grocery stores have eliminated the deli numbering (or queue) system but Sunset still operates this system to ensure customers are served in the correct order. The deli variety is impressive – includes meats, cheese, chicken, seafood and pasta dishes. Based on the size of the Libertyville store, their deli is unusually large and I’m sure it’s one of the main profit areas for Sunset. One caveat, even though there are some sale items, many deli items are pricey so families that have an appetite for pre-made dishes could find their grocery bill soar quickly.

There's the drive-up service available – you briefly park your car and they’ll load your groceries. As you leave, you’re given a number to display in your car window so there are no surprises when you get home. This service is definitely old school and I certainly remember this service being more common years ago.

One will find a good selection of organic produce there – they sold organic produce many years before Whole Foods began selling organic produce in the Chicago grocery market. Even though Sunset’s non-organic produce is about 10-20% more than other grocers, the quality is consistently above average and tasty. In my opinion, the adage You get what you pay for would certainly apply to their produce department.

They weigh your fruit and veggies in the produce area to improve the checkout experience. You spend a little more time in the produce department to save time during checkout. I’m not sure if this improves the customer experience – maybe six of one and a half dozen of another?

If you're flexible at Sunset and you're not brand loyal, you can save 20 to 50% on most goods as they always have sale items in many different, food categories. It may not be your brand of milk, OJ or snack food but chances are, they'll have many of these items on sale at a given time. In addition, if you’re willing to shop their store brand Centrella, you can save a significant amount over some of the more popular (and more expensive) name brands.

An associate will efficiently move your groceries from your cart to the checkout counter. Typically, I have less than 20 items so it's not a big deal but they insist this is part of their customer focus so I let them take over.

They do have a small beer and wine section, which is the last section in the Libertyville store before checkout. Based on the size of this store, the wine and liquor department provides a nice selection of alcohol beverages. You can frequently find good deals on domestic and imported beer and wine, especially if you're willing to be flexible and maybe try new or existing products that are on sale.

I've spoken to some former employees who worked at the Libertyville Sunset Foods during high school and college and they say the pay is average with a very serious work environment – it’s a no-nonsense type of work setting focusing on customers.

Paper or plastic? I hate to say, but it's still nice when the checker asks me if I want paper or plastic. Even though this used to be commonplace among many grocers, being asked today is the exception rather than to the rule.

If you’re looking for a grocery store with a good selection and a conscientious staff, Sunset might fit the bill. Many regulars like their quality meat, seafood, deli and produce. You generally pay more for these goods but for many, quality trumps price.

If you’re going to shop primarily at Sunset Foods but price is just as important as quality, you may want to visit their website and peruse the sale flyer and map out your trip to help reduce your cost. Again, to save money at Sunset, don't be too brand focused and look for items that have a significant price reduction. Another approach mentioned earlier is to choose as many items that carry the Centrella brand. That's guaranteed to provide noticeable savings.

For some consumers, they use Sunset Foods as a supplement to a larger grocer – visiting this specialty store once a week or two and grabbing a few items to hold them over. For many of these consumers, quality doesn’t trump price and price doesn’t trump price – it’s all about value – getting a good product at a competitive price.

Surprise and Delight...Empathica Service

2011-12-04T14:43:00.001-06:00

LOCAL FOOD BANK VOLUNTEERING

A businessperson I know hosted a volunteer event for any of her clients who were interested in working at a local food bank last week. She's an independent contractor who has developed a loyal client following over the years. This event involved spending a morning sorting donated food for various charities in Lake County, IL. Last year, she had 23 of her clients who volunteered. This year, the word got around to a few more clients and she had over 30 spirited clients who wanted to work with her and donate some of their time many of whom were had volunteered last year.

After being on your feet for about 4 hours sorted donated frozen meat, seafood, bread, etc., all participants were hungry. Hence, she treated all willing volunteers to lunch at a nearby Sweet Tomatoes. Not necessary but a nice touch.

She told me she was flattered that 3o of her clients actually wanted to participate – a compliment to her business and her brand.

A day after the event, she sent all volunteers a personalized thank you note for giving some of their time for such an important event, especially around Thanksgiving. In each thank you note, she added two pictures; one including the entire group and the other included the individual or couples’ pictures.

Did she have to do this event and then treat everyone to lunch? Did she have to send a personalized thank you note with pictures? Was she being remarkable? Will any of her clients tell this story to others?

Another example of Surprise and Delight. Are there others you could think of?

My Philosophy on Mapping Out Process Narratives versus Process Flowcharts

2011-11-27T19:20:00.001-06:00

Before I outline the different scenarios between the process narrative and process flowcharts, I want to provide some context to this discussion. I look at a process as something with repeatable steps where the steps are sequentially dependant on each other. A process narrative is mapping out a process in a step by step outline in a narrative form without graphics. I typically place the steps, who's responsible and any notes in a customized template form in MS Word. This is done to improve understanding and readability. A process flowchart is similar in verbiage but takes on the form of a flowchart. This includes graphical shapes such as process, decision, sequential data, on-page and off-page reference and terminator. Due to the comfort level of MS Visio, I'll use this application when creating or updating process flowcharts.

In my mind, there are at least two reasons why you map out a process: One, if it's physically layed out, you can clearly see any "tweaks" or improvements to help ensure it's more efficient moving forward. Second, seeing the process step by step may help you address those potential risks or gaps in the current operation.

1. During the process documentation gathering, if you inherit existing flowcharts and you’re able to add the notes and potential control points to the flowcharts without any narrative, it may suffice to just having this process displayed in the flowchart manner.

2. If you inherit process narratives from other projects on the subject and you’re able to create an accurate and complete narrative without mapping it out through MS Visio, you may not need building process flowcharts. Of course, it's quite important to ensure your client is fine with this agreement.

3. If you write a process narrative and add it to the table template but you may need to visually map it out to assist with notes, understanding or a possible process improvement, consider using both options. Sometimes, putting together the narrative helps the flowcharts and vice versa.

4. If your client is trying to understand all documented processes through visual diagrams and also likes to see the process in a narrative form, you may consider doing both. Of course, you may need to factor in how many processes you're considering. If you have to document 8 or 10 processes for one department or product, it may not be cost effective to create both the narrative and visual flowcharts for all processes. There may just be some key processes where you do both.

5. If you are working with a number of clients on the documentation project and you find one or more clients prefer the process narrative and others clients prefer the visual, you may want to consider doing both. Of course, if there are many processes to document, for some of them, you may want to choose either channel.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. The key is effective communication with your clients. Explain your philosophy and approach and you will try to meet their needs as much as possible. At the same time, it's important to be prudent and not do additional work to solely make the document look pretty or more complete. It's important to call out control points, risks, or gaps within the process. It's also important to "pick apart" the process once it's documented in the hope of streamlining it at some point. Create a process document that any client, employee or auditor would be able to easily understand.

Consider contributing to my fund?

2011-11-19T11:26:00.001-06:00

At the risk of stating the obvious, I’m been blogging on WordPress for well over a year. This means that over the 12 months or so, I’ve played around with different WordPress themes. Themes in WP help you change the look and feel of your website and can add personality to your website. Each of the themes I’ve “tried” are free within WordPress. When you experiment with different themes, you see the usual reminder to help support the author or developer by donating money (if you use their theme).

I certainly understand this request. They have put much time, creativity and knowledge into this product, they are providing a platform by which bloggers or website owners can give back to the developer — hoping a certain percentage of theme users will oblige.

Having “tried on” several different themes this year, I’ve experienced different issues with each of these themes. Some themes give me a lot of flexibility with the entire website except I can’t customize the top portion of the screen or I can’t get rid of an unwanted titlebar. Other themes are easy to use but have limited functionality – you can't add tags or photos to your post. The last time I switched themes, I lost functionality between a draft post and pending one – not good. Early on, I fell in love with this one theme except I was unable to add a my picture to the header area – it wasn’t until I hired a developer who updated my CSS file and others (and charged me $75) before my picture was where I wanted.

What’s my point? I would like to use a theme where all basic functionality works well. Make it easy to add pictures to my post. Allow me to shuffle around different sections without much HTML or CSS knowledge. Design the theme in such a way where I can add tags to the post and schedule the post to be published at a future date so I can move on to other tasks. If you include basic functionality regardless of the theme, I'm much more in a giving mood.

Having said that, overall, I consider myself a fair and giving person. I often give away food or bottled water to panhandlers on the Chicago streets who really appear to need added substance to their diet. Regarding street musicians or public performers, I’m very cognizant of giving them my spare change or a dollar or two even if I don't stay around long enough to enjoy it. When a waiter or waitress excels at their craft, I'll provide two generous tips: one in cash and the other a public compliment. So in my mind, it's not an issue that I’m resisting giving some money voluntarily. It's all about the value proposition. If there's real value without too much work, voluntary contributions (with a little nudge) are much more likely.

Wir Emphelen or We Recommend...

2011-11-12T21:28:00.001-06:00

Years ago, I spent a few years in Central Europe and even though I was on a very limited budget, every 3 weeks or so I had the opportunity to dine out in a well-established sit-down restaurant. I don't remember how or when I learned this, but it was suggested choosing an item or special that was recommended by the waiter or a staff person at the restaurant.

Often, these restaurants would list the different entrée items, including the full meal and price. Over the course of my visits to Europe and some of its restaurants, I'd employ this suggestion regularly and generally found it to be a good way to find a tasty meal at a competitive price.

In the States, restaurants also have specials or items the chef may recommend although the specials are not always in print and prices for the specials are not always included.

If I'm relaxing at a restaurant and I ask about the specials, the waiter may show off their memorization skills reeling off the specials for that day and I have to admit it’s fun to hear. I’m certainly impressed by this and the fact they are changing up the menu but I'd like them to include more.

If this is my first time in the restaurant, there may be some unfamiliarity with the items. Seeing helps me internalize things.

Second, I’m a visual person – telling me about the specials is fine and interesting but not being completely informative. I need to visually see them on a board, typed or written on a paper. Seeing things visually also helps me compare the different items where I may have interest.

The last reason I’d prefer to see the specials or recommendations is the value proposition. Often, if the waiter tells me the specials, prices are not included unless you ask. Including that important piece will help me ultimately decide. Is the Chilean Sea Bass tonight $19.99 or $29.99? Are the Akauchi Flank Steak Fajitas you have on special $16.95 or $27.95? Having more information helps me make a more informed decision.

Do the Green Bay Packers and St. Louis Cardinals borrow from the same playbook?

2011-11-05T10:26:00.000-05:00

Successful Franchises – Green Bay Packers and the St Louis Cardinals.

As of last night (October 28, 2011), the St Louis Cardinals are the World Series winners for the 2011 Major League Baseball season. Congratulations! Eight months earlier, the Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XLV.

During their last seasons, both teams have remained competitive even though they were impacted with injuries. The Packers had over 15 players on injured reserve during their playoff run and still found a way to win the ultimate trophy. The Cardinals lost their ace, Adam Wainwright, for the entire season and also battled other player injuries but found a way to eventually hoist this year's World Series trophy.
Both teams have many solid players but only one superstar – Albert Pujols of the Cardinals and Aaron and Rodgers of the Packers. Regardless, both teams had many times during their championship run where other players stepped up and made a difference. James Starks of the Packers and David Freese of the Cardinals are just two players who come to mind.

One could argue both the Cards and Pack began to peak during the last 6 weeks of the regular season. Playing well in the post season is key, you may be peaking againist teams with better records and often enjoy more success. Often, one's record gets thrown out the window.

One could argue there are two key ingredients for gauging playoff success: How well a team is playing during the playoffs and how well do they match up aganist their opponent? Both of these teams this past season appeared to match up with each of their playoff opponents and again, were playing their best at the most critical time.

They both have a storied history in their respective sports. The Packers have been around for around 90 years and the Cardinals first began as the St. Louis Browns in 1880.

Both teams have won at least 11 championships in their history and have played in many more championships – illustrating in their sport a successful winning brand. It’s clear to those who follow both these teams that many numbers could have been retired throughout their history with all those great players who came before these current players.

The Cardinals and Packers come from States where the other sports franchises have not done well over the years. Take the Bucks and Brewers in Wisconsin, they have one championship between them in over 80 years of combined competition and some say that was due to Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (formerly Lew Alcindor) teaming up in the early 1970s. Take Missouri, St. Louis used to also house the Cardinals of the NFL who never won a championship while in St. Louis. The most recent football championship came when the St. Louis Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999. The Hawks of the NBA played in St. Louis played from 1955-1968 before leaving for Atlanta. Their franchise has one championship to their credit, where the St. Louis Hawks defeated the Celtics in 1958.

Both these franchises have a loyal base and this fan base extends far beyond the contiguous states. Part of this can be attributed to their long and successful history. It may also be due to the fact that people love baseball in the St. Louis area and football throughout Wisconsin.

Obviously the draft systems are not the same between professional football and baseball but both organizations are effective at finding and signing strong talent year after year. This doesn’t guarantee a championship but helps put these teams in the position to make a run for a championship more often than not.

One could also argue that neither the Cardinals nor the Packers have the luxury of having the highest payroll in their respective sports. As sports’ fans know, teams with the highest payroll don’t always win the title. It’s about how and where you spend your money and smaller market teams need to be more prudent with their money.

Each team historically had at least one team within their division that seldom won more than 50 percent of their games. The Cardinals can thank the Cubs and Pirates for not being very competitive over the last 20 years and the Packers have the Lions of Detroit to thank. Of course things are changing as the Lions are much more competitive and have turned the corner in the Central Division of the NFL. Regarding the Cubs and Pirates, perhaps changes to their ball clubs will improve the competitiveness of this division moving forward.

There are high expectations for both franchises. Green Bay expects to win these days…Cardinal fans along the meandering Mississippi don't expect a World Series appearance every year but do expect to be competitive each and every year. I think this mentality may apply to the fans as well as the entire organization.

Does small downtown street signs in Chicago put me in the Loop?

2011-10-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

I spent a few hours one March morning walking around downtown Chicago as I had a few appointments in the city. It was a cold, windy, and gray day, which is not out of the norm for late March although you never know what Mother Nature will bring the Second City. In other words, expect the best but prepare for the worst.

As I walked along the Chicago River, I noticed very large green street signs on some of the bridges directly over the Chicago River. These signs were very large and noticeable; it appears these signs are designed for boaters and boat passengers. I could not help notice this signage was large enough to be of value for those on the river. Later that morning, as I walked north on State Street towards the Chicago River, I noticed very small street signs. These street signs were difficult to read and were ubiquitous throughout the downtown area.

Just wondering, why not apply the size of the Chicago River signs to the street signs in the Loop? They don’t have to be exactly the same size but signs that could help you maneuver the Chicago Loop and nearby neighborhoods with a little intuition, a map and map reading skills.

I know, I know, technology is moving towards GPS in cars, smart phones and other apps are available to assist you to get from Point A to Point B so why spend money on large streets signs? Besides helping visitors maneuver around neighborhoods, especially touristy ones, it may add more charm and warmth to the downtown area. And who knows, with the green branding, it could help improve the marketability and character of Chicago.

Residence Inn (Eagan, MN) – Review Of

2011-10-22T10:35:00.001-05:00

Often, I just go about my business during my day or week and don't have any preconceived notions about evaluating or critiquing my restaurant experience, hotel experience or other service experience. It's only after I receive remarkable experience, which could be good or bad that I feel compelled to document my experience. That phenomenon applies to this situation.

Just to level set, the Residence Inn in Eagan, Minnesota is a series of small-detached building with single rooms and suites with accessibility from the outside. Each detached building has outside walkways to the hotel lobby with meeting rooms and dining facilities. As I walked into the hotel lobby a number of times, every time the front desk associate would say, “Hello” or ask if needed any assistance. Very customer focused. As I was packing my car on early Sunday morning at 8 am, two hotel cleaners were outside and said, "How are you?" in a very friendly manner. Minnesota manners?

My niece had her baby shower upstairs from the main lobby and for any request, Residence Inn staff were around to oblige.

Getting ready for the shower, if I needed ice to chill some salad, no problem. Garbage bags for the baby shower wrapping, I’d hear, “take several to take care of your needs.” Before the baby shower begins, I hear, “do you have garbage to clear away, I’ll take that from you." I was delightfully impressed by their friendliness and hospitality. Not sure how much of that pertained to the effect that we were in the Land of the 10,000 Lakes and how much of that was simply that the Eagan Residence Inn really took customer service seriously.

Any time I walked by any hotel personnel throughout the facility, they actually acknowledged me. This was a little unnerving at first as I live and work in Chicago and corporate America unfortunately doesn’t have this same warm feeling. It didn’t take me long to realize the staff at Residence Inn were merely being friendly and service oriented.

The price was fair at $89 per night for a suite with two queen beds. Clean and comfortable, we had plenty of room for a family of 3. I wish the bathroom was a little bigger -- it was a little tricky using the toilet when the shower was so close by. Only other room recommendation would be to include some hooks around the bathroom area for a temporary holding depot for one’s clothes.

After we were finished at breakfast, they had kitchen employees who would efficiently pick-up your dishes as you sat at your table. Good timing.

We had no issues getting breakfast at 8:30 am, although I did see a long breakfast line about one hour later. They didn’t appear to run of the key food such as “bananas” or “yogurt” which was a good sign as I’ve seen some budget hotels run out after serving about 30 customers.

For those wondering about their location, Eagan is one suburb due east of Bloomington in the southeast part of the metro area. About 10 miles from the Twin Cities International Airport and Mall of America.

It appears that manners matter in Minnesota. Have you had a similar experience at a Residence Inn around Minnesota or elsewhere?

The Dichotomy of Customer Service at Costco

2011-10-16T21:37:00.000-05:00

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T CLEAN MY WINDOWS AT THE COSTCO GAS STATION?
On my way home from work, I sometimes fill up my tank at the Costco gas station in Mettawa, Illinois. It's one of my usual gas stations even though it's very busy and you see cars zip in and out. It's clean, organized and you can always find a Costco associate around the pumps if you have any questions or issues. During my last visit, the one thing missing were window-cleaning supplies. Over the last few months, I’ve typically noticed the bucket and scrubber nearby but on this visit.

Indeed, curiosity got the best of me, I inquired. The associate reluctantly replied that corporate told them to take it down. Thinking back a bit, I vaguely remember hearing that earlier this year -- the mandate was to remove the scrubber and bucket from the gas station. During this particular visit, I was more persistent and followed up with, “Why?” The young attendant said, "It's a volume thing. With the bucket and scrubber, when customers clean their windows, it cuts down on our volume.” I know Costco is a publicly traded company and in business to make money but this policy from corporate doesn’t sound like Costco. I’ve been shopping at Costco for about 10 years and have never once felt pressured or hurried to make a purchase.

When was the last time you went to a self-service gas station without window cleaning supplies? I really have no idea who’s directly involved in this directive but I do know from a customer centric perspective, the absence of cleaning supplies appears to devalue their service – at least in the gas station area.

YOU MEAN YOU’LL CHECK MY TIRE PRESSURE WITHOUT A FEE?
After getting gas, I later walk by the automotive section and notice the air pressure gauge – that got me thinking as I walked towards the store’s entrance. While in Costco, I asked 3 different Costco employees about the potential tire gauge service. It surprised me to hear neither of these Costco associates were able to produce the same store policy.

As I'm about to drive away, I see no one is parked in front of automobile section so I drove by and asked one of the automotive employees about this service and he politely checks my air pressure and adds the necessary pressure accordingly. No fee, no hassle, no volume approach here. Interesting.

Within 30 minutes of this visit, I see the best and worst of Costco. On the one hand, the gas station is strictly volume – apparently corporate does not want to encourage customers taking too much time as they fill their cars. On the other hand, what a nice touch in the automotive section – where the technician checked my tires and filled them to the required PSI. He also answered a few of my questions about their automotive service. Interesting dichotomy.

Net Promoter System – Review of Harvard Business Review Podcast

2011-10-07T22:52:00.000-05:00

Net Promoter (NP) is a systematic process to enable leaders to keep their organization focused on delighting customers. Focus on each department in every location every day. Over time, turn each customer to a loyal one.Many companies have used the Net Promoter System (NPS). In fact, it is required reading for most managers at Vanguard and Apple.

Harvard Business Review Podcst interviewing Fred Reichheld and Rob Markey, who co-authored The Ultimate Question 2.0

You have those who may act as promoters or passive detractors for your business products or service. How likely will a promoter recommend NPS to colleagues or friends?

NP may help close the loop between customers and employees. Figure out which actions you took create promoters, passives, or detractors. Get employees dealings with them – contacting them every day.

Call all detractors of your business, learn what you did wrong, and do something about it. If your company asks for customers’ opinions, you need to effectively apply much of that feedback. If you ask for feedback from your clients and it’s not seriously considered, there’s a strong change it will be perceived as a lack of respect and caring.

Social media certainly will change businesses approach with the Net Promoter System. Your brand and reputation is everything. According to the authors, your brand is not what your public relation department says, or what advertising says, but rather, what your customers say about you – their perception of you and your business.

Social media amplifies your brand or reputation and accelerates it. Do you live up to your work? Negative publicity can spread very quickly through social media. How do you proactively avoid the negative press?
One main advantage of social media allows leaders to listen in to the online conversation. What are online consumers saying about your brand? Savvy leaders are more aware of what’s occurring and get on top of this conversation.

Entire system can center on NP scores. It’s not just about measuring but also create infrastructure. Create foundational infrastructure. Allow employees to learn about the interaction and do something about it. NP can be an open-source approach to try to capture "best practices" within this NP. How their actions affect the customers?

Best companies, leaders focus on profitable and sustainable growth through customer loyalty. Create world where customer are served and treated the way they want to be treated. Customers become promoters, sales force, marketing campaign, public relations as a volunteer army to spread the positive message about your business.

Instill in employees, goals of customer loyalty, put in hands as far as the tools needed to build customer loyalty. Policies and processes, which will support. A company like Apply may ask, how well did the promoters do yesterday? Did we create a 10 in dealing with our customers? Are there other ideas or tactics that could help us create a 10? What are the best ways we can create an environment, which gives our employees the best chance of earning a ‘10’?

Some businesses think the Net Promoters System is a simple and intuitive process. They think it’s so simple, they delegate this project without giving it much visibility or credence without asking,who will achieve this? How will it be rolled out? This program typically requires significant change among companies.

Again, the authors do not recommend delegating NPS to Operations or Market Research and require them to figure out this new system without the necessary support and guidance of senior management. In addition, it’s more than the mere Net Promoter score. It may be about eliminating silly policies and procedure. Don't delegate to market research and ask them to figure it out. There needs to be support and backing of this program throughout the organization. Unleash power for all employees to do something inspirational. Many changes will be required.

Number one mistake is to focus just on scoring your service or business model without serious consideration on how to improve and move forward. Score is just a beginning (all companies), loyalty leaders got there using score as a foundation, help them create better loyalty and following.

Groupon creates another option for companies to bring in customers but at the same time, it is very dangerous. If you bring in new customers due to marketing gimmick, won’t be able to build loyalty and it may be setting yourself up for a serious problem. Can’t build loyalty because of those who come in through a price offer only. People who come in on an advertising campaign are so different from the referral process, which focuses on a friend or co-worker recommending a product or service, based on your experience.

According to the authors, they wonder if Groupon is bringing in the right type of customers to be sustainable. Will this model earn repeat customers? Tony Hsieh of Zappos says his business doesn’t use coupons as it undermines the fundamental Value Proposition of the company. By often focusing on coupons and deals, you are bringing in many customers into your business focused on price. His value proposition focuses on relationships, reliability and service – price only is not sustainable and may interfere with what Zappos represents.

Often, people who are referred to your business know your business. Create the type of company where they will recommend your product or service because of their positive experiences. Build your brand, one interaction at a time.

The Ohio State University Move-in Process – Review of

2011-10-02T19:24:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, my wife and I moved our daughter into the dormitory at Ohio State. Because of the University's planning and coordination efforts, the process went very smooth and without a hitch. In fact, it went so well I felt compelled to share my experience. Talk about customer focused!

1. Move-in organizers have signs on the major highway just west of the Ohio State University (OSU) providing directions on where the move-in registration process begins. For examples, directions to Shopping (OH-315, and I-71), Target and Staples, Giant Eagle Supermarket, I-71, OH-315 North and OH-315.

2. Once you arrive, you’ll find a huge parking lot about two miles or so from my daughters’ dormitory. We pull up to begin the registration process. During this stage, we remain in the car, provide our daughters’ ID, and receive a pink label (to hang from our rear view mirror). This label represents her dormitory and helps those directing traffic on the way to her dorm. We also receive an OSU map, and labels for the bins (more about that later). The check-in person surveys how much luggage my daughter has brought along to provide the correct number of labels for our bins.

Each color represents a different dorm. Typically, you will follow the car during the early stage of the process that preceded you in check-in.

FYI – On the back of the OSU map provides directions from the parking garage for leaving OSU campus and Columbus. This form also provides directions for Target, Staples, Walgreens, and various hotels. In my opinion, designing this document was well thought out.

3. Because we have pink as a color, we follow the pink signs to her dorm. Every 1/4 mile or so, there's a checkpoint to ensure we're on the right path. The checkpoint consists of volunteers, security officers, and police directing traffic all the way to the dorms.

4. We arrive at her dorm where we are greeted by four students who unload our car in about 5 minutes – placing boxes and clothes in the 3 bins with labels identifying which room and floor. You find another group of students who wheel the bins to the dorm entrance and from inside the dorm, another group of students push the bins down to the hallway onto the elevator. On her floor, you have students unpacking the bins after receiving the bins off the elevator.

You have different groups of students unloading at the car, wheeling to the dorm entrance, inside the dorm to the elevator, on the elevator, and then on the designated floor. There’s some down-time for the movers (who are student volunteers) but this plan works real well when there are a number of students being moved in at the same time.

5. As I survey my car being unpacked, my daughter and wife go into the dorm to check-in. After they register at the front desk, they receive my daughter’s room keys. Once complete, they make their way to the dorm room where they are greeted by her personal belongings outside her room.

They place the materials right outside the door (3 girls) so we can get organized before bringing in the materials. Everyone is very helpful and supportive.

6. Down on the street, after the car is emptied, I'm given directions to park at a parking garage, which is about 1/4 mile from her dorm.

You can tell they've had plenty of practice with move in. The point is, they have learned from their past mistakes or inefficiencies. Parents know move-in is not the most pleasant task but when it's well run, it makes it a lot more palatable.

My expectations are exceeded. What a pleasant surprise and certainly something that would qualify for Empathica Service!

Interview of Ellen Schwarm – Excelling in Service at Panera

2011-09-26T19:35:00.001-05:00

I interviewed my daughter, Ellen Schwarm, a week before she left for college. She had worked at Panera in Vernon Hills, IL, for over 2 years, beginning her tenure there just weeks after her 16th birthday. After attending "Planet Bread University" in Glen Ellyn, Ellen started in bakery, worked the cashier and did most of the available jobs working part-time at Panera. It seems to me that she had a "knack" for delivering strong customer service. Hence, I wanted to interview her to capture her service model.

Q. What is the most challenging part of your job?
A. Customers can be impatient sometimes. There’s the speed at how fast things are going. Not great working on the line (making meals) but I do my best. Being on your feet and toes all day long. Adapting to a fast pace environment especially when a bunch of customers come in at the same time.

Q. Can you tell when you did good job at customer service?
A. When customers genuinely say thank you, you know you excelled. When customers have a smile on their face, you know customer service went well.

Q. Favorite part of Panera?
A. Managers at Panera are nice, people I work with are friendly and overall a great experience. Especially at a fast food restaurant. I really enjoyed going to work.

Q. Did you ever get scolded or yelled at by any customers?
A. Once, a couple came in from the Gurnee Panera and said they were just visiting and I said, “This is the best Panera in the area.” Of course, I was just kidding with them and they were insulted. I tried to “patch things up” with them but it didn’t make a difference. You have to be careful what you say to certain customers. I was trying to make “small talk” and it backfired.

Q. What other customer service things stood out?
A. Received great feedback from customers so I was excited to do more. Sometimes, customers made positive comments about my work and it was encouraging. I just loved interacting with the customers, to try to add a personal touch and put them in a good mood.

Q. How do you help to make their experience pleasant?
A. You try to do the little things. Welcome them in the store and maybe ask, “How’s your day going?” Ask them if they have questions if they appear puzzled or confused. Bring food to them – especially the elderly. Of course, every situation is different and you need to read each situation individually.

Q. Were you trained at Panera?
A. I was trained on the cash register and working the dining room. I also received Planet Bread training over 2 years ago before I begin. I’ve received ongoing training about dealing with customers and miscellaneous things.

Q. Did you find some repeat customers got to know you over time?
A. Some customers favored me. You had customers who came in at the same time each week and if my schedule didn’t change, I’d wait on them on a regular basis. You’d recognize people and they’d recognize you. That helped my service and gave me confidence.

Q. How did the regular employees take to you when you started work there right after your 16^th birthday?
A. The regular part-time employees and especially the full-time employees were surprised I could jump in right away and make a difference. You have to earn your own respect which took some time but it didn’t really take too long before I was part of the team.

Q. What were one or two things your managers wanted you to focus on?
A. You were asked to repeat orders back to the customer. Because you catch the most mistakes, especially in the morning so it’s key even though not all employees did this.
Sometimes, the order was incorrect because you pressed the wrong button during ordering so the repeat process caught most of that. Repeating the order was also key if customers’ native tongue was not English or they were talking on their mobile phone. Repeating the order was especially key in those situations.

Q. What other tricks did you learn there?
A. Sometimes, customers needed more time. You had to read the customers and be patient. If regular customers knew the store, you’d give them space to allow them to decide. All about customizing your approach depending on their behavior and attitude. In other words, use the mimic approach to help put the customer at ease.

One other thing, don’t be afraid to help. Things change and there’s a lot to learn, especially for someone 16 or 17 years old.

Q. How long did you work at Panera and what awards did you win?
A. I won Bread Head of the month last year. I also had the most surveys completed where I made the most positive impact. I also had the highest amount of up sells per shift hour for several months. Like, if someone orders a salad ask, “Would you like chicken with that?” or “You can get a bakery item for just 99 cents.” I also had a number of times that customers told my manager that I did a good job. I was promoted to assistant trainer. My secret shopper award this past summer was graded at 100%.

Balancing Sales versus collecting valuable data from customers

2011-09-17T20:30:00.001-05:00

Quiznos, can't I just print my coupons without any obstacles?

You see a Quizno’s ad on a website for some good sub deals so your interest is piqued. As many consumers know, Quiznos makes a decent sandwich. It’s an easy choice – you click on the coupon link thinking you’ll swing by a Quiznos restaurant in the near future. But first, you need to enroll in their club. Misleading ad?

The ad said get free coupons but there's a step or two required before receiving the coupons. The ad did not say get free coupons after you complete the registration process. I’m a little annoyed at their approach. It may be an easy registration process but I’m not buying. KEEP IT! What information will I have to forgo in order to get some free coupons? How many shoppers will register and how many will become annoyed like me and not continue? It's not as though they're giving away $20 bills...

I know collecting email and home addresses are valuable data for restaurant companies, retailers and third-party marketing vendors but at what cost? How many people want these coupons without the hassle? Are they willing to sacrifice some business of those who bypass the ad after seeing you have to register? Mind you, without the coupon, a casual consumer will not be visiting anytime soon.

What’s the acceptable percentage of those who refuse to register? 10%? 15% or more?

If you’re the marketing director at Quiznos in charge of this ad campaign, what criteria will you use to determine if it was a success?

Easy with the new NFL kick-off rule judgements

2011-09-10T08:20:00.002-05:00

As most National Football League (NFL) fans know, there is a new kickoff rule change implemented for the 2011-12 season. To try to reduce some of the more serious head-on collision type injuries in the NFL, league officials have decided to move up kickoffs to the 35-yard line. This has created some controversy within the NFL. So after the second or third week of preseason, some coaches, players and media members are complaining loudly about the rule change. Many coaches and analysts think kickers will automatically "boom the ball" to force the receiving team into a touchback. If this occurs, some coaches and some media members are suggesting NFL games may be a little less exciting with fewer returned kickoffs.

Who really knows what will happen with this new rule change? Perhaps it will have an adverse effect on the game where there will be fewer kickoff returns and attempts. Will kickers have a larger role in the game or not? Will teams try to kick it "high" near the goal line and force the return team to receive the football in the hopes of pinning them down in their own end? Will another strategy involve special teams’ coaches "squib kicking" the football, trying to minimize the opponent’s field position? I’m sure you’ll also get your fair share of kickers "booting" the football out of the end zone. The key thing to realize is that different teams will employ different strategies depending on a number of things — it’s almost impossible to use the preseason as a barometer to determine the full effect of the new rule change.

One aspect of this new rule change I have not heard discussed is how the weather will affect things — in snowy or windy conditions, how will special teams change their strategy? Will kickers be less inclined to “boom the ball" attempting to receive a “touchback” in inclement weather? Perhaps we'll need to wait for November and December football to see any strategy changes during inclement weather.

It's interesting that I have not heard any announcers during the NFL preseason mention another by-product of moving the kickoffs to the 35-yard line — there may be fewer penalties called during the kickoff. Over the last 5 years or more, there has been an increase in the amount of "block in the back" or “holding” penalties committed by the receiving team. The increased amount of these penalties over the last few years has taken much of the luster away from the kickoff — theoretically, and according to conventional wisdom, if you have more touchbacks, you'll see fewer penalties.

Again, too early to tell. I think it's silly for some players, coaches and media members to complain about this new rule change after just a few preseason games. Let's take a deep breath and see how it plays out. Let’s also realize it’s preseason and the strategies employed may not directly transfer to the regular season. Who knows, it might just be an effective rule change that helps reduce violent collisions and adds another strategic element to the game.

Will I be in the minority of fans who will not have an opinion of this new rule change, withhold judgment, and at least let things play out. At least for 8 to 10 games before I can objectively assess the effects of moving the kickoff up to the 35-yard line.

Double-Dip Recession Madness

2011-09-03T20:28:00.003-05:00

My wife is a financial advisor who often watches financial news programs especially in the evening. I sometimes watch these shows to learn a thing or two about the current and future financial picture – not just for the U.S. but the entire world. CNBC is our primary financial network to keep up to date on financial news although sometimes we’ll tune in to Fox Business or CNN Business for an additional perspective.

A regular theme I’ve heard over the 18 months (if not more) has to do with a double-dip recession. Originally, I wasn’t sure of the context or true meaning of a double-dip recession but as time went on, I undertstand their point as I heard more talk about negative economic growth in the near future. This theme became a common thread among financial doomsayers.

How many of the economists who suggest our latest recession will be followed by another recession actually have business or economic facts to back it up? If their predictions are disproven, will they be held accountable? Is this not a win-win for these doomsayers – if another recession occurs in the near future, they are vindicated. If the economy improves and we don’t see this occurring, they can claim the United States was really lucky to avoid a recession.

If you are an average dart player and you want a bull’s eye, keep playing. It’s only a matter of time before you hit your mark. Could the same thing apply to bearish economists? You have many bearish financial analysts and economists who continue to sound the alarm for a double-dip recession.

Look, there’s a lot of uncertainty with our current economy and much of what we’re going through is unchartered territory. Especially with the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the Federal Government’s credit rating and stagnant economy. Most educated or informed business people would not deny these facts. Regardless, I think these type of predictors should be very careful about their suggestions and theories – as we just don’t know. It might be more useful for those less optimistic economists to avoid automatically saying “double dip recession” and say the economy will improve when a number of things occur such as a more balanced budget, higher employment, housing prices stabilize (people feel richer again) and companies begin to reinvest in the economy.

I suspect this phrase has been bantered about for a very long time without this occurring. I’m not suggesting it won’t occur, but when it is suggested, provide some valid objective evidence and make a strong argument before making such an assertion.

I wonder how many of these economists and Wall Street experts are doing this for self-promotion and to build their brand? Or how many of these economic doomsayers make this statement for political reasons? What’s their motivation to go on a financial news program and state the U.S. is definitely headed for double-dip recession.

One more thing, who’s keeping track of these “experts” that our economy is on a verge of another recession? Perhaps we should have a “score card” to help keep these experts accountable.

Doing some quick research, the Wall Street Journal in February of 2008 (see link below), suggest a double-dip recession might occur even though the economy was not officially beyond the current recession. By my calculation, that was over 40 months ago. When will this madness end?

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/02/08/double-dip-recession-ahead/

Financial Markets Image from http://En.wikipedia.org

Arbitrary Parking Enforcement Versus Safety Concerns

2011-08-27T09:44:00.001-05:00

A few months ago, I received a parking ticket in downtown Libertyville. Actually, I had received the $20 ticket on the 2nd level of the parking structure just west of downtown Libertyville. My infraction, I had exceeded the parking limit of 4 hours by about 35 minutes.

A parking ticket is a parking ticket except there was only one other car on the 2nd level with a capacity of over 100 cars. Because it was my first parking infraction anywhere in Libertyville, it would have been nice to receive a warning. Thinking about things logically, I was not a threat to public safety.

Accepting responsibility, I proceeded to pay my fine and struck up a conversation with a Libertyville Police Officer about parking restrictions in the village. Thinking from a security perspective and less from a legal one, I asked him about illegal or overnight parking in the village and he said motorists would have to get approval for overnight parking. He also suggested I call the village if someone repeatedly parks overnight on a village street.

My frustration, a law enforcement official gives me a ticket for exceeding the time limit when only one other car was on that level (safety concern?). On the other hand, a Libertyville law enforcement official tells me I have to call the police about overnight parking even though it could be argued this is a safety concern – especially with regular traffic on a narrow street where it is common for some motorists to exceed the speed limit.

This frustration applies to other areas too, let’s consider shoveling snow. All year, I walk outdoors in many Libertyville neighborhoods and there are more than a few homeowners who don’t shovel their sidewalk. I typically have two options: One, walk in the street or two, walk through the snow. We know the issues with option one and with option two, this becomes slippery and dangerous as the snow is compacted and becomes icy. Should not law enforcement hold homeowners accountable for not shoveling their snow without a complaint from a neighbor? Again, let's think more about safety.

One more side note, in terms of walking in warmer weather, another potential hazard is trees on the parkway and front yards near the sidewalk. There are dozens of trees with low hanging branches in many neighborhoods throughout Libertyville. Could this be a public safety issue? Should not law enforcement hold homeowners accountable for their low hanging tree branches without a complaint from a neighbor? Again, let's think more about safety.

My suggestion, focus less around minor parking infractions and focus more on public safety. Indeed, there are many opportunities here in Libertyville where this could apply – roads as well as sidewalks. If someone is illegally parked downtown and it’s a public safety issue, issue the driver a ticket. If someone doesn’t shovel their sidewalk on a village street within a day or two of significant snow, issue a ticket. The priority should first be on safety before law enforcement officials begin enforcing minor infractions that has little or nothing to do with safety.

Is Free Valet Parking Really Without Any Costs?

2011-08-21T20:26:00.001-05:00

I went to the Greek Island restaurant last month in Chicago and noticed a long line at the valet service in front of the restaurant. Being someone who is impatient and does not like to wait in line, I decided to park myself. I was not terribly familiar with Greektown although it was daylight and the neighborhood appears to be quite secure so I figured I could find something soon. Besides, I was not driving a large vehicle and wasn’t in the mood to wait 5 to 10 minutes and hand over my car.

I didn't know it was a free service but regardless, I'd park it again – especially if I felt I could figure things out and eventually find a secure resting place for my vehicle. From my perspective, it’s not a price concern but a value issue. Besides, I can always use the exercise and if the weather cooperates and it's daylight, it's a simple decision for me.

Just because the service is without costs doesn't mean you don't have to tip the young man who retrieves your car. I suspect they rely on tips to earn a reasonable wage. Just because the service is without costs doesn’t mean you won’t have to wait 5-10 minutes for your car to be retrieved.

I'm not against free or valet parking that comes with a cost. In certain situations, it's the only play to make. If the weather is uncooperative or you're dressed up, I'd probably opt for choosing valet and not parking myself.

This approach works for me although it may not work for others. If you’re physically able to park on your own, you might prefer to bypass the valet and take control. Others, who knows how long you'll have to wait for your car to be retrieved? If it’s a special event or an elderly couple using the service, most would concur this service will incur a nominal cost.

NAPA Auto Parts in Libertyville Just Provides Good Service

2011-08-14T13:07:00.002-05:00

Right next to McDonald's, at 1402 North Milwaukee (Route 21) sits NAPA Auto Parts in Libertyville. Because I live in north Libertyville, over the last 5 years or so, I started to visit this store for automotive advice and supplies. Common supplies would include light bulbs for various lights on my car, front, and rear windshield wiper blades.

I've never been disappointed with NAPA, every time I visit, there's always the "hello, can I help you with something” as I approach the counter. They typically will say “goodbye” and “have a good day” as I leave their store. What I like most about the store is the fact they quietly go about doing good work.

I've had a number of times over the years where my wiper blades didn't fit right and there's always someone in the store who’s willing to show me how to install new wiper blades. I’ve never seen “that isn’t my job mentality" at NAPA. Funny, I've had a few friends also get assistance with their wiper blades at NAPA without any issue. I suspect the NAPA auto mechanics and auto supply people are fairly adept and good with reading people and knowing when someone needs a little help. I’d say they are customer centric!

From my experience, I would not say they 'wow' you with their service but they just do good work learning about your needs and answering your questions. There are certain expectations I have visiting such a store and they always meet or exceed those expectations. I’ve learned over the years there won’t be any surprises as there have not been any surprises so far after eight or so visits. You expect good service by a friendly auto technician and that is what you receive.

I can be quite persnickety when it comes to recommending auto mechanics, restaurants or even auto supply store although I would not have any reservation to refer this particular NAPA store to others. They've made such a positive impression on me that their name would immediately come to mind if someone in Libertyville asked me if I knew of the auto supply store.

Recently, I’ve send a few friends and co-workers to this store for auto parts and assistance. Referrals to NAPA certainly validate what kind of job I think they’re doing serving.

ADDRESS
1402 North Milwaukee Avenue
Libertyville, IL 60048-1393
(847) 362-7880

WEBSITE
napaonline.com

Can a service provider ever alienate customers by offering coupons?

2011-08-05T21:02:00.002-05:00

At Libertyville Toyota, they provide a service where you can go online and print out coupons for car related services. I generally like the idea, if you’re resourceful and don’t mind a little effort; you can save a little money. Having said that, I certainly like Toyota sending us coupons in the mail although they sometimes get lost in the shuffle or the timing is not quite right. Therefore, I’ll resort to the Internet in the hopes of saving some money.

Last week, our car needed an oil change and tire rotation so I was fortunate to find a coupon online for these combined services for $45. I didn’t know what these services individually cost but I thought this was an OK deal so made the appointment online.

I arrived at the service department and they promptly got me checked in and began working on my car. I mentioned the fact that I had a coupon as some service related businesses have that stipulation – the technician was fine with that. Out of curiosity, I asked the price of an oil change and tire rotation. The oil change was $30 and tire rotation cost $20 so having that coupon for these two services ($45 price) was going to save me $5.

: From Libertyville-toyota.com

He then asked me the year of my car and when I said it was a 2010 Camry, he said “you’ll need the synthetic oil change.” He’s the expert so I was agreeable although I was surprised it was going to be another $30. So with the synthetic oil change, the total would be $80 although you’ll remember I could still use my $5 coupon.

At this point, I was curious about what kind of savings I was getting if I used that coupon. By doing the tire rotation and regular oil change, the savings was $5 or 8.3% off your total bill. If you apply that same coupon to the synthetic oil change and tire rotation, you still save $5 although the percentage drops to 6.25%. Figuring out the percentages kind of depressed me, thinking whether it was worthwhile to even go through this to save a few bucks.

So, the more you spend (on your oil change), the less savings as a total percentage. Interesting.

I remember a handful of years ago; I could get oil change coupons for $20. Yes, oil changes have increased a few dollars over the last few years although sometimes you could use coupons to save 30% or more on an oil change. Maybe Libertyville Toyota lost money on the deal?

When you go through the work of finding a coupon after you make the appointment, printing it, taking it with you for your oil change and then the savings are between 6.25 and 8.3%, I’m not wowed. What’s the point of doing it again to save $5? Would this be considered customer centric?

One more note, I printed out a coupon for a free brake inspection, and the service technician said they do it anyway regardless of the coupon. Again, what’s the point?

Will I pursue the coupon channel the next time my car needs an oil change? If you save such a small amount by going through the rigmarole, what’s the point? I’ll probably try coupons again, at least one more time to see the result. If I’m not wowed the next time, it may further alienate me from saying positive things about Libertyville Toyota regardless of the free popcorn, donuts and coffee.

Would such an insignificant coupon annoy you too?

The Devil is in the Details...with job opportunities

2011-07-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

While in transition and looking for full time employment, I’ve attended many networking events. Some of these events are a small gathering while other events have over 100 job seekers. Some events are good and useful and others don't appear to be as effective. Often, you have to “try out the new networking event” before you can eventually gauge its usefulness. Regardless of the length or venue, I try to get as much as possible out of the events I attend.

I’m writing this in June 2011 and most adults know the job market is very tight so those in transition are looking for a competitive advantage. That could apply to improving your resume, image, networking skills, elevator speech, acquiring a new skill set or interviewing. Therefore, people in transition may be attracted to learning new skills or adding value where they can to gain a competitive advantage.

For discussion sake, let’s say that there are 20 million professionals in America currently in transition – half of those who religiously attend 2 or more networking events per week. If you're in transition, at the very least, you’re competing against those people looking for work. There’s a limited amount of job openings – let’s say 4 million jobs are available. It’s easy to see that the supply of 4 million openings exceeds the demand of 20 million people in transition. Even if 10 million adults are in transition and are doing whatever possible to make a difference to help set them apart from the rest, the demand for those jobs far exceeds the supply (10 million in transition vying for 4 million positions). So the value or new skill you’ve achieved is diluted or becomes less significant because millions of others are doing the same thing. In other words, you’ve lost some of your competitive advantage as many others are doing the same thing.

Most in job transition know the value of networking. Naturally, it is important not to rely solely on applying to online jobs. Therefore, it’s recommended to target companies and develop contacts in that company. When we see an opening at Company X, we may seek out our friend or networking contact before applying at Company X. This is more effective than just completing an online job application. However, if 10 million job seekers decide to do this, then how effective is this approach?

The same principle may apply to one’s LinkedIn profile. I often read from job experts and specialists the value of ensuring your profile is 100% complete. I read it's important to market yourself the right way. I read how it might be useful to include your resume and other important documents within your profile. I also see how important it is to market yourself as a knowledge worker and one with a specific brand or skill set and mitigate the fact you are in transition. As I’m doing this, I’m thinking, aren’t others in transition doing the same thing? Again, I’m becoming a LinkedIn subject matter expert (SME) along with many others. Learning new software or becoming more skilled at social networking is good experience although how much of a competitive advantage did I gain by acquiring this knowledge?

Unfortunately, with a tight labor market, even among professionals, you find more and more people using valuable energy, creativity and time playing the job search game. What kind of a toll does this take on prospective employees? Is it quantifiable to gauge how much time and expertise is being wasted not only looking for work but trying to gain a competitive advantage? All of this skill and expertise is not being fully utilized for productive things or leveraged to the fullest.

What other options would someone have who is desperate to find gainful employment? Are these useful conversations to have?

Loss of Tax Revenue in Libertyville?

2011-07-26T17:52:00.001-05:00

There was a recent article in Patch.com about the strong possibility of the Village of Libertyville to lose some tax revenue with a new grocery store being built just outside their jurisdiction. The store is called Mariano’s Fresh Market – a grocery and specialty store in Vernon Hills which is just south of Libertyville on Milwaukee Avenue.

You see, there are two grocery stores in Libertyville, Sunset Foods and Jewel-Osco for a town of about 22,000 residents. Sunset Foods has great produce and deli section with good service although they are considerable more expensive than the standard grocery. Jewel-Osco is less expensive, with a poorly designed parking lot and provides average service at best.

As a past volunteer at Mainstreet Libertyville, I will support those local and downtown businesses up to a point although they have to remain somewhat competitive.

Having said that, I will not support local grocers under any conditions. If you want to collect more tax revenue through grocery sales, provide more stores and more variety. If you want more local residents to grocery shop here, provide more competitively priced grocery stores with a penchant for customer service. Until you do this, my present options are very limited which means, often, I will travel an extra 5-10 minutes and visit the grocers just outside the Village of Libertyville.

According to this Patch.com article, on the opening day of Mariano's, Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler will spend half of his day at Sunset Foods and Jewel-Osco thanking customers who are shopping at the Libertyville based grocery stores. I appreciate his support but to increase or maintain our tax revenue, we need Mayor Weppler and other local politicians to do more than just symbolic gestures at our local grocers.

In my opinion, local providers who can provide good service, convenience and competitively priced items also applies to department stores, retail discounters, and hardware stores. If you want me to shop local (Libertyville) to increase the tax revenue, provide some viable options.

Make the most of your job as a cashier at Farm and Fleet

2011-07-20T19:17:00.001-05:00

I was in Wisconsin last week shopping at the Farm and Fleet store in Sturtevant and my items were rung up by a young cashier who appeared to be disinterested in her work. She didn’t smile or say anything noteworthy – it appeared to me, she was lacking any passion or personality. I was just another customer she had to handle during her shift. Perhaps I was a minor inconvenience.

While she rung up my items, this Farm and Fleet store was not particularly busy at the time. No one else was in line, in fact, there were no other customers nearby. So I was interested in her approach during such a slow time. Nothing, she just handed me my change (in dollars)...as the rest of my change was spit out into a circular bowl.

No smile or no thank you. And no, thanks for shopping a Farm and Fleet today.

Look, I realize she’s young and she assumes this is just a job but is there an opportunity for her to make a difference? When cashiers are very busy, we all know they can’t chat or spend too much time with you. When they’re not busy, why not spend a little time being social and customer focused? Especially if your job just entails ringing up purchases as a cashier. I know being a little social and friendly might require a little flexibility on her part but I'm confident cashiers would be up to the challenge. Especially in a Farm and Fleet store which caters to those “down to earth” type people. What does she have to lose?

If she's not up to the challenge, perhaps her manager can use this as a retail "teaching moment" to help make the most of her job and become more customer focused.

And who knows, it might have made her feel better and help pass the time. And who knows, it might make her manager look good. How do I get this message across to someone like that? Or would the manager even care what a customer has to say?

Isn't it Funny -- NBA Style

2011-07-12T15:14:00.002-05:00

Just a few insightful remarks about the current NBA and coverage of the NBA...

ISN'T IT FUNNY when the NBA (National Basketball Association) years ago implemented the 20-second timeout − they did not initially go to a commercial break? Now, TV broadcast will typically fly to a commercial. I wonder how long these 20 second timeout commercials actually last? Sometimes, I wonder if a 20-second timeout may last one minute.

ISN'T IT FUNNY that Dwight Howard is one of the poster boys for the NBA, often gets in physical altercations, and has been assessed so many technical fouls. What's the NBA trying to say? That would be like the NHL marketing their league by using certain players who have been assessed the most penalty minutes or gotten into the most on-ice brawls. Is this a desperate move by the NBA?

ISN'T IT FUNNY that announcers during NBA telecasts never tell you how many timeouts each team has for the half or the entire game? I can't remember hearing this for at least 15 years or more even though I suspect teams have more timeouts than they used to have because there are more commercial interruptions than ever before.

ISN'T IT FUNNY how you thought 2 minutes was a lot of time between quarters. Think it's that way now? I've timed some in between quarters and it's at least 3 minutes if not more.

ISN'T IT FUNNY that the MVP announcement for the 2010-11 season was just announced on May 3, 2011. In addition, the Coach of the Year was announced over the weekend. According to my information, the NBA regular season ended on April 13. Therefore, it took 20 days (almost 3 weeks) to make the MVP announcement and about 2 and 1/2 weeks for the Coach of the Year announcement. Why not announce this within 3-6 days of the end of the season before the NBA playoffs get into full swing?

ISN'T IT FUNNY when a sports broadcaster compliments a professional basketball player who makes a "heads up" either play on offense or defense. I often hear, "that was a smart play" by so and so. Really, aren't pro basketball players paid huge sums of money to make "heads up" plays on a regular basis?

ISN'T IT FUNNY when announcers talk about the success of the Chicago Bulls, invariably, the thought shifts to the Michael Jordan's Bulls of the 90's. Let bygones be bygones.

ISN'T IT FUNNY how many NBA officials will "make up a call" shortly after blowing a call. It's usually done within 5 or 6 minutes of play although it's difficult to ascertain if all referees attempt to "make up a call" from time to time.

ISN'T IT FUNNY how NBA announcers commonly will compliment a player subsequently after they've made a good play or two. Go out on a limb and sometimes take a chance and tell viewers why certain players are stars before they make a good play.

ISN'T IT FUNNY how the Miami Heat have really turned it up a few notches once the NBA Playoffs began. Their regular season was respectable but they are now playing basketball the way many basketball pundents felt they’d play once those 3 superstars began to gel together.

Idea Busting

2011-07-07T03:11:00.002-05:00

I was at a networking group a few weeks ago and the topic switched to idea generation and brainstorming – particularly in the corporate environment. The facilitator of the group talked about the importance and value of mentioning ideas in the workplace. She went on to say if you mention or suggest an idea that management decides to implement, then you need to own it. When she said, “own it,” she meant you need to work on it and if necessary, direct others to see it defined, designed, tested and eventually implemented.

Au contraire I say! I certainly don’t agree with her assessment of owning the idea. I’ve been on the other side a number of times in the corporate environment and often having to put in extra time to implement your idea can be challenging – especially with your other tasks. Additional thoughts...

What if you only have a few employees who are idea generators – so every idea they think of, they’ll need to own? If so, will they always be anxious to come up with an idea? Will they always be willing to risk it knowing that they will own the idea from start to finish? At some point, will the potential work associated with an idea deter an idea generator from continuing to explore possible improvements?

Especially in an environment that does not always value idea generation.

If someone is good at idea generation, then it's important that you leverage that skill set AMAP. I'm not saying idea generators cannot work on some of their ideas or have a consultant role in the process, but they should not feel compelled to own all their ideas from start to finish. That skill set needs to be cultivated and used as much as you can to improve the businesses' bottom line.

I've worked with some very creative people in corporate America who have been burned by having to own most if not all their ideas that were accepted and implemented. Often, these individuals have other responsibilities so their idea work adds to an already busy schedule. They may or may not be compensated for this extra effort. How many employees will put themselves in that position when they realize the extra work and not much of a financial reward (if any)?

Will it only be the masochistic workers who will continue this madness of owing their idea from start to finish?

What do you think? What would be your approach if you had many ideas and suggestions to share with your company?

Paper or Plastic Divider at the Grocery Store

2011-07-03T16:30:00.001-05:00

New Divider At The Grocery Store
Do you ever get annoyed at the grocery store when you are not asked if you want paper or plastic? I guess plastic is the de facto choice but personally, I’d like to be asked. From my perspective, I just see plastic bags as too difficult to handle. If you get $100 worth of groceries; I'd rather not have to schlep 15 individual plastic bags into my trunk (let alone into my house).

Personally, I’d much rather use paper bags if they are packed correctly. Generally speaking, grocery store paper bags are tough enough, so you can usually get a fair amount of groceries in each paper bag.

And speaking of a divider, could I suggest a grocery bag preference divider at each checkout line? The divider can have three sides: Paper, Plastic or Other (you brought your own in) to indicate which type of bag you use for your groceries. This divider could alert the cashier to have a good idea of your preference—and if necessary, they could quickly ask to confirm.

Just a minor convenience to help improve the grocery shopping experience. In the meantime, I’ll try to be eco-conscious and remember to bring in my own canvas bags to reduce and reuse my grocery bags.

Increase your PC Speed and Performance for Windows OS without any $$$

2011-06-25T12:08:00.002-05:00

If you watch ESPN enough, you will eventually see an ad about software that will help you fix your PC. I believe this is 'MyCleanPC.com'. I have also seen 'MaxMySpeed.com' advertised here. I've never tried these products so I'm not in a position to talk about their effectiveness or eventual cost, but hearing about these products prompted me to think. If you're interested in doing some "tweaks" or maintenance on your own, you may want to consider some of the tips I've included here. All tips are valuable to help your PC run better and faster. If you’re interested in some of these “tweak” but are limited on time, I'd recommend following those tips that are in bold.

1. Run Chkdsk.exe found often in C:\WINDOWS\system32 (in XP). Start, Run and type Chkdsk.exe as your executable file.

*2. Run a defrag.exe from C:\WINDOWS\system32 (in XP). If necessary, run a defrag on your D drive too. Start, Run and type defrag.exeas your executable file.

3. If use Internet Explorer (IE), delete all temporary Internet files through IE.

4. Search for *.tmp files and delete them too.

5. Go to your Recycle Bin and designate a small percentage (1-2 percent) to be used for your Recycle Bin storage. This typically will free additional disk space.

*6. Monitor your anti-spyware and anti-virus software. These programs have the potential to put a tremendous strain on system resources.

*7. Consider deleting your profile and rebuilding a new one – especially if you experience “quirky” or unusual things occurring on your PC. Verify you have that authority and password with administrative privileges.

: MyCleanPC Image from Sitejabber.com

*8. Download Free Window Registry Repair to clean up your Registry. Run this at least once per month. For your first or second time of using this program, you may want to run this a number of times. Once you get your Registry clean, it may only be needed once a week or once or twice a month.

9. Increase the size of your Virtual Memory. In XP, for example, you select System Properties, Advanced, under Performance select Settings, click on Advanced, and select Change under Virtual Memory. If you have the disk space on your hard drive, you can adjust this additional hard drive space to use as Virtual Memory to aid in the performance of your computer.

10. Consider downloading Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox , which may better utilize Windows system resources.

*11. Go to Add/Remove Programs and delete those programs you no longer use or need. In other words, if you don't use it, uninstall it especially on machines with smaller hard drives.

*12. Consider running the Disk Cleanup in Windows. This will get rid of any unnecessary programs taking up unnecessary disk space. For example, it will address: Temporary Internet Files, Office Temporary Files, Recycle Bin, Downloaded Program Files, Temporary Offline Files, Offline Files, Compressed Old Files.

13. If you are desperate to delete files and need as much hard disk space as possible, consider deleting the hidden files under C:\Windows that begin with $NtUninstallKB950762$. Even folders deleted of security updates will free up a certain amount of disk space.

14. CPU Utilization. Your Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brains of your computer. It organizes the processes in your computer to help keep it running smoothly. If you're wondering if an application may be slowing down your system, you can check the Performance tab in Windows Task Manager to see if a given application is taking up too much processing power or memory.

As a reminder, I'd recommend implementing all the points that contain an asterisk. These will give you the biggest bang for the buck. Often, these techniques applicable to Windows 2000 or XP can be used for later versions of Windows such as Vista or Windows 7. Remember, the ideas are the same although the steps or location of these files may vary from Operating System to Operating System.

How Much Service Are You Willing to Pay For?

2011-06-19T10:53:00.000-05:00

I chatted with a friend the other day who is upset that cashiers at his local Wal-Mart are not always friendly and customer focused. My friend, who is a chef, prides himself on providing excellent service in whatever role he performs. He just doesn't understand why a store like Wal-Mart doesn't always appreciate his business.

Let me explain. Recently, he's seen a few examples at Wal-Mart where the cashier will scan his goods without any interaction whatsoever. No good morning, hello, or anything. This bothers him and it makes him feel ignored and under appreciated. He just doesn't understand why they can't be more polite and friendly. Not excusing that behavior, from my perspective, Wal-Mart's strategy is not necessarily customer focused. I'm not saying some associates are not customer oriented, it’s not their primarily focus. In terms of Wal-Mart, their employee compensation package is quite low – because of supply and demand, workers employed there are not always schooled in customer service. These employees often don't see the importance and value of service to their customers.

You sometimes find decent service at Wal-Mart although based upon my experience over the years is the exception rather than the rule. Another store that often lacks the customer focused approach is Menards. Their service is average at best; their motto or brand is Save Big Money At Menards. When's the last time you've heard good service and Menards mentioned in the same sentence? I’ve heard from some former Menards’ employees who worked directly with the founder, John Menard, which he doesn’t focus on serving and educating the consumer. Menards is trying to build loyalty and profits primarily on selection and price. Service is typically an afterthought.

At Home Depot or Lowe's, customers will pay a little more for support and education about a do- it- yourself project. That's the expectation as many customers realize they are paying a little more for service and support. If that service disappears, and shopping at a hardware store is strictly on price, how many customers would quickly scramble to Menards to save some money?

I think it's important consumers realize what they want from their hardware, grocery or discount store. Is it strictly price? If so, then for the most part, don't have high expectations about service or being educated about a particular product. You're on your own in terms of figuring how what's needed. Is it selection and price? Perhaps then, service might not become a priority. Realize most retailers try to focus on a number of key factors although it's very difficult for most retailers to provide a competitive price, excellent selection, and strong service all in one store. Would you concur?

Image from Plastidip.com

From a Business Perspective, is Good Customer Service Essential at Walgreens?

2011-06-11T10:11:00.007-05:00

I read a few weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal, Walgreens reported its total sales rose 5.5% to $5.99 billion for the month of April. I also read that Walgreens is now 32^nd on the Fortune 100 list, which I find quite remarkable as they continue to grow and expand their profitable business model.

They must be doing something right. It’s the type of store when you visit, regardless of time of day, you will find shoppers. Realizing Walgreens is usually busy got me thinking about their service. What’s so special about Walgreens? If you shop there, what's the attraction? Is it solely convenience or price? Or maybe the service provided in their Pharmacy department? Or all of the above?

Let me ask a few more questions about your relationship with Walgreens...How much time do you spend when you shop there? Does it depend on whether you dropped off a prescription with the pharmacist? When you visit, do you have service expectations at Walgreens?

I don’t know about other shoppers but invariably I find myself having to wait in line at Walgreens – especially if I use the checkout in the front of the store. Do others find this too? If I’m in a hurry, I’ll sometimes survey other departments to determine if another employee is able to ring up my items.

Speaking of potential challenges while visiting Walgreens, do you find it difficult getting in and out of their parking lot? Whether it’s Denver or Fort Lauderdale or Libertyville – I’ve had issues parking and leaving parking spaces in various Walgreens’ locations.

From my repeated experience, it’s often difficult to locate a sales associate to assist you in the store. Typically, many store employees are in the Pharmacy department, behind checkout counters or in the backroom. Perhaps customer service or individual service is not always their focus.

From my perspective, they provide enough service to garner regular and repeat customers. Mind you, I mentioned service,which is not necessarily the same thing as good customer service.
Therefore, having mentioned some of my experiences and challenges there, do other Walgreen shoppers also grab their items and get out of the store ASAP?

Don’t get me wrong, often, this store is conveniently located and their selection is pretty good considering their size. In addition, their Pharmacy often comes through in the clutch. In terms of prices, not so much. They are a little pricey although you’re paying for convenience. I just suspect they are not too customer service focused. Maybe they don’t need to be. Maybe they can be successful with their current model without their customer service. What do others think? Do you agree?

Walgreens Image from O-mores.blogspot.com

The Party City Store Experience

2011-06-06T10:29:00.002-05:00

My wife needed to buy some party supplies so she decided to visit The Party Store at the Mundelein Crossing Shopping Center. She had been to their website and seen they were having a 50% off sale on all summer items. In lieu of the upcoming graduation parties in June, she was looking to get her party supplies on sale.

While in Party City, she grabbed her glasses, plates, napkins and other decorations inside the store after seeing they were having a 50% off sale. She noticed the prices were a little more than she could afford but knowing she could get them for 50% off the regular price, she was interested. As she approached the check out area with all her party supplies, her items were rung up without the discount. My wife being astute and paying attention asked about the discount. The young man behind the counter said the marked price already considered the 50% discount. The original price was in very small print on the item and the current price took into consideration the 50% discount. Nowhere did it say that the current price listed already included the 50% discount.

Needless to say, my wife's experience quickly changed and she decided not get these items. She felt mislead and somewhat manipulated and did not appreciate the young man's "couldn't care less" demeanor behind the counter. There was another shopper who had the same experience who also decided to pass and brought back her items too. It appears that at least there were two shoppers who exercised their principles that day. Not a way of a party supply store trying to increase their customer loyalty and build their brand. In addition, certainly not consumer centric by this Party Store. I wonder if employees who see other shoppers doing this will pass this along to the store manager or owner.

A few days later, my wife and I visited a Super Wal-mart who had a really good party selection and many of the items were no more than $1. The Party City claims that No one has more party for less, which I'd question − especially with our experience of finding many party items for a third or a half less than the Party City store.

If you had been in a similar situation, what would you have done?

The Silo Restaurant – Tasty Pizza but what's up with the pizza discount?

2011-05-27T13:53:00.001-05:00

Evaluation of the 50% Off Coupon Offer
There’s a restaurant in Lake Bluff, which has been serving and pleasing customers for many years. It’s called The Silo Restaurant. Part of the restaurant is shaped like a silo – hence, the name.

This brief article is not about the food, service or ambience. This is not a restaurant critique or evaluation; I’ll leave that to the restaurant critics. The focus of this article is on the Silo's 50% coupon offer.

You may see this in a coupon mailer or a local newspaper that The Silo is offering a 50% off any pizza coupon. You might immediately think this is a good deal until you read all the print that says the maximum discount allowed is $4. Interesting offer.

Let’s see how this savings would apply to their 14-inch Specialty Pizza. The cost of this 14-inch Specialty Pizza is $23.95, so applying the 50% discount (not exceeding $4) means the pizza would cost about $20.00. Some would say this is hardly a bargain. Even though the ad states the 50% coupon, this particular discount comes out to be 17% of the total cost. Is this the kind of deal or discount you think of when you see a 50% off ad?

Look, they’ve been offering this discount for at least 15 years – perhaps even longer. At some point in the past, this may have been a decent offer. However, today, it’s somewhat laughable. No, I'm wrong, it's downright laughable!

Has anyone noticed that the value of this coupon has not changed over the years? Of course, the cost of food and beverages has significantly increased over the course of 15 to 20 years even though this particular coupon has not kept pace?

According to the coupon, one must present the coupon before ordering. Does that mean if you forget to mention the 50% off coupon, you’ll have to pay the normal price?

The other interesting aspect of this coupon states this coupon is not valid with any other offer. Of course, we wouldn't want the restaurant to go broke offering more than a significant discount on a pizza or meal.
Folks at Silo, consider reevaluating the value of this coupon and bring it into the 21^st Century.

Exercising Excellent Service in Your Small Business One Interaction at a Time

2011-05-20T17:12:00.004-05:00

A few months ago, I had a conversation with a few individuals who are interested in customer service and take it seriously. At the time, we were thinking aloud -- how does a small business owner or independent contractor know when they are doing a good job? Especially in the area of taxes, financial services or insurance. Think accountant, financial advisor or insurance agent.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to some of these professionals (independent contractors) to get their take on how they know when they are providing excellent customer service.

SOME FEEDBACK FROM THESE PROFESSIONALS

If you meet with your clients, they are interested in what you’re saying or are engaged, and they return 6 months or a year later to do it all over again, you’re probably meeting or exceeding their needs.

If they return your calls or feel comfortable to call you back, you’re probably doing a good job.
If clients open up and allow you to get to know them over time, chances are you’re providing good service.

Another example is receiving verbal thanks, a card, or small gifts from time to time; it appears to indicate they appreciate your service.

Sometimes, there’s an opportunity to ‘wow’ customers who’ve had negative customer service experiences before in the same industry. Because their idea of what service should look like in this industry is low, you have a great opportunity to “wow” them with your care and concern and make them permanent customers.

If you're getting new clients while maintaining your existing ones, you’re probably doing a good job.

If your current clients are referring clients, you’re probably doing a good job.

If you're losing clients, you are dying.

Even if you're losing just a few clients, you are dying a slow death. Obviously, the purpose of business is to grow.

You can read people in terms of how they respond to your calls or meetings. Are they engaged? Do they enjoy speaking with you? Do they want to meet with you? Do they implement most of what you recommend or at least respect your professional opinion? If the response is ‘yes’ most of the time, you’re probably doing a good job.

Set the expectation to new and old clients that you provide a personal approach and strong customer service to their financial, accounting or insurance needs. Tell them you care. Tell them you will proactively call them if changes are needed to their portfolio or their insurance needs change.

Once you set a higher level of expectation, do what you say you’re going to do. Your clients will appreciate and remember your excellent service. You will become remarkable.

Supply and Demand in the Labor Market

2011-05-14T23:32:00.005-05:00

While in transition and looking for full time employment, I’ve attended many networking events. Some of these events are a small gathering while other events have over 100 job seekers. Some events are good and useful and others don't appear to be as effective. Often, you have to “try out the new networking event” before you can eventually gauge its usefulness. Regardless of the length or venue, I try to get as much as possible out of the events I attend.

I’m writing this in March 2011 and most adults are aware that the job market is very tight so people are looking for a competitive advantage. That could apply to improving your resume, image, networking skills, elevator speech, acquiring a new skill set or interviewing. Therefore, people in transition may be attracted to learning new skills or adding value where they can to gain a competitive advantage.

Let's look at the job market in further detail. For discussion sake, let’s say that there are 20 million professionals in America currently in transition – half of those who religiously attend 2 or more networking events per week. If you're in transition, you’re competing against those people looking for work. There’s a limited amount of job openings – let’s say 4 million jobs are available. It’s easy to see that the supply of 4 million openings exceeds the demand of 20 million people in transition. Even if 10 million individuals are in transition and are doing whatever possible to make a difference to help set them apart from the rest, the demand for those jobs far exceeds the supply (10 million in transition vying for 4 million positions). So the value or new skill you’ve achieved is diluted or becomes less significant because millions of others are doing the same thing. In other words, you’ve lost some of your competitive advantage as many others are doing the same thing.

Most in job transition know the value of networking. Naturally, it is important not to rely solely on applying to online jobs. Therefore, it’s recommended to target companies and develop contacts in that company. When we see an opening at Company X, we may seek out our friend or networking contact before applying at Company X. This is more effective than just completing an online job application. However, if 10 million job seekers decide to do this, then how effective is this approach?

The same principle may apply to one’s LinkedIn profile. I read the value of ensuring your profile is 100% complete. I read how it’s important to market yourself the right way. I read how it might be useful to include your resume and other important documents within your profile. I also see how important it is to market yourself as a knowledge worker and one with a specific brand or skill set and mitigate the fact you are in transition. As I’m doing this, I’m thinking, aren’t others in transition doing the same thing? Again, I’m becoming a LinkedIn subject matter expert (SME) along with many others. Learning new software or becoming more skilled at social networking is good experience although how much of a competitive advantage did I gain by acquiring this knowledge?

Unfortunately, with a tight labor market, even among professionals, you find more and more people are using valuable energy, creativity and time playing the job search game. What kind of a toll does this take on prospective employees? How much value is lost for their future employer once they are hired? Is it quantifiable? What other options would someone have who is desperate to find gainful employment. Should we be considered with these types of questions?

The age-old question, what’s financially more effective: Receiving an A in a Regular class or a B in an Honor's class?

2011-05-08T20:07:00.000-05:00

Our daughter is currently a senior at Libertyville High School (LHS). This fall, she will be going off to college and her focus in choosing a college has been primarily Big Ten. My wife and I have done a lot of research in this area and from our perspective, most Big Ten Universities focus on two things – Grade Point Average (GPA) and ACT score. Regardless of what we think their focus should be, they look at very little else besides these two things. With so many applications and demand exceeding supply, it's not necessary for them to spend too much time on any one candidate. It appears, from their perspective and through the law of averages, they’ll get a diverse student body.

If this is true, how do you maximize your GPA in High School to help prepare for a Big Ten University? You want to take challenging courses to get ready for College; however, at the same time you need to keep your GPA as high as possible. The question then becomes, if your strength is History and English, how should you handle courses like Biology and Math? For many Big Ten Universities, they expect prospective students to take 4 years of Math and Science although they don't necessarly have to be in the Honor's category.

If you’re anxious to prove yourself in High School, you enroll in Honors Math and Science. In fact, you may do real well in both courses – earning 87 and 88% respectively (certainly should feel proud of your accomplishment). Unfortunately, your letter grade is a B for each course, which gives you 3.5 grade points for each course as they are Honor's courses.

An alternative is to bypass the Honor's courses and take Regular Math and Science. If you believe you could earn an 87% to 88% for the Honor's course (previous example), then you should have a good shot to earn at least 90% for the Regular course. If successful at achieving at least 90%, this will earn you an A or 4.0 grade points for the Regular course. By taking this approach, your GPA is 4.0 as opposed to 3.5 for the Honor's courses. What looks better on paper for Big Ten Admission Counselors?

In other words, taking a lot of challenging courses in High School might prepare you a little more for College although there's a risk for many students your GPA may suffer and reduce your options. Especially if you're targeting Big Ten Schools. However, a higher GPA and ACT score might afford you many more University opportunities as well as potential scholarships. One must also keep in mind Libertyville High School is well known for their academics, so enrolling in the standard curriculum and bypassing most Honors courses still exposes you to a solid preparation for the University.

One other thing to keep in mind, if you know your area of study at the University (History, for example), you may want to take that type of challenging course in High School even if you don't earn an A in that class. It’s certainly good experience and helps prepare you for the type of coursework you’ll see at the University level.

ADDITONAL GRADE INFORMATION
If you get an ‘A’ in Honors, you receive 4.5 grade points
If you get an ‘A’ in a Regular Course, you receive 4 grade points
If you get a ‘B’ in Honors, you receive 3.5 grade points
If you get an ‘B’ in a Regular Course, you receive 3 grade points

Service At Libertyville Toyota - Review Of

2011-05-01T19:51:00.001-05:00

On Monday night, April 18, I took my 1997 Toyota Camry into Libertyville Toyota to get an oil change. Actually, I just had my Minivan fixed and properly maintained the week prior and I was anxious to get my Camry up to speed for the spring and summer season. My guess was the oil change would take about an hour at the latest. I certainly had the time on Monday night to spare an hour for car maintenance.

On Sunday evening, I was able to register for my oil change appointment, which was convenient. I arrived a few minutes prior to my appointment and thankfully, Libertyville Toyota said the oil change would take about 45 minutes. I proceeded to take a walk around the neighborhood – yes, it was another cold evening in Libertyville in April but I needed to get out in the elements and walk.

When I returned about an hour later, I ran into my service technician (we’ll call her Maria) who had some troubling news. Apparently, the threads associated with the oil pan plug fell out during the oil change. Needless to say, they were unable to change my oil or should I say to add oil (until I gave my approval to add the necessary threads back). I was stuck between a rock and a hard place so I said “OK,” as Maria promised to finish the car within 6o minutes.

My original thought revolved around simply getting an oil change for $19.95 without any additional issues or costs. I guess they had the last laugh or chuckle as my final bill was $100 more than that. They did offer me a loaner car that I didn’t want to hassle with, I’d sit through another hour or so waiting for my car. Hot coffee and the Chicago Tribune kept me company for that time.

I was happy they were able to complete the repair job in about one hour as they delivered on their promise. Add that to the hour oil change and it cost me about 2 hours time. I guess it was Ok as I’m frequently productive finding things to do in the meantime. Even though I was content the repair job took only one hour, I was not happy about the thread issue. Was this a fluke? Was this something which commonly affects older cars? Having never heard of this issue, it was not the way I had anticipated my evening ending.

As I said earlier, I spent about one hour in the waiting area, besides the wobbly table, the time did pass quickly. I’m a big fan of the coffee and tea and I can see many clients appreciate the free popcorn usually available. I did briefly use the men’s room at Libertyville Toyota and thought it was showing its wear. How does the condition of the restrooms affect the reputation of the service facility?

Don’t get me wrong, Maria was very professional and explained the situation well. I also appreciated that the repair took no more than an hour. She was also able to use my other coupon and give me a 10% discount on the repair. As she finished explaining the costs and service, she mentioned Libertyville Toyota was surveying clients that day and asked that I would be kind in my evaluation. I thought that was a little out of place as the friendly female cashiers handled my payment and gave me a coupon for a free car wash. I was relieved to have finished the most recent car maintenance on my ’97 Camry.

My check engine light was on and according to the technician; it was going to cost $80 to connect my car to a diagnostic machine and review. Apparently that was the only way to ascertain if there’s a serious issue with my engine. In the same conversation, the technician told me the check engine light appears for over 200 reasons – some serious and some not so serious. So if you’re super cautious about your vehicle, you potentially have to pay $80 to get that message interpreted every time that light appears? Is there a better way? Sounds suspicious to me…

AREAS WHERE THEY EXCEL…BEING CUSTOMER CENTRIC...Free coffee and Popcorn comes in handy when you have to wait 1-3 hours for your car.

The service technician did offer a loaner car because it was going to take a few hours but I declined. That was a nice touch.

The female cashiers were very friendly and conversational. We actually had a nice chit-chat conversation about the spring weather and spring cleaning. I appreciate their friendliness.

It’s nice Libertyville Toyota gives you a free car wash after your service.

: Image from Usa-cars.autothalom.com

I was able to make an appointment online this past Sunday even though the facility was closed − nice touch!

A USERFUL TOOL WOULD BE…The ability to scan or put all my service related materials in one spreadsheet. Tracking dates, service performed, service provider, cost, etc. This tracking tool would be helpful to have – especially if you own more than 2 vehicles.

If I'm reactive, I'll rely on the mechanic although If I'm proactive, I can know when I need to get something on my car addressed. This would certainly apply more if your plan is to hold onto your car for at least 6 or more years...

Is It Counter Intuitive To Think The Postal Office Is Alright?

2011-04-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

I mailed some packages the other day at the Post Office in Libertyville, IL, and saw a sign inside their office which read as always, service to our customers is our #1 priority. The sign went on to say that No financial challenge or uncertainty will change that.

I know it’s common for some consumers to take shots or criticize the post office – it’s an easy target. Comedians and people in the media will also take their shots at this institution. Who is there to defend them? On the other hand, should the Post Office ever be defended?

First, it only costs 44 cents to mail a letter. From my perspective, I think it’s certainly a reasonable cost if not somewhat inexpensive. In fact, I would not mind raising the price for mailing a first class letter if they could keep that price the same for at least 3 years.

Ok, before you accuse me of being counter intuitive, I think largely, the Post Office seems to do a good job. Yes, you have to wait in line from time to time for stamps or to weigh a package but generally that only occurs around the holidays.

In terms of mail delivery, they appear to do a fine getting it from Place A to Place B. Sure you hear horror stories of lost mail although those are exceptions. Millions of pieces of mail are properly delivered before you hear negative news about a mail carrier (usually a male postal worker) losing a bunch of mail.

Conventional wisdom might say they suffer a bad image because of their mail service but that’s not my service experience. I generally receive a letter that was meant for a neighbor next door and vice versa although that may only occur once a year. A few mistakes over the course of the year are not something I would fret about.

I may only visit six or so offices in the Chicago area during the course of a year and usually my visits occur where I’m greeted by a friendly associate. Generally, the associates are pleasant, personable, and a lot less formal than they used to be. Perhaps they are more customer centric than they were years ago.

Once a large organization or a public institution gets a reputation, especially a negative one, and it takes quite a bit to shake it. It’s open season on the postal service. It's vogue and fun to criticize the post office. Who in their right mind would ever defend such an institution?

I wonder how others feel about the post office. Do you think they get a bad rap? Alternatively, do they deserve their less than sterling reputation? Do you experience friendliness at your local post office as I do in Libertyville, Grayslake, or Lake County, Illinois?

Cici's Pizza Restaurant Evaluation

2011-04-20T17:12:00.005-05:00

I had a chance to visit the Cici's Restaurant in The Villages in late December, 2010. It was the 3rd visit to this restaurant over the last few years.

My comments listed below:

Needs Improvement
1. Don't use a spray bottle to clean the tables when customers are within 2 feet of the table being cleaned. One Cici employee was spraying some cleaner onto an adjacent table which unfortunately carried over to our area. To smell disinfectant while you're enjoying pizza, salad or dessert is not why we visit this restaurant. If the table cleaner doesn't realize this, then it is the responsibility of the manager on duty to point this out. At no area of the restaurant should clients smell any disinfectant or cleaning chemicals.

Suggestion: Some other restaurants use a pale of a clear cleaner (without spray) to mitigate this from happening.

2. One Cici employee working behind the salad counter slammed down a spatula on the counter as I was helping myself to salad. It initially startled me -- not sure why this was done? She quickly walked away after doing this.

3. When employees bus tables, they need to be aware of clients enjoying their food nearby. Don't throw silverware into the tub or bang glasses or plates together. It is abrasive, creates unnecessary noise and is disturbing to customers -- especially to those sitting nearby the dirty dish bin.

Mind you, being quieter when busing tables applies to many restaurants and not just Cici's.

4. During each of my 3 visits, there appears to be at least one employee not having a good night. I sense this by the way they carry themselves or how they speak to customers. Certainly not customer centric. When you're not treated like a guest inhibits guests from actually feeling welcome and warm in that environment.

Did Well
1. We requested special pizzas for our table and they obliged. They were very accommodating.

2. Food was well displayed and there were many varieties to choose from.

3. Good price for what you receive. Overall, a good value, especially for families with children. Especially if you are really hungry.

Updated comments from 040611
I have to be honest, I have only visited one Cici's Restaurant a number of times and that facility was in Central Florida. When I think of that particular restaurant, it appears to be fairly reasonably priced restaurant that serves a ton of food. If you're really hungry, you may want to consider this type of restaurant. In my estimation, the food is OK – if your goal is a moderate serving of tasty food, I'd consider other venues. If you coach a soccer team and your team is really hungry after a tough game, Cici's might deliver.

Cici's Logo from En.wikipedia.org

Is the iPad Such A Ridiculous Name?

2011-04-09T21:41:00.000-05:00

The original iPad was introduced in April, 2010. I remember it well with all the negative press. There were so many stories, jokes, and ridicule, I wondered at the time if this new product had a fighting chance. I then realized it was an Apple Product and the branding of this product was safe. Regardless, at the time, so many in the media and public could not believe Apple chose this name – a name that reminded so many of a feminine product. Perhaps Apple and a few others were the only ones not deterred by the negative publicity.

Personally, I was never bothered by the name. It was not going to be called Pad or My Pad as the Apple product would always be preceded by an ‘i’. Because this is considered a tablet computer, it would have been difficult for Apple to choose tablet as a name or even iTablet. You needed a name that was somewhat aligned to tablet but not exactly the same name.

This product is quite sensorial so you could make the argument to call it the iTouch although with the iPod Touch, it might confuse the marketplace – which is which. Does iPad somehow convey home or semblance of comfort and security of home? I’m not sure although...

So with iPad 2.0 being introduced in March 2011, have we heard the same negative press? Where are those in the media who felt Apple made a big mistake choosing iPad as a name last year? Where are those who suggested Apple did not do their homework with their name selection? The Apple brand is so powerful that they have created such a buzz with this product that many people don't think of a feminine product when you hear the term 'iPad'. I suspect we are done hearing media professionals harangue their choice of names.

According to Wikipedia, Apple released the first iPad in April 2010. Apply sold more than 3 million iPads during the first 3 months and have sold about 15 million in the 10 months the device has been in the marketplace. During this time, Apple has sold about 75% of all tablet PCs. Considering Apple sold 15 million of these devices in 10 months or 50,000 per day. Does it seem consumers were bothered by the name? Were consumers bothered by the fact that the iPad reminded some especially in the media of a feminine product? I think the amount of sales they've experienced in less than a year provides the answer.

You have the iPad 2 released in March 2011. I would not at all be surprised if the iPad 2 surpasses the sales for iPad 1.0 in less time.

It’s clear Apple never paid attention to the press in terms of the criticism of the name. They were too busy being innovative and trying to develop the next new cool gadget. I will say one of the first things that come to mind is how quickly they were able to develop the next version of a tablet PC. The second thing that came to mind was how many of these devices will they sell? How long will they dominate the market before there’s real competition for Apple? Now when you hear about how well the iPad 2.0 is doing, your own association is an innovative tablet PC.

iPad Image from Maclife.com

Counter Intuitive Thoughts

2011-04-04T00:00:00.002-05:00

Harvard Business Review interviewed Zak Tormala of Stanford about his current research.
232 The Persuasive Power of Uncertainty (Podcast)

My Summary of the PERSUASIVE POWER OF UNCERTAINTY
Part of their study involved a fictitious restaurant where researchers tried to study the power of uncertainty by experts and non-experts using restaurant reviews. The restaurant review was done in the most favorable light and tried to be compelling.

There were two restaurant review experts, one expressed certainly about the review (we’ll call Expert A) and the other reviewer expressed somewhat less certainty (Expert B). The variable which was manipulated was the level of certainly in their review. When Expert A was definitive in his review, the response to the review wasn’t as compelling. In other words, according to the researchers, the definitive review was less persuasive. If Expert B reviewed the restaurant with some uncertainly, readers were somewhat surprised to hear this and became more interested. If customers’ curiosity was piqued, they were more likely to pay attention and would be more open to persuasion. Again, the test was done among reviewers who were considered experts in their field.

If the variable being manipulated was the level of expertise, the opposite occurred. If the non-expert was more certain with their review, they were more persuasive. If non-expert was less certain, they were generally not very persuasive. According to this study, with non-experts, the level of persuasiveness depends on how much certainty you project. Because they are non-experts, the key for believability had to be how certain they were.

So experts who have a lot of credibility have a little leeway to express doubt and still be persuasive and the opposite occurs for those who aren’t experts. If you want to be persuasive and are not an expert, the level of persuasiveness will make all the difference.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION WITH THE PERSUASIVE POWER OF UNCERTAINTY
If you are a CEO who’s an expert about your company, you can sometimes help your audience focus on your message but expressing a little doubt or certainty. It might help to get people to perk up and pay more attention than usual.

You may express a little uncertainty at the opening to your speech to set the tone to help get your message across. Of course, for this to be successful, your message has to be relevant to your listening audience.
The podcast does not recommend using this approach all the time. It depends on your intent. If your intent is to convey a message your audience is interested to here, and you want your audience to be comfortable and relaxed, it is better for the CEO to be comfortable and relaxed. If what you’re telling is compelling and you need more focus, this approach of expressing some uncertainty by an expert can be a useful tool.

Will personal principles persuade you to shop elsewhere?

2011-03-29T19:08:00.000-05:00

HUMMERS IN FRONT OF YOUR BUSINESS

Will your personal principles ever persuade you to shop elsewhere?

For example, there's a window and siding business in Libertyville, north of the downtown area on Milwaukee Avenue. In the front of the business, in the parking lot, you will frequently find 2 large Hummers. As I drove my friend home one day, she remarked that she would never patronize that business. I was quite surprised at her comments, especially considering the fact that I hadn't given it much thought. It's not as though she is anti-siding or doesn't believe in patronizing local businesses – but rather, she's anti-Hummer. Her revulsion to this vehicle is not due to her eco-conscious stance so she's not a tree hugger worried about their carbon footprint. No, it appears to be something else. She just doesn't like Hummers. She thinks they're aggressive looking and this particular brand turns her off.

It appears my friend has never liked Hummers and probably never will. Is she alone in her thinking? I suspect this vehicle is a lightning rod for many people and I also suspect it's hard not to have an opinion about a Hummer. Is this a polarizing vehicle? In other words, you either really like them or they just repulse you. With thousands of cars that pass by this business everyday, are there significant amounts who are turned off by the two Hummers in front of this store?

Does it not make any bit of difference? Will some people bypass this store on ethical principles? If so, will the window and siding store ever know this is occurring?

A Hummer vehicle is not something I'm passion about and I don't think it would necessarily dissuade me from visiting this local retailer if I had the need for new windows or siding.

I'm wondering if having Hummers in front of one's business is an advantage or not? From a business perspective, do you even take the chance?

Image from Hummberblog.org

McDonald's Down the Street from Hamburger University - Review Of

2011-03-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

After participating in a college visit presentation with my daughter and wife at the Marriott Hotel in Oakbrook, we decided to get a little snack by visiting McDonald’s across the street. It was a very large and modern McDonald’s and because it was after 8 pm on a Sunday evening and we were 1 hour from home, we chose the drive-thru.

We noticed there were two drive-thru options at this McDonald’s...but which one to take? Are they both open? Because there was a car on the left side, I decided to get serviced ASAP by choosing the right side. This turned out to be the wrong choice as only one person was working the drive thru windows so I had to wait my turn.

I ordered small and medium fries, one vanilla cone, a cheeseburger and a grilled cheese (cheeseburger without the burger). My daughter also wanted a Shamrock Shake which they didn’t have. Anyway, they had three separate pick-up windows open (1, 2 and 3) and we weren’t sure where to go (our first time visit). It took 7 minutes to receive our order and when reviewed our order (which isn’t something I should need to do), I saw an Angus burger and fries. I immediately told the woman this was the wrong order who said she’d take care of it. She asked what I ordered and I repeated the order again. She also asked for my receipt which I had never received when I paid for my order.

About 5 minutes later, I received another bag with my order. This time, it contained a cheeseburger and chicken wrap. No French fries or grilled cheese (I already had received my cone, which is one thing they got right). Again, I sent it back and repeated my order very slowly. I was sure this time she understood exactly what I had originally ordered.

About 3 minutes later, they gave me a bag with the correct french fry order but no cheeseburger and grilled cheese. Again, I repeated my order as we held on to the fries.

My wife went into the store and complained to the manager who corrected it and asked if there’s anything they could do. My wife asked for a chocolate shake. In my opinion, the entire meal should have been free as it took 20 minutes to get a simple drive thru order.

It must have been amusing for the woman who waited on us as she was laughing as my wife explained all the mix-ups with our order.

Should not the employee apologize for not getting our order right one time? Two times or three?

A FEW OTHER NOTES
When we arrived, there was just one car ahead of us and it was at 8:15 pm on Sunday evening. Certainly not a busy time...

I seldom order food from McDonald’s -- maybe about 3-4 times a year and this was not the experience I expected.

Ironically, this was my worst service experience ever at McDonald’s, right down the street from Hamburger University (McDonald’s corporate headquarters).

9 QUESTIONS FROM THIS EXPERIENCE
1. Why didn't they provide a receipt after the sale?
2. If Shamrock Shakes are available to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, why are they unavailable less than 2 weeks from St. Patrick’s Day?
3. How did they mistaken my order 3 times before we had to go inside and see the manager?
4. Is it common to have customer service issues at this restaurant down the street from Hamburger University?
5. Why so many errors when it was Sunday evening with only one customer ahead of us? Why did the entire process take about 20 minutes?
6. The second and third time she handed us the bag of food, why didn't she review the order before giving it to us? Why do we need to confirm it? Shouldn't she know what the order is?
7. When she learned I wasn't supplied a receipt and she verified my order before bringing out my food the 2nd time, why not write down my order clearly to ensure the mistake only occurs once?
8. How come you have two separate drive-thru options available in the evening if they are only being staffed by one person. Why set the expectation that you will be served ASAP when you pull up to an available ordering station?
9. Do they work directly with mystery shoppers to provide feedback on their product and service? If so, I’m sure the restaurant has some work to do.

McDonald's Restaurant Image from Fis.com

Sonic Restaurant Review - Lacking Customer Service?

2011-03-18T11:10:00.014-05:00

On one of our vacation days last summer, we decided to spend the day in Milwaukee driving around and visiting some interesting sights. On the way home from Milwaukee, I decided to take the long way home. As I headed south, our entire family noticed a Sonic restaurant. Quickly, both my teenage girls screamed excitedly and convinced my wife and I to drop in and pay them a visit. Needless to say, this was our family’s first visit to Sonic. Because you may not see this restaurant every day, when you see one, you drop in – especially with hungry, teenage daughters.

Once I pulled in, it didn’t take me long to realize you certainly don’t go inside the restaurant to eat. You either utilize the drive thru or allow the Sonic carhop to pay you a visit after placing your order through the ordering system.

We parked and ordered malts and ice cream. About 5 minutes later, we saw our carhop pay us a visit. It was surprisingly to see she was not that comfortable on her roller skates. She stumbled and ungracefully made her way to our car with our treats. She hardly said anything. She certainly was unable to hop from car to car at that rate! I could tell she was not happy. For whatever reason, it didn't appear she wanted to be at work. Once I gave her my money, she was unable to provide change so she had to repeat the entire trip. I watched with trepidation.

Indeed, next time I'll pay with a credit card...Carhops not having the ability to make change on the fly were different from what I’ve seen years ago at drive-in restaurants. Regardless, this was our maiden voyage to Sonic so we merely observed. On that hot afternoon, she did not have a pleasant demeanor so I tipped her to see if I could at least get her to smile. Even though it was against my principles to tip due to a sour attitude, I wanted to try to cheer her up. The tip worked, at least momentarily.

Needless to say, their malts and ice cream were delicious so I’d come back anytime for the treats but that’s not my takeaway. My takeaway: our carhop was not happy serving her customers. In other words, not customer centric.

Hopefully she'll learn that in spite of the circumstances, you need to put on a happy face and help make the visit pleasant for each and all of your customers. It was a valuable customer service experience for my 17 year old daughter who works in the service industry. Without having to say anything, my daughter noticed the sub-par service and vowed to be pleasant and more customer focused to all her future customers.

Maybe next time I’ll just do the drive thru and save the carhop a trip?

The Art of Making Unhappy Customers Happy - Review Of

2011-03-14T08:21:00.000-05:00

Dawn Allcot Jan 28, 2011

It's happened at least once to every small business owner: A customer isn’t satisfied with a product or service because it either doesn't meet his needs or isn't the quality she expected. Every now and again, such dissatisfaction can make a once-pleasant customer irate. What to do?

Figure out if the dissatisfaction is product-related, and take it from there, suggests Eric Engler, owner of Engler's Custom Pro Shop at EMR Paintball Park in New Milford, Pennsylvania. “The best thing to do is [help them] find another product on the market that does meet their expectations.”

“When people are really angry – not just unhappy – it's because they're having a bad experience,” he explains. In these cases, Engler will make amends with free product or repairs, which he says is a worthwhile investment in building repeat customers. “Most of the time, they'll come back and buy something else because they know you took care of them.”

Like Engler, Cindy Thul of Party Animals for Kids in St. Charles, Illinois, says she doesn't let unhappy customers stay that way. A knack for reading people, assessing their needs, and responding to those needs quickly, are her secrets to customer service success. So is an upbeat attitude. “You have to put on a happy face no matter how bad your day is going,” Thul says.

The notion that customers respond to a positive attitude is Business 101, most agree, and it should start with the store owner and trickle down to management and sales staff. Alan Howard of Plesser's Appliances in Babylon, New York, says he holds sales meeting three times a week to discuss ways to raise the level of customer service and keep shoppers happy.

“I encourage my salespeople to sell to a customer's needs, not their wants,” Howard explains, adding that it’s all about asking the right questions to help customers make the best buying decisions. “It starts at the front desk. Your sales force has to be properly trained, must know the products, and sell them correctly.”

Restitution or retribution?
Unfortunately, there are those customers that you just can’t make happy regardless of the level of service you provide or discounts you offer. Identifying these types right away can save you money. First, says Howard, identify whether the customer wants “restitution or retribution.”

When a customer wants restitution, you can make them happy – and secure repeat business – with discounts or free merchandise. Most retail owners give discounts or coupons for future purchases, but Howard sometimes offers gift certificates to other local businesses. “If someone's stove broke, we might give them a gift certificate to a restaurant on Main Street. It builds our community of small businesses and encourages people to explore the area, while giving them something they can really use and showing them it's not all about them coming back to spend more money atour store.”

When a customer is seeking retribution, however, even freebies won’t help. That customer just wants a sounding board. Take he or she aside, into a private office if possible, and listen. That doesn't mean you should tolerate verbal abuse -- it's within your rights as a business owner to ask a customer to leave if you feel threatened. But most times, by conveying your understanding of the situation, you can turn things around and create a happy customer without it costing your business a dime.

Nicole Jones, owner of Chicago, Illinois-based Sensual Steps Shoe Salon, says, “Some people are just emotional and want to take it out on you. It's important to maintain professionalism regardless of whether the customer is right or wrong,” she says.

Learning from your customers
Sometimes, customers seeking retribution actually offer a learning experience to store owners. Jones relays the story of a client whose pre-ordered boots were not delivered from the manufacturer by the expected date. Jones did everything right, sending apology letters to the customers who pre-ordered the merchandise and keeping them posted on expected shipping dates. But this one customer would not accept anything less than the boots she pre-ordered on the day she expected them.

Jones went beyond expectations, trying to order the boots from another retailer's website -- to no avail. The customer was finally appeased when the boots arrived, but the incident caused Jones to change her policies.
“Now, if I do a pre-order, it comes with a letter stating that anything can happen and delays or cancellations from the manufacturer are completely beyond our control. I let customers know about this policy when they pre-order the product to prevent misunderstandings,” Jones said.

Policies help store owners adhere to specific standards and operating procedures, but it's equally important to know when it's time to break your own policy to keep a customer happy. For instance, Thul requires a minimum of six children to host a birthday party, but in certain cases will permit a smaller party. “I had a grandmother with cancer who wanted a tea party with her three granddaughters. How could I say no to that?” Thul says making exceptions to store policy has never come back to bite her.

“If I had to do it often, it would absolutely hurt my bottom line because it really isn't cost-effective, but people are people, not just dollar signs coming into your business. You can build a wonderful customer base by adding that personal touch, whether it means making an exception to your policy or just offering a little 'something extra,'” she says.

Kevin Schwarm's Comments
Sometimes, customers just want to offer a lesson of learning to business owners. Sometimes, customers just want to make a point about being wronged and possibly help out the business. They have no financial stake in the company but feel their input might improve sales by improving service.

At times, to help make dissatisfied customers happy, you break policy. Extenuating circumstances may help drive the exception. There may be a store policy which may be “written in stone” but there may be extenuating circumstances to enable you to deviate one time from policy. One example of a policy had to do with requiring 6 girls for a birthday party, which may have been created for financial reasons. One grandmother who had cancer wanted to have a birthday party with her 3 granddaughters and the store owner said yes. It’s not always cost effective to bypass policy although sometimes it’s the right thing to do and often earns good will.

Sometimes, a customer is not satisfied with a product or service. It may simply mean the product or service did not meet their needs or isn’t the quality they expected.

One business owner suggests when someone did not have a pleasant experience, you need to find out more. Is it product related? Specifically, how does it not meet expectations? If people are unhappy, maybe the product or service didn’t match their expectations. It could be that what they expected is not how the business planned to deliver it.

If people are angry, it generally means they’ve had a bad experience. Someone generally will not complain about their experience unless it truly was bad. According to the article, sometimes, offering free products or repairs, to help make amends. This is valuable, especially for building repeat customers.

If your business has made a significant error with their service or the product which does not meet customer expectations, try to understand ASAP what your customer wants. Do they want restitution or retribution? If restitution, you can provide coupons or discounts or gift certificates to other local businesses. It builds a sense of the business community.

When your customer is looking for retribution or punishment, providing a gift certificate to a local business won’t suffice. The customer may really want someone to hear what they’ve gone through or how disappointed they are. Some people are just emotional and want to take it out on you. As long as they don’t become abusive, it might be effective to remain calm and convey to them that you are listening and sincerely understand their predicament.

Customer Service Image from GApublicweb.net

Why Your Boss Is Wrong About You - Review Of

2011-03-08T07:00:00.004-06:00

By SAMUEL A. CULBERT
Published in the New York Times on March 1, 2011

In the raging battle over union rights in Wisconsin, those seeking to curtail collective bargaining for state employees have advanced an argument that seems hard to resist: It will make it easier to reward those workers who perform the best. What could be fairer than that?

If only that were true. As anybody who has ever worked in any institution — private or public — knows, one of the primary ways employee effectiveness is judged is the performance review. And nothing could be less fair than that.

In my years studying such reviews, I’ve learned that they are subjective evaluations that measure how “comfortable” a boss is with an employee, not how much an employee contributes to overall results. They are an intimidating tool that makes employees too scared to speak their minds, lest their criticism come back to haunt them in their annual evaluations. They almost guarantee that the owners — whether they be taxpayers or shareholders — will get less bang for their buck.

In other words, there may be lots of reasons to restrict collective bargaining by state workers, but the idea that it will lead to a fairer system of rewarding employees, to the benefit of taxpayers, should not automatically be counted as one of them. Performance reviews corrupt the system by getting employees to focus on pleasing the boss, rather than on achieving desired results. And they make it difficult, if not impossible, for workers to speak truth to power. I’ve examined scores of empirical studies since the early 1980s and have not found convincing evidence that performance reviews are fair, accurate or consistent across managers, or that they improve organizational effectiveness.

Think about it. Performance reviews are held up as objective assessments by the boss, with the assumption that the boss has all the answers.

Now, maybe your boss is all-knowing. But I’ve never seen one that was. In a self-interested world, where imperfect people are judging other imperfect people, anybody reviewing somebody else’s performance — whether as an actor, a writer, a spouse, a friend or a worker — is subjective. It’s why when employees switch bosses, more often than not their evaluation changes as well.

Under such a system, in which one’s livelihood can be destroyed by a self-serving boss trying to meet a budget or please the higher-ups, what employee would ever speak his mind? What employee would ever say that the boss is wrong, and offer an idea on how something might get done better?

Only an employee looking for trouble.

Is there a way out? I believe there is, and it works for both government and business. It’s something I call the performance preview. Instead of top-down reviews, both boss and subordinate are held responsible for setting goals and achieving results. No longer will only the subordinate be held
accountable for the often arbitrary metrics that the boss creates. Instead, bosses are taught how to truly manage, and learn that it’s in their interest to listen to their subordinates to get the results the taxpayer is counting on.

Image from Thethrivingsmallbusiness.com

Instead of the bosses merely handing out A’s and C’s, they work to make sure everyone can earn an A. And the word goes out: “No more after-the-fact disappointments. Tell me your problems as they happen; we’re in it together and it’s my job to ensure results.”

In fact, the police department in Madison, Wis., has used such a program since the late 1980s with considerable effectiveness. It replaced traditional performance evaluations with a system that emphasized goal-setting and continuous improvement. It encouraged supervisors to act as coaches and mentors, and officers (who are unionized) to offer feedback on their superiors.

Employees are in fact eager for such collaboration. In Wisconsin, members of public-sector unions have been willing to give in on money (contributing more to their health care and pensions) but unwilling to give up their voice (the right to bargain collectively on work rules, not just wages). And public employees have a special relationship with the systems they serve. They are also taxpayers.

Unions in Wisconsin are justified in worrying that limiting collective bargaining would lead to capricious firing or demotions, whether for age, personality, salary or any other criterion you can think of. There doesn’t have to be anything malicious about it (although there might be). It’s the inevitable result of giving the boss the subjective power to define and judge another’s performance.

Performance reviews aren’t the only ways to measure effectiveness, to be sure. Workers whose output is tangible and measurable — how much garbage is picked up, how many streets are cleared of snow — are increasingly evaluated according to numerical goals. I’d argue these measurements are similarly flawed. Workers are almost always better at coming up with metrics that lead to systemwide gains than bosses alone are. The key to systemwide success (as opposed to individual success) is still employees working together under the leadership of good managers.

Of course, not every worker, public or private, will seize the opportunity to collaborate with managers and figure out ways to improve overall results. If they don’t, there should be ways to get rid of them.

But understand that the performance review makes it nearly impossible to have the kind of trusting relationships in the workplace that make improvement possible. With previews, at least, workers have the opportunity to reverse course and say how they can be their best. Taxpayers can’t ask for more than that.

Kevin Schwarm's Comments:
I completely agree with the author’s characterizing performance evaluations as subjective evaluations. From my experience in corporate America for 20 years, performance reviews are not always an effective way to judge someone’s performance. Do you have an in? Subjective evaluation includes speaking the same “lingo” or being able to hang out with your manager and have a lot in common. It may be a generational or gender thing too. In many cases, rapport is a better indicator on how well someone will do and often less about how well the employee contributes to overall results.

The author claims most performance reviews corrupt the system as the employees, in an effort to get a good review many employees will help out the boss wherever possible and this may not always be aligned to the bottom line or the company’s mission. How common is it for your bosses’ boss to ask you about how your boss is doing? Do they look for feedback from you? Even if they did, could you trust them that your insight will not be held against you if it’s not what they’re looking for or not done in the proper tone?

From my experience, the boss is in the position of power and you, as an employee, have very little say in the matter. In the corporation, for example, you need to trust the boss as the balance of this power is entirely on the side of the corporation or company. Again, performance reviews are conveyed to be an objective assessment about one’s performance even though from my experience and according to this author, we know there’s so much subjectively and opinion that flows or creeps into the process.

It’s doubtful any boss is all-knowing – especially consider this comment from a management expert who has examined empirical studies for the last 30 years or so. From my experience in corporate America, I have not seen this occur. In fact, I’m not sure how common it is for your manager to admit when they made a mistake. Sharing some of the struggles may improve the candor of the relationship. Could having a more honest and healthy dialogue between managers and subordinates help the relationship and improve the bottom line?

You may be encouraged to speak your mind and let management know what you’re thinking but often this will come back to bite you. Even if this is done constructively, often, you’re perceived to not have the answers because you’re not in the position of authority. In other words, a manager may say that they know or have the answers because they were given the authority. Do managers have the answers because they're in a position of authority or because of their education and experience?

The author suggests eliminating the current review program and establish a more effective one called performance preview instead of performance review. It would no longer top-down or a system where the employee will be accountable for arbitrary metrics. The manager and subordinate would be responsible for goals and results. This new preview process would teach managers how to truly manage and listen and work with their subordinates on goals and results.

As reported in the news recently, members of public unions in Wisconsin are willing to contribute more money toward health care and pensions but don’t want to give up their right to collectively bargain. They don’t want managers having too much power to subjectively evaluate their performance. They want to continue to have a voice in this matter where their managers manage and listen and collaborate to help reach goals and results together.

The author believes the performance review makes it nearly impossible to have the kind of trusting relationships in the workplace that make improvement possible. With previews, at least, workers have the opportunity to reverse course and say how they can be their best. This new evaluation system could provide more value to taxpayers in the end.

Some employees who “get along” with their managers “always say the right thing” feel the review process is less subjective and may not need to be changed. Others, who may be more honest or don’t have that rapport but want to make changes for the better find it’s a very challenging process indeed. They feel it’s a struggle advocating on behalf of their clients or trying to push through an idea.

Counter Intuitive Thoughts

2011-03-04T08:14:00.001-06:00

IS IT ALWAYS BENEFICIAL TO STREAMLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE INTERACTIONS?

Some business consultants in the United States strive to find various ways to get customers off the phone. Or to go to the web instead of a call. Or to move to call centers to India.

There are still some companies that rely on the interaction between the company and clients so it's important to maintain that close interaction. There's at least one coffee company that encourages their clients or prospective clients to call them. Even though the company provides the Internet channel, the company regularly encourages customers to call. Does this sound counter intuitive?

The company learned some time ago their customers often provide the best feedback about their products and business. The company quickly realizes the value of this feedback. What flavors are most palatable and why? What’s working? What’s not? What should the company consider or do differently? Feedback or the type of interaction that may be harder to capture through social networking or through the web. The phone interaction may help them capture the subtitles and nuances and provide feedback and direction to help grow their business.

So the next time you hear a consultant or expert say they can reduce your calls and save you money, decide for yourself if that's the right policy. Even though the call center is an expense, your business may ultimately benefit from this type of model. Especially if it comes across that you really care what your customers think and are listening to your customer. Typically, those who work the front lines have valuable information and feedback to help the company know what to do or what not to do.

CARS WITH 6 GEARS
Over the years, I’ve driven 4 and 5 speeds but no other manual transmissions in cars. The other day, I heard that some cars are being developed with 6 gears. In today’s gas mileage conscious society, having a 4 speed manual transmission provides better gas mileage than an automatic transmission although having a 5 speed to even improve it a little more. Most manual transmissions sold are either 4 or 5 speeds – but there are some vehicles which are 6 speed. If a 5 speed transmission provides better mileage than a 4 speed transmission, then should not a 6 speed transmission improve mileage from a 5 speed transmission?

Even someone doesn’t mind driving a 4 or 5 speed, I suspect they wouldn’t mind driving a 6 speed as well. Especially if they see more value in doing so. What about you, would you ever consider a manual transmission car with greater than 5 gears?

Did The Local Meteorologists Help Their Brand With The Latest Storm?

2011-02-27T14:11:00.003-06:00

We had a significant storm in the Chicago area a few weeks ago − probably one of the most severe winter storms we've had in the last 50 years or so.

The winners of this storm, if you consider such a thing, are the weather forecasters or meteorologists. So often you hear about a severe storm forecasted and nothing happens or we get one inch of snow. Sometimes, forecasters predict spring or summer severe weather and it doesn't rain one drop. After a while, with inconsistent forecasts, listeners or viewers may be less likely to take weather forecasts seriously.

This storm really changed things − at least it changed things temporarily. Perhaps this storm appears to have helped the reputation of weather forecasters. Meteorologists were predicting the heavy snow was supposed to begin around 3 pm on Tuesday. Indeed, at exactly 3 pm, the heavy snow began to hit the Libertyville (Chicagoland) area. Meteorologists said at times, we'd receive 2 inches a snow an hour − I certainly experienced this while shoveling on Tuesday evening. It was also forecasted the area would receive gusts of 50 mph winds with very cold temperatures. Again, they were right on the money. And don't forget, meteorologists predicted between 16 and 20 inches (and up to 24 inches in some spots). Again, pretty much spot on as the unofficial total in Libertyville was 20 inches. They also forecast frigid temperatures once the storm left our area and this transpired too.

Image of the Chicago Blizzard '11 from WJBC.com

Again, people often don't trust what meteorologists say or they don't take their forecasts seriously. Being so exact on the depth of snow, wind velocity and the time the storm was to hit, their forecasts were precise. If local residents took this forecast seriously, it would have saved them a tremendous amount of time and inconvenience by getting off the streets, finding a warm place and letting the plows do the work. Their success at accurately predicting this monumental storm may help to bring a little more confidence into their forecasts, especially forecasts dealing with snow. At least for the remainder of the season.

Would you agree their success with this particular forecast helps their reputation in any way? Why or why not?

Tread carefully with Grammarly?

2011-02-24T21:51:00.000-06:00

COMMENTS ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE WITH GRAMMARLY
While I was on the Internet a month or so ago, I noticed a product advertised to help writers and professionals improve their writing. Because I do freelance and blog writing, I thought I’d give it a chance. So I followed their prompts to get a document reviewed (which they did) but didn’t provide the actual analysis and results of my writing sample. I was disappointed and confused at the results. More on that later.

Let's just say I'm still interested in Grammarly to see if it will provide the kind of writing and editing feedback I'm looking for, the option is to accept their 7 day trial offer. I begin going through the process and realize I need to provide credit card information. I still don't have any feedback on the quality of their product and I'm asked for credit card information for a trial period. At this point, I don't have warm and fuzzy feelings for this company or process. I think to myself, if you believe so strongly in your product, why not give a 30 or 60 day free offer and not request the credit card information? If a user is really excited about this product and they find value, business will come your way.

They're also asking how I'd use this product - trying to secure additional information from me without providing tangible value (returning my document) to me. First, provide value before you try and make a sale. In this situation, not only analyze my document but provide me the feedback to give me a better idea what your product can do.

It is interesting to see at the time there were only 3 testimonials on the home page. Was their original design to provide many more testimonials on the home page? How did they decide on 3?
On their home page, Grammarly scores well against other products. What are those products? Are those other products fee based? For a fair comparison, we need a lot more information before this comparison provides the kind of value they want it to provide.

Just for grins, I ran the email I received welcoming me to Grammarly from the Grammarly Team and scored 54 out of 100 with critical writing issues.

Regardless, I was still intrigued with this product as there was some mention of a free plug-in for Microsoft Word so I inquired further with no success (explained later in post).

LETTER FROM GREG CARPETS REPRESENTING GRAMMARLY

Hello,

My name is Greg Carpets and I am an Account Manager with Grammarly, the world’s most accurate grammar checker.

Recently, you attempted to sign up for a free trial account at http://www.grammarly.com/, but never completed it. Maybe the requirement of a credit card or a Paypal account was a problem for you, in which case I'd like to ensure you that Grammarly will not charge you unless you choose to keep your subscription past 7 days. Even though Grammarly trial is completely free, we require a valid payment method at the time of purchase. This helps us ensure you will have uninterrupted access should you choose to keep your membership. If you cancel within 7 days, you will not be charged. Cancelling is easy – you can cancel from within your account management panel, or by contacting our support representative 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I am also happy to help with any other enquiries you might have regarding Grammarly features, support questions and the like.

Best regards,
Greg Carpets
Individual Account Support
Grammarly.com
Applied Linguistics LLC
93 South Jackson Street, Seattle, WA, 98104
Phone: (800) 318-6146 Fax: (888) 442-2421

INSTANT REPORT WITHOUT ANY CONTEXT
Grammarly advertises that they provide an Instant Report of your document and paper which is technically true. It's within the letter of the law but perhaps not the spirit. They will analyze your document in real time checking 150 points. Check your writing for grammar, punctuation, style and much more. Indeed, they will provide a report with detached data but will not specifically list the errors in your document.

I find this disingenuous and misleading. Especially considering the fact that they show an edited document to the right of this offer. If you briefly glance at the top of this home page, it is implied the report will provide a corrected document. It is a “No Go” without signing up or trying the 7 day offer.

Let's be honest, Grammarly is in the service of making money. My suggestion, provide each potential client a means to really be able to "try out" the product to help them make a viable decision. Give potential clients a better idea of the service before requiring credit card information.

COULD YOU RESPOND TO MY EMAIL?

When they determine you're not interested or can't afford the service, they drop you like a hot potato. I tried 3 times to communicate with them after I said I couldn't afford the product as I'm currently in transition. All I wanted to know is if I could use an Add-on for Microsoft Word. That's something I read somewhere and wanted it confirmed but they haven't responded.

I’m not that familiar with Grammarly but my recent interaction with this company makes me suspect. Even if there's value in their product, the lack of communication to my follow up emails and the fact they don't provide a complete writing analysis without providing credit card information makes me uneasy.

If you were me and had a similiar experience, what would be your takeaway?

Appliance Shopping - Customer Service Challenges at Best Buy

2011-02-19T08:07:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine purchased $2,500 worth of appliances from Best Buy in Gurnee, Illinois. We’ll call him Bill. Bill bought a microwave, gas range and dishwasher. All appliances were scheduled to be delivered on Friday, February 11, 2011. Best Buy waited until Thursday evening to tell him the appliance would be delivered between 4 and 6 pm on Friday. Unfortunately, because he received the call late in the day, he was forced to take a vacation day on Friday to be on hand when the appliances were delivered.

Even though Bill is handy and very comfortable with tools, he wanted Best Buy installing the appliances. I should say Best Buy’s contractors as the appliance installs were part of the total price.

According to Bill’s story, before the gas range could be fitted to the gas feed, the installers had to remove a 3-inch pipe. According to the installers, their insurance prevented them from removing that type of pipe. Hence, the gas range could not be installed. My friend was not happy and couldn’t believe his ears. His thinking was that he just paid cash for these appliances and installation and the Best Buy’s contractors couldn’t finish the last piece of the process.

Because Bill is principled in his approach with the service and retail industry, he refused to accept the merchandise and told the installers to put the appliances back on the truck. At first, the installers didn’t believe he was serious until he again told them to load everything back on the truck, as he’s not going to do business with them. As they were packing up, the contractors did say that other clients get upset too when the installers can’t install some appliances due to insurance guidelines. Some customers accept it and others eventually complain. One key question, how many complain to Best Buy where they were promised installation and later hear the installers can’t install due to insurance guidelines? How many don’t?

Look, Best Buy sets the expectation that they can do the job from start to finish. In other words, after the 4 to 6 pm install window, Bill was going enjoy, admire and use the installed appliances. Certainly, his initial plan did not involve having to go without a gas range for up to a week and having to visit the store and complain! Obviously, my friend went to Best Buy that night (Friday) to complain.

Frustrated with the appliances not being installed and then being put on hold for too long, he felt the best approach involved complaining in person. After a number of interactions, he dealt with the manager on this issue. The manager tried to help Bill come to some agreement. After realizing how upset and frustrated he was, the manager offered to remove the $400 microwave charge from the bill. It was enough to appease Bill though he was still upset.

I can appreciate installers adhering to guidelines – perhaps Best Buy needs to hire contractors who have more leeway and flexibility to handle at least 95% of all installs. There will be exceptions, by redesigning the process, many of these exceptions could be eliminated. With 9.6% unemployment, I’m sure Best Buy can find flexible, competent and customer focused installers who can handle the majority of all installs. If auto mechanics have the aptitude and experience to work on a variety of cars with varied systems, appliance installers can certainly follow suit.

If I worked for Best Buy or managed the store, my main concern would be determining how many appliance installs don’t go well. How many of the unsuccessful installs are reported to Best Buy? How many consumers just get disgusted, don’t complain and vow not to deal with Best Buy again?

Regardless, Bill’s still upset enough about this issue – I have proof as he spent 10 minutes today telling me. In addition, he said he will write a letter complaining about their service and doesn’t want to deal with them moving forward. I’m sure he’ll also tell his sons and friends. What does this do to Best Buy’s reputation? Recent business news reports Best Buy’s business is down as there’s a lot more competition in the electronics market. Could not ‘improving their service’ help distinguish them from their competition and improve their brand?

ADDENDUM: Bill went to the store on Saturday to reschedule the delivery and found that apparently he had misunderstood the discount. Instead of waiving the cost of the microwave, Best Buy was offering 10% off the entire bill. However, when he accepted and asked for a Saturday delivery, they couldn’t arrange it. He proceeded to tell them he could not afford to take another day off of work and cancelled the order.

Bill has since ordered his gas range from Abt Appliances in Glenview, Il. They had no issues installing the gas range with his current setup. Interestingly, Bill learned that the delivery guys from Abt are employees so they take a vested interest in installing the appliances thoroughly and correctly. They even spent extra time showing him how to use his new gas range. Interesting spectrum of service from two separate providers.

What Will I Owe?

2011-02-16T11:05:00.010-06:00

It’s been a few years since I last visited my daughter’s pediatrician (Lake Forest Pediatrics) and the new innovative feel of the payment process is great! First, the registration process involves us typing in the patient’s name and birthdate at the registration kiosk. Once confirmed, you pay, we paid with a credit card. I swipe my card and it automatically prints a receipt. Our wait was less than 5 minutes before we were seen by the nurse. A very innovative and efficient process.

Unfortunately, about one week later, I receive a bill from our pediatrician for $125. This bill is an additional charge, which was not part of the registration process and certainly not expected.

In full disclosure, our pediatrician did clean out my daughter’s ear. It was considered minor surgery, which consisted of the pediatrician spending 3 minutes cleaning out both of my daughter's ears (this has been done for a number of years without ever a charge for this procedure). I will need to inquire whether this fee should have been part of the bill. Because of the additional action needed on my part, the innovative check-in process loses some of its luster.

My suggestion, before the insured ('s) leave the office, please let us know what we owe. I paid the $25 office visit, which I thought would suffice until I receive an additional bill in the mail. If there are additional charges, provide us an updated bill while we're in the office.

By knowing the updated charges before I leave, I have the opportunity to discuss this with the office personnel. If this can be resolved while in the office, it’s a win-win without the additional mailing cost and subsequent phone calls.

Would you agree?

Citrus Bowl Evaluation at the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2011

2011-02-12T22:20:00.001-06:00

IDEAS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
1. Is there ever incentives to provide the concession stand workers to work hard to sell more donuts, pretzels, soft drinks or water? They were so slow and emotionally detached while serving customers at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Mind you, on January 1, you couldn't blame it on the heat.

The concessionaires could potentially sell 20 to 40 percent more items, would that mean they would have to pay their staff more? Could you get competent and hard working staff to accept that challenge and receive a bonus if they exceeded fairly set quotas? It could possibly be a win-win for the clients, concessionaires and staff employees. Food for thought?

2.a. Restrooms and Facilities. Why not keep the restroom exit doors open? You're not affecting privacy and you may improve hygiene by not having germs spread by many individuals touching the exit handle without washing their hands. What difference does it make if 80% of all men wash their hands after using the restroom when all men need to use the restroom exit handle when leaving? All users are affected even though 80% of users are trying to practice good hygiene.

In addition, with large crowds, you're improving the traffic flow by keeping the door open. One more note, because of traffic flow at such large events, it's imperative that there's a clearly marked exit and entrance. Keep people moving as efficiently as possible.

2.b. Restrooms were somewhat disorganized and disheveled. When you have major events at such a venue, you almost need a full-time janitor on hand to keep things clean and organized.

2.c. On a similar bio-related note, I found it very difficult to find a drinking fountain or a bubbler (what it's called in Wisconsin) to use to fill up your empty water bottle.

3.a. Parking is a challenge — especially if you bring a family as you want to park as close to the stadium as possible. We chose a spot directly off the expressway and were fortunate to only have to pay $30 for a spot about a 10 minute walk from the Citrus Bowl. The parking area was a little suspect and somewhat run down so not sure how feasible this spot would be at night. Regardless, an issue arose after the game when they rerouted traffic unbeknownst to us. Nothing to indicate the traffic prior to the game that the traffic would be re-routed. We had to take an alternate route (worked out OK) which was somewhat challenging at first without a GPS and being unfamiliar with the area south of the Citrus Bowl.

3.b. An alternative is to park downtown and take the bus to the station which I've done in years past. The system is pretty well organized and seamless. You can easily catch a bus after the game or even before the end without any issues to take you back downtown.

One note about parking downtown Orlando, especially on New Year's. It can be desolate and I've read sometimes parked cars are broken into. So your car may be a target for thieves during the game.

4. At larger stadiums, why not add a weather board for all spectators to see? In other words, wind direction and strength, temperature, and barometric pressure. You are dealing with a game played in the elements, why not include weather information to help spectators better understand how it may affect the play on the field?

Fortunately, for the spectators on January 1, 2011 in Orlando, the high temperature was 77 degrees – a perfect day – especially for visitors. In other parts of the country, weather may vary more significantly and weather may play a more significant role in the game played in the elements.

Image from Orlandovenues.net

PLUSES
1. Overall, the staff at the Citrus Bowl were helpful and accommodating. From the police directing traffic after the game (even though we were re-routed) to the ushers, no complaints about the service they provided.

2. According to a press release in July, 2010, the Citrus Bowl Stadium just received new AstroTurf last September. In other words, the turf for the Capital One Bowl did indeed look good.

3. From where I sat, fans from both Michigan State and Alabama were friendly and out to have a good time. There were some good ribbing done by the Crimson Tide fans as they clearly dominated the Spartans from Michigan State early and often. All was done in good fun.

4. We were able to find a number of tickets for the game outside the stadium for well under face value. Of course, the old supply and demand principle comes into play. In other words, finding out there were tickets available at the box office 2 hours prior to the game indicated to me that good seats would be available outside the stadium for under face value. We had no issues buying and selling tickets prior to the game to ensure the group of 4 could be seated together.

KEVIN SCHWARM

The Lowdown at Lowe's in the Plumbing Aisle

2011-02-08T07:54:00.006-06:00

From BehrPainters.com

Two months ago, I had the chance to spend a few days in December in Florida with my Mom and Dad. They live in The Villages in Lady Lake, FL. Unfortunately, they had some plumbing issues while I visited. Fortunately, I was able to assist. Because Lowe’s was the nearest hardware store from their home, my Dad and I took the convenient route and visited Lowe's.

It was our second trip to Lowe’s in as many days and my goal was to verify I had the correct materials and tools to do the job. We were happy to quickly find help in the plumbing aisle. I asked him where I could find a plastic flange for the sewer pipe and he abruptly pointed down the aisle and said, “Over there.” I quickly wondered what kind of service we were going to receive.

Experience in life tells me to rely on experts – especially in a hardware store. At the same time, experience tells me to it’s crucial to explain your situation while you're in the store – to ensure you're on the right page with the expert. As I began to explain the current challenges of adding a flange to the bottom of the toilet, he interrupted and said, “Don't rotate the toilet, you just sit on it after you add the flange." To clarify, I said calmly, "The instructions on the container say you slightly rotate the toilet from side to side and then sit on it." He said abruptly, "No, I've been a plumber for over 25 years and you don't rotate it. You just sit on it to set it in place." I was surprised at how defensive he was. I certainly respected his plumbing knowledge and experience although his delivery and demeanor could have been much more customer friendly.

As I had entered Lowe's for the second time, the last thing on my mind was a confrontation in the store. I was looking for the customer centric approach – after I would explain my situation and the expert would work with me, provide helpful advice and materials to complete my task.
Like I said in my earlier post about retail experiences, please don't belittle or embarrass me. Retailers, show a little empathy, especially in a hardware store. I'm not necessarily an expert at this and my bet is that there are a lot of consumers who can identify with me.

Personally, I typically have more questions than answers and I'm just trying to complete a project or task. I certainly treat all retail employees, including those at Lowe’s with respect. And the same treatment would be welcomed. Even if our point of view isn't the same or we don't agree doesn't mean we can't interact in a cordial and respectful manner.

JUST CURIOUS...LET'S BUILD SOMETHING TOGETHER…LOWE’S Just wondering...Lowe's says Let's build something together. Does that mean when their plumber is finished with their shift on Saturday afternoon he'll come over to my house and help me put in a shower.

KEVIN SCHWARM

Review of Container Store Article

2011-02-04T08:56:00.036-06:00

CONTAINER STORE ARTICLE (From ABC News)

From Gosublogger.com

MY SUMMARY
The number one stakeholder for the Container Store is their employees.
For other companies, it may be the stockholders. Others, it could be the
customers or suppliers.

However, the common thread between all of our companies is that we're working to ensure everyone involved in our business succeeds – it doesn’t have to be a “zero sum game” where someone has to lose in order for someone else to “win.” It’s somewhat counter intuitive to what many people think can be a profitable way to run a business.

In fact, it’s not only profitable, it’s fun to nurture and develop these mutually-beneficial relationships…and if I hadn’t been able to lead our company for the past 32+ years with this approach, I’d probably be a fly fishing guide somewhere in Colorado.

Some companies consider their stakeholders but The Container Store considers their employees. Of course, it helps them considering they are a privately held company.

85% of shoppers are women, things eye level, carpet for warm feel, wider aisle for moms with carts all improve the experience. If employees are happy, customers will be more likely to be happy. Each associate gets 240 hours of training, average for retail store is less than 12 hours.
Most focused on products so they’re well positioned to sell to customers.

500 million in sales with less than 50 stores.

Conscious Capitalism—employees, customers, vendors, stakeholders, environment’s About making a profit and including multiple stakeholders…New way of things. People care and they care that they care.

The Container Store is built on great products but the company is structure under some basic and fundamental values regarding treating vendors, customers and employees with respect and dignity.
These principles would help equip all employees to respond to challenges in unison to similar circumstances. So, regardless of our job or geographical differences, the company uses these principles to act as one unit, working in the same direction toward the same goal.

These principles are used instead of the typical retail procedure manual to help all in the decision-making and keep us focused and fulfilled. To make this store unbeatable, they use one-of-a-kind product selection with the value based Foundation Principles.
Common sense products, good people, and good business.

TOP 3 THINGS THEY STRIVE TO DO AT THE CONTAINER STORE

Get more than hello. Warm greeting but not generic. True engagement is important.
Court key customers. College students, young women, retirees…feminine appeal
Yummy corporate culture. If excited, sense that if you walk through the door.

OTHER THINGS

1 person will equal 3 good people
Fill the other guys’ basket
“Man in the desert” selling
Communication is leadership
Intuition does not come to an unprepared mind
Service, selection and pricing
Air of excitement

Kip Tindell (CEO)
1. Code of ethics should be in personal and business life. Not separate aspect of morality. He doesn’t hide his morality.

2. Wake. Aware of your awake. Everyone’s wake is more powerful than you think. Bring together where everyone is mindful of their wake. Improves Conscious Capitalism.

3. Put employee first better than it Put anyone else first then customer taken care of like anyone else.

KEVIN SCHWARM

Some Favorable Customer Service Interactions (this weekend)

2011-01-31T00:10:00.000-06:00

PANERA

Just received an email today from Panera telling me to visit any Panera in the near future for a free cup of coffee or tea. My wife also received the same offer. Because we are part of their rewards program, we receive bonus points for our purchases. Anyway, this offer appears to be independent of the rewards program. No coupons to print or worry about, just stop in for your free coffee. Not a big deal and won't cost them much but interesting marketing. If I need lunch or breakfast this week, who will I think of? Besides this blog, will I tell others? Will it pay off for Panera?

COSTCO

Costco recently sent me coupons for photo developing. The deal looks attractive -- 100 free 4 by 6 prints from your digital camera or $5 off one customer photobooks but that's not what caught my eye. The coupon doesn't appear to have an expiration date. Wow, now that's remarkable! How often do you find a coupon for a free medium pizza or $10 off your meal and sadly discover the coupon has expired. This type of coupon without an expiration date gives us flexibility and options when to redeem this coupon. I wonder if Costco's profits are up?

BARNES AND NOBLE
On Friday night, I had to purchase a book for my daughter's literature class so I did the convenient thing and visited a Barnes and Noble nearby. During the transaction, the cashier asked for my email address and I inquired "why" and she said Barnes and Noble sometimes sends out specials and coupons. As she explained, she pulled out a paper coupon with a discount code and I asked her if she could apply that code to this particular purchase and she did gracefully. It was my lucky evening as I was able to save $8 or 50% on the book. To possibly improve your customer service interactions, it certainly doesn't hurt to ask and be open to potential opportunities.

Excelling in Service from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota

2011-01-29T20:17:00.003-06:00

GOOD SERVICE
Last year, my wife, who’s a in the financial services industry, ordered 150 calendars from the Calendar Coop Center in Sleepy Eye, MN. According to this company, as clients, we were going to follow a certain process to get these calendars created and published. This company was going to email our office a pre-printed copy of the calendar credentials before publication.

Needless to say, we never received this email to review the draft. About the time that I inquired on the status of the review email, the 150 calendars arrived to our office. Fortunately, they were ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, part of her credentials were missing from each calendar. Perhaps someone had a sleepy eye? Therefore, according to the guidelines my wife’s company, these calendars were not compliant.

Regarding the typo, we proceeded to contact the Calendar Coop Center and they were very apologetic about the error. They asked whether we OK’d the email and we explained we never received the email draft review. I emphasized, due to compliance regulations, we needed her exact credentials on the calendar. They were cooperative and insisted they’d print the new calendars and ship them out within 2 days. We offered to ship back the calendars but they insisted we could keep them. Within four business days, our corrected calendars did arrive.

I appreciated their customer service focus last year. Even though the error was insignificant, it was something we had to correct. After they apologized, they accepted responsibility and did the necessary work to create and ship the correct information.

This year, we did not hesitate to order from them and thankfully, the calendars arrived corrected. One true test of a company is not if they make mistakes but how the company handles situations when mistakes are made. A fine example of a company being customer centric and making the best out of a business interaction that initially didn’t start well.

Do you have an example of a company making an error but then being responsible and correcting the situation?

Kevin's Other Blog Can Be Accessed Here.

Review of the New NY Times Online Subscription Model

2011-01-25T19:02:00.000-06:00

Original article can viewed by clicking on the hyperlink on the author's name. My analysis follows:
By Russell Adams

The New York Times is preparing to introduce multiple subscription packages for access to the paper's website and other digital content, kicking off the biggest test to date of consumers' willingness to pay for news they're accustomed to getting free.

Online readers of the Times would get free access to a certain number of pages before being asked to pay.

Under the new system, expected to be rolled out next month, the Times will sell an Internet-only subscription for unlimited access to the Times site, as well as a broader digital package that bundles the Times online with its application on the iPad, according to a person familiar with the matter. Subscribers to the print edition of the paper will get full online privileges at no additional cost, Times executives have said.

The person familiar with the matter said the Times has considered charging around $20 a month for the digital bundle and less than half that for the Web-only offering. To read the Times on Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader device currently costs $20 per month. The Times has guarded details on pricing, which have evolved during the planning of the system and which could change even after rollout, depending on demand and other factors.

Online readers would get free access to a certain number of pages on the website each month before they are prompted to sign up for a subscription for additional material, an approach currently used by the Financial Times, which is published by Pearson PLC. Executives from New York Times Co. settled on that model over a year ago after they decided it was the best way to tackle the dilemma facing many news organizations: How to balance the need to make up for lost print readership and ad revenue with the risk of taking themselves out of an Internet ecosystem where so much similar material is free. The company declined to comment.

As a free site, the Times online attracts more than 30 million monthly unique visitors, according to comScore Inc. Those visitors fuel over $100 million a year in advertising on the website, according to people familiar with the matter.

Times Co. executives have said that only about 15% of the paper's online readers are "heavy users," meaning the vast majority probably won't trigger a payment requirement. And half or more of the site's traffic in some months comes through the "side door," or from search engines, social-networking sites and other sources.

Times Co. executives say people who arrive through search engines like Google won't be blocked from viewing the first page of a search result regardless of how many visits they've made. The openness of the system has raised questions inside and outside the Times about whether the paper is making it too easy to avoid paying. Executives have said they will work with search engines to limit the frequency of such visits so readers can't game the system.

The approach "will help to preserve NYTimes.com's significant reach and advertising inventory, in that it will allow us to retain light users while aiming to convert heavier users to a digital subscription," Times Co. Chief Executive Janet Robinson said at an investor conference in December.

While some publications, including The Wall Street Journal, have had online subscription services for years, the industry as a whole has waded gingerly into paid content. The Dallas Morning News, owned by A.H. Belo Corp., next month will begin charging $16.95 for full access to its website plus various apps and other digital content. A print subscription will include access to content in all those places. Jim Moroney, the paper's publisher, said the primary goal is to get print subscribers more engaged with the digital editions and observe how non-subscribers respond to paying for access. He said the paper has "very little expectations around the Internet website and paying for access to it."

News Corp.'s Times of London last year began limiting access to its website to people who register for a subscription, resulting in a sharp drop in traffic. News Corp. executives said they are pleased with the initial response, with about 50,000 monthly subscribers to its digital editions signed up in the first three months.
Central to the New York Times's offering is its iPad app, which currently is free but likely will cost about $20 a month once the new pay system is introduced.

To sell subscriptions that bundle the Times in print, online and on mobile devices, the Times has had to develop an e-commerce platform that patches together various old and new databases and programs. Executives have cited the difficulty of that task as a key reason for the long lead-up to the new pay system and have been testing and debugging the system.

KEVIN SCHWARM'S ANALYSIS:

According to sources, they will offer two packages:

Internet-only subscription for unlimited access to the Times site ($10 per month?)
Broader digital package that bundles the times online with the iPad application ($20 per month?)

NY Times subscribers will receive both as part of their subscription. This will provide flexibility to those NY Times readers who simply want access to Internet-only material for a small monthly fee. For those who want broader Internet access including mobile, they'll have access through their iPad and Internet. If you subscribe to the NY Times paper, you will receive free access to both packages. This model may help the NY Times in the future to solicit more subscribers, adding this option to the other aspects of their current newspaper offer.

Online readers would get free access to a number of pages per month before they are prompted to sign up for the subscription. It’s a tricky balance between how to make up for lost ad revenue and the risk of possibly alienating people who are attracted to free and useful material.

It will be interesting to see how this model works – allowing online readers access to a certain amount of pages. How many of these readers attracted to the NY Times (but unwilling to subscribe) may ultimately decide, for one reason or another, to subscribe.

Executives at Times Company say only about 15% of their online readers are frequent users – indicating the vast majority of users won’t trigger a subscription prompt. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Just curious, how do they define frequent users? Accessing the NYtimes.com once a day? Spend more than 30 minutes a day reading on this site? If those percentages are low, you may have many more casual users triggering a subscription prompt.

According to the executives, people who arrive a the NY Times home page will not be blocked from viewing content on the first page regardless of the amount of visits. Some at the Times are concerned users will be able to access content through creative ways, bypassing the need for a subscription. Executives will work with search engines to prevent some users from gaming the system. Again, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

According to what I've read, this project has been in the works for several years. Many of the project delays can be attributed to the Times having to develop a platform to get the old and new databases and programs to talk to one another.

Another major newspaper, the Dallas Morning News will begin charging users $16.95 for full access. Their primary goal is to get paid for their content. Their model is to target those engaged subscribers in the digital editions; observers are also interested to see how non-subscribers respond to paying for access. It appears to be an experiment and a work in progress according to Jim Moroney, the paper’s publisher.

Grocery Therapy-Part 2

2011-01-22T20:17:00.011-06:00

ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTIONS

Image from Cakeplow.com

BUY SOME FRUIT IN SEASON ONLY Buy grapes, strawberries, blueberries only in season. Resist the urge to buy blueberries in February, especially in the Northern climates. You'll pay excessively for them. If you need frozen strawberries or blueberries, Trader Joe's has them for a very competitive price. Don't forget the Warehouse Clubs if you really like frozen fruit and don't mind buying them in larger amounts.

HANG UPSIDE DOWN FOR BANANAS Buy more bananas. At $.59 per pound, that's pretty reasonable and healthy too.

APPLES If you can, buy apples on sale whenever possible. Strike when the iron is hot -- find out which stores have really good apples and produce overall and from time to time, check out their sales and selection. The ideal is to visit an orchard (if you live near one) and buy a bushel or so. Store in a fruit cellar or cover them with burlap in a garage where it gets cold but not too cold until late December. You could eat fresh, crispy apples from the orchard until Christmas or longer if you play your cards right.

VEGGIE BURGERS IN BULK? Buy veggie burgers in larger containers. Last time I checked, 4 veggie burgers at Target costs $4.24 (10 ounce container). If you buy them in a larger container at Costco or Sam's Club, you can save a considerable amount of money. I purchased a larger container at Costco last week and it cost me $8.99 (56 ounce). That's $1.61 per 10 ounce or a savings of 62% less if purchased in a larger container at a Warehouse Club.

CHEESEHEAD? If you or your family can't live without cheese, consider purchasing cheese in 2-pound containers at Costco instead of in the 1/2 to 1 pound containers at the grocery store. You'll pay between $2.25 or $2.50 per pound for fairly high quality cheddar or mozarella cheese. Moreover, if shredded cheese is necessary, shred it yourself when you feel energetic.

NUTS ABOUT NUTELLA This product from Europe has been on the store shelves for several years and you can save substantial money buy knowing where to buy. If you purchase at the grocery store, the smaller size of Nutella will cost between $3-4. If you plan ahead and look for it at Costco, (not sure if Sam's has this product), you can save a considerable amount. For example, the 26 ounce Nutella at Target is $5.99. At Costco, you pay $8.49 for 2 of the same containers. The total savings is $3.50 or $1.75 per container or a 29% savings. If your family really enjoys Nutella, you may want to consider purchasing this at a Warehouse Club.

GENERIC IN THE BREAD AISLE? Buy generic bread, bagels, buns and freeze whenever possible. Often, you can get store brand bread on sale or at warehouse clubs for substantially less money. Buy a handful at a time and save room in your freezer for some.

IS PROPEL OVERRATED? Use half as much Propel. My daughters have been brainwashed to think they always need propel in their water bottle. Where have they heard this commercial propaganda?

BRAND SODA PURCHASING If you like or are addicted to brand soda, buy in large bottles or stock up during sales. Every month or two, Pepsi or Coke sells many of their products on sale so stock up accordingly.

PURCHASING RICE IN BULK Will help you save money. There are many varieties of rice that can be used to reduce expenses. If you willing to plan out your meals and not hurry prepared food, there can be significant savings too.

BULK UP ON CEREAL I can purchase GoLean Crunch or Organic Raisin Bran at Costco for less than $8 for over 50 ounces. Often, cereal can cost me $4 for a 16 to 20 ounce box. Consider buying it in larger containers -- especially the cereal you love that you'll eat regularly.

CONSIDER UNIT COST I purchased facial tissue at Costco yesterday and was surprised to find in some situations, Kleenex is your best buy if you are willing to select the large container. Often, generic or store brand products are less money than brand name items but comparing unit cost, the larger Kleenex container was the best deal. Be careful, because among the other sizes, your best value is store brand or Kirkland for your tissue needs.

Target Introduces New REDCard Program

2011-01-16T21:38:00.000-06:00

Recently in our area, Target introduced the REDcard. This card is designed to save you money on grocery items immediately receiving a 5% discount on your gross amount. According to Target's website, this card is like a debit card and links directly to your checking account for hassle-free payment.

This is certainly an interesting business model. If you add the REDcard to your shopping experience, some consumers may not always feel compelled to rely on sale items or coupons to help save money. Personally, if I can sometimes avoid using coupons, I'll do it for two reasons. First, most coupons have an expiration date often with a short time span. Second, there’s the risk of losing or misplacing them. In other words, saving money through coupons may sound better in theory than in practice.

Regardless, there are many advantages to using this card and many of these are listed below:

They'll continue to have Market Pantry items (store brand).
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

They'll continue to provide sale items.
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

They'll continue to have a good selection of items.
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

They'll continue to provide clean stores.
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

A good selection of household and cosmetic items.
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

They’ll continue to give back to the community.
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

They'll continue to provide efficient checkout lines (Seldom having to wait more than 5 minutes).
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

They'll continue to have customer centric employees: For example, did you find everything today?
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

They'll continue to have Archer Farms items (premium store brand).
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

You should maintain similar spending habits or even purchase a little more.
You Might As Well Use The REDcard

From my viewpoint, the grocery-shopping marketplace just got much more competitive. With the 5% discount, Target has taken a big leap toward enticing part-time and regular customers to shop there more often. If you are a part-time Target customer, the 5% REDcard program might just provide the necessary incentive to persuade you to become a regular shopper.

ADDENDUM:
It will be interesting to see how many part- and full-time customers eventually use the REDCard. From what I've seen at Target and after speaking to a number of cashiers, it hasn't caught on as quickly as Target would have expected.

Perhaps cynicism or an unwillingness to change among shoppers?

YELL OR SHOUT IF SHOUT DOESN’T WORK

2011-01-14T16:02:00.001-06:00

Shout, the stain remover, has been around for many years and may be a staple in most American homes. Frankly, I’ve had very little success with this product.

Over the last 20 years, I’ve tried Shout in a variety of situations with limited results. Over the years, I’ve actually believed their “commercial hype” over the effectiveness of their product. I’ve not seen many results. I tried different water temperatures and pre-treating clothes with Shout with very little success. I've tried excess amounts of Shout on stains with limited results.

Listen, if a brand is more effective than the generic or a less expensive option, yes, then I’ll pay a little more for the product. Even if it costs twice as much, it's all about results or value in the end. Obviously, it there’s no difference, why pay the additional cost between the generic and brand name?

Mind you, I’ve had this product in the laundry area of the house for at least 20 years. I just accepted the fact that it work. This isn’t something I’ve tried three times and then gave up.

Full disclosure, I grew up in Racine, WI where S.C. Johnson is headquartered and our family often used Johnson Wax products while growing up. In fact, as a child, our neighbor, who worked there, used to give us free products to sample. Most people in Racine liked the Johnson Wax brand and used many of their products. One could argue we received a lot of positive business propaganda about S.C. Johnson in and around Racine. Perhaps the strong branding I received growing up prevented me initially from realizing the ineffectiveness of Shout until later in life. It just doesn't cut the mustard (so to speak).

Supermarket Science

2011-01-11T18:59:00.008-06:00

Supermarket science-Stores use many strategies to sell you their products
October 13, 2010 By William Hageman, Tribune Newspapers
My comments and summary of this article Supermarket Science

According to Paco Underhill, founder and CEO of Envirosell, nothing in the store is by accident. Everything is by design.

"There's a reason why produce and often the bakery are the first sections you see. First, the produce section tends to be well lit – so that everything looks better in the store than it ever will when you get it home. The smell or view of fresh bakery may also help to get your saliva glands working. There’s a method to their grocery store layout.

Make a list and stick to it to avoid snap decisions and get familiar with the store so you only visit aisles that will address your grocery list. According to the Food marketing Institute and the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute, about 60% of what we buy at the supermarket wasn’t on our list.

If you have kids, shop when the kids are in school; they slow you down or distract you from efficiently completing this task.

Shop at off-peak hours. The busier the store, the more time you spend in the store and the more items you will purchase. Often, I’m in a hardware or grocery store at 7 or 8 Pm on a cold, snowy evening. Needless to say, when I can find an associate, I can receive pretty good service.

Most shoppers realize it’s never a good idea to shop hungry or tired. Shopping tired or hungry can ultimately become an expensive proposition.

Some research suggests some consumers respond to 'On special,' even if the price hasn't gone down. The mere presence of that sign will clue them into the fact they could save money. Some consumers perceive they are getting a good deal because of the sign.

Get through the checkout area as quickly as possible to avoid the tempting items there. In other words, consider shopping at stores that open up more checkout lines when they get busy. They realize your time is important too.

Items in the dairy case have the highest conversion rate so there are few people who go to the milk or yogurt section who don’t buy. Just know that if you’re going in just for a gallon of milk you leave with some impulse items you may not need.

The more time you spend in a store, which increases the chance you’ll purchase more items. So remember that if you’re forced to wait 20 minutes in your store for your prescription to be ready.

If you’re looking for a better deal, choose house brands or larger sizes — usually better deals — are displayed higher or lower.

Another factor in getting people to buy something is signage. Again, it's a science. Science says hand-lettered signs grab people. Also use red and yellow signs signal sales. Establishing limits on sale items help to create a greater buzz than no limits at all. For example, if you want to sell more corn, put up a sign that says 'Limit 4 cans per customer.' You'll sell more corn than without any limits.

Target Image from Routingbyrumor.wordpress.com

Supermarket science-Stores use many strategies to sell you their products

October 13, 2010|By William Hageman, Tribune Newspapers

The next time you come across a real supermarket find — stacked crates of fabric softener with a hand-lettered "Clearance Sale" sign taped to the front — don't feel so smug. You're being played.

Despite its appearance — the slightly amateurish-looking sign, its location sort of blocking an aisle — that display wasn't hurriedly set up by some overworked stock boy. It is part of a plan.

"Nothing in the store is by accident. Everything is by design," said Paco Underhill, founder and CEO of Envirosell, a retail-focused research and consulting firm in New York. Underhill is a pioneer in the field. His 2000 book "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping" was groundbreaking, and his new book, "What Women Want: The Global Market Turns Female Friendly," also touches on the subject.

As the title of his first book implies, this is a science. Think about your favorite supermarket. It's probably laid out like this:

When you walk in, there will be a display to greet you, maybe something from the floral shop (see 1 on the illustration). Off to the right is the produce department 2. Along the wall, the bakery 3. Way in the back is dairy 4. Sound familiar?

That most stores follow this general layout isn't just coincidence.

"There's a reason why produce and often the bakery are the first sections you hit," Underhill explained. "First of all, the produce section tends to be lit theatrically, so that everything looks better in the store than it ever will when you get it home. Almost every supermarket knows that if they can get your saliva glands working, you will tend to buy more. So there's a reason why the bakery is up front, or the flowers are up front."

The dairy case is usually way in the back as a way to pull the shopper as deeply into the store as possible.

"The dairy section has both the highest number of ... shoppers and historically has the highest conversion rate," Underhill said. "There are very few people that go look at milk and not buy it."

So on your way to getting the milk, you walk through the middle of the store 5 — historically where the tougher-to-sell items are displayed — past jumbo olives and potato chips that you had no intention of buying. But seeing them on the shelves ...

"One of the things that the Food Marketing Institute and the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute have told us is that roughly 60 percent or more of what we buy in the supermarket wasn't on our list," Underhill said. "If I stop somebody on their way into a store and have them review for me what their mental list or written list is, and then I look in their basket as they walk out the door, roughly 60 percent of what's in that basket they didn't tell me about walking in."

The key to that is getting shoppers to stick around. That's one of the reasons stores have pharmacies ("Your prescription will be ready in 20 minutes") or chatty employees handing out samples.

"The more time they spend in a store on average, the more things they're going to buy," said David Bell, a professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "They're going to be stimulated by promotions and things in the environment."

Another well-established strategy is to get shoppers to follow a path that's decided for them.
"Certainly a retailer tries to direct you through a store in a way that's more advantageous to generating more sales," Bell said.

One of Underhill's precepts is that shoppers tend to move in a counterclockwise motion 6. "You push the cart with your left hand, you pick stuff up to put in it with your right hand," he said.

So if you're going to be drifting to the right after you enter, the most attractive, welcoming section of the store — that colorful, well-lit produce section — is right there.

Once a shopper is headed in the preferred direction, the next goal is to get items off the shelf and into the cart. That's where the placement of a product comes in. Manufacturers pay slotting fees to get a premium location for their products. That is, at eye level 7. Bargain items, house brands or larger sizes — usually better deals — are displayed higher or lower.

"What's at waist- to eye-level are those brands that have paid for the right to be there," Underhill said. "There's more effort to look up, to look up and down, to scan," Bell added. "When things are placed at eye level, two things happen. It's just easier to see them and these decisions are made rather quickly, and secondly, there might be an inference on the part of the shopper, rightly or wrongly, that the product at eye level is the better product."

Another factor in getting people to buy something is signage. Again, it's a science. Hand-lettered signs grab people. Red and yellow signs signal sales 8. Bell mentioned anchoring, whereby people latch onto information even if it's irrelevant. "If you want to sell more soup, you put up a sign that says 'Limit 4 cans per customer.' You'll sell more soup than if there's no sign at all.

"There's research that says that if people see a sign in front of a product that says 'On special,' even if the price hasn't gone down, just the presence of that sign will cue them. 'I must be getting a good deal, let me buy some of this.'"

Related articles
Save On Grocery Costs (walletpop.com)
The incredible shrinking grocery store (theglobeandmail.com)
The rise of the surgical shopper (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
How to save on groceries the lazy way (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
The rise of the surgical shopper (sfgate.com)

Grocery Therapy-Part 1

2011-01-06T14:26:00.030-06:00

ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTIONS TO SAVE MONEY

ORANGE JUICE CONCENTRATE instead of actual juice. Yes, it is somewhat of a manual process but will save you $1-1.50 per container.

STORE BRAND items should be seriously considered, regardless of where you shop. The savings may be up to 50-60% of a name brand item.

GENERIC OATMEAL IN PACKETS or better yet, buy the generic oatmeal in bulk and create your own packets. Some consumers can't shake the Quaker (Oats) habit. If you're interested in saving money, leave Quaker in the rear view mirror. Generic may taste slightly different but most can acquire a taste for it.

GENERIC BRAND is the way to go as much as possible. Don't focus on what you've lost but the money you save and the quality is roughly the same. If your focus is saving money, generic is your ticket.

Grocery Shopping picture from Afullcup.com

FEWER WAFFLES even if your children insists on waffles, toast some of their favorite bread and add jam or syrup. If you must, buy generic or buy the brand name in a large container.

AVOID PRINGLES AS A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION when possible. If you eat more than a handful of Pringles, there's a good chance it may do a number on your stomach. There are a number of ingredients in Pringles not healthy for the human body. Besides, they are somewhat expensive at $2 per 6 ounces.

PRODUCE ORIENTED so try and buy produce. Especially from a reputable, produce store where it is not pre-packaged. As a reminder, as much as possible, shop around the periphery of the store to mitigate the damages when choosing groceries.

YOGURT IN 32 OUNCE is more economical than the smaller containers. This may only save you up to $.40 per large container but it's more eco-conscious. Moreover, the large yogurt container can be reused for other purposes before it's ultimately recycled.

SPROUTING is another alternative to provide organic and fresh nutrients in the household. Especially in the winter. It will require some planning and coordinating but can pay dividends in terms of being price and eco-conscious.

FEWER PIZZAS could be something else to consider. Learn to make the dough at home and buy the other pizza ingredients in a larger container.

FRENCH FRIES IN 5 POUND CONTAINERS when they are available to help supplement the meal on a pizza or burger night. It will mitigate the amount you spend as you're filling up on a potato product and not just pizza. In addition, it adds variety and your oven is warm anyway from cooking the pizza.

Produce image from FrugalFamilies.com

LIMIT CHIPS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE when grocery shopping. If you can't help yourself regarding this category, show some flexibility and only buy when they are on sale or perhaps buy the store brand. At Target, Walmart or Costco, you can save substantial money when you buy store brand chips. If you're flexible, there's always brand name chips or snack foods on sale. Mind you, you have to be flexible with variety and not brand loyal.

MAKE A LIST OF TOP 2O FOODS that you regularly eat. Be on the look-out for these products not only when they are on sale but when it's a significant sale. Stock up every so often where the sale items will last you until the next time there's another sale.

PURCHASING BEANS OR GRAINS IN BULK will help you save money. If you willing to plan out your meals and not hurry prepared food, there can be significant savings too.

PANCAKES can make a nutritious snack and can be economical. Especially if you get the mix in a large container. Get the whole grain mix and make a large patch where you can refrigerate and reheat later. Adding fruit to the top adds flavor, nutrients and moisture.

Penny Wise and Dollar Foolish-Part 5

2010-12-31T17:22:00.008-06:00

Are you penny wise and dollar foolish by ignoring Costco because of annual fees?
I remember a few months ago listening to some online discussions on why some shoppers don't like to shop at Costco and two things resonated with me.


Penny Wise and Dollar Foolish?

Many consumers voiced their frustration because Costco requires a membership for shoppers and some online comments suggested one should not have to pay to shop at any store.

FIRST, are these commenters aware of the 2% rebate Costco offers if you choose the Executive Membership? In addition, are they also aware you could receive another 1% discount if you pay with your Costco American Express card? Yes, the membership is $100 annually but let us unpeel the onion and take a closer look.

If you spend $200 per month at Costco, your annual reward will be roughly $48. If you spend $400 per month, you qualify for about $96 for your annual award. In other words, if you spend about $100 per week, that pays for your annual membership.

When you purchase furniture or electronics or another big-ticket item, that adds up fast. For example, if you purchase a $1500 HDTV or a $1000 laptop, these amounts could take care of 30% of your annual membership fee. Online purchases and alcohol too can be added to this category.

In addition to the 2% savings, you save another 1% off all transactions at Costco and elsewhere. This means essentially that if you use your AMEX card while at Costco, your per month expense would be $280 per month which would completely cover the Executive Membership of $100 annually.

I think it might premature to completely exclude Costco from the buying club or inexpensive retail store discussion because of their membership fee. Many whom try Costco for the first time realize that it works out to be a good value in the end.

SECOND, some of the online commenters mentioned Costco products might not be the cheapest. My first question, how do you define cheap? If you define it as an inferior product, then yes, why shop at Costco because that's doesn't appear to be their business model. If you define "cheap" or "inexpensive" as "a good value" then maybe you've found retail nirvana. When you focus on value, consider focusing on Costco.
If your only goal is lower prices, Costco may not be your store. Leave that to other retailers. If value is your only goal, indeed, consider Costco.

Although it's dangerous to shop strictly on price, often, that’s what many consumers do. It might be penny wise and dollar foolish to strictly shop on price. Maybe not today, or tomorrow but maybe in the end.

One could argue that you are not being penny wise and dollar foolish by excluding the Costco model from the picture. Technically, they may be right. The key point here value and saving money. If you want to stretch your money as far as possible and are interested in quality goods for the most part, Costco should be a play.

Paid Executive Membership 2% Reward
Monthly (2%)           Yearly              Approximate                 Monthly (2%) & Purchases                  Purchases                  Amount            Annual Reward             1% using AMEX
$200                             $2,400                  $48                                   $72
$300                             $3,600                  $72                                   $108
$400                             $4,800                  $96                                   $144
$600                             $7,200                  $144                                 $216
$800                             $9,600                  $192                                 $288
$1,000                          $12,000                $240                                 $360
$2,100                          $25,000                $500 max.                        $750

Be Careful About Service Agreements

2010-12-27T00:05:00.001-06:00

I know a non-profit organization (NPO) who wants to save money by switching telephone carriers. They are looking at ways of cutting costs so they concentrated some of their effort on telephony. By reviewing the itemized bills, they calculated they could save up to 25% by switching.

While investigating this, it was determined that this NPO still had one year left on their service agreement. You see, 2 years ago, the NPO signed a three-year service agreement with this telephony provider with a heavy penalty for early termination.

Apparently, 2 years ago, the telephony provider dangled the 10% cost savings to this NPO in order to secure a contract for 3 years. If you were a telecommunications provider, how motivated would your company be if you could secure a new 3-year contract by offering your clients a 10% discount? Especially in an industry where innovation will continue to drive down provider operational costs. Even if the client decides to terminate the service agreement after 2 years, the provider would recoup a year’s worth of fees. It appears the provider has done their homework including the early termination fee into this new contract.

Hence, as a NPO, you are essentially stuck for 1 more year of service; otherwise, pay a year’s worth of fees. In retrospect for the NPO, things might now be clearer why your provider was so anxious to renegotiate. They may have framed this negotiation as a win-win although in may become clear the win was in the direction of the provider. At the time of signing this agreement, I’m sure the client (NPO) felt good about renegotiating to save about 10% on their monthly fee. What they didn’t fully consider or anticipate was the high cost of cancelling during the 3 years.

Moving forward, knowing what the client knows, even if their current telephony provider offered a 25% or 40% discount instead of the original 10%, do you think this client will sign another service agreement with this provider? What about recommending this vendor to other NPOs? How will they express their brand if asked about their value proposition with telephony?

How to leverage diehard customers of Costco?

2010-12-23T20:50:00.001-06:00

Finally, Costco has built a warehouse within 15 minutes of my house. As a committed Costco customer, this indeed is good news.

As a result of a new Costco in the neighborhood, a few weeks ago, there were Costco representatives going from business to business in our area attempting to increase their membership – particularly to this new store.

Fortunately, two of the Costco representatives stopped by our office complex trying to persuade business people to join. Unbeknownst to them, my wife and I have been Costco members for about 7 years. In spite of the fact that, prior to this store, the nearest stores were were 12 and 20 miles away respectively.

They were also happy to hear that I love their signature brand, Kirkland. They were glad to hear my perspective on how much value customers can receive from the Kirkland brand.

They were happy to hear that I’m aware Exclusive Membership holders receive 2% back on purchases and another 1% back if you use your AMEX card.

They were happy to hear that I think Costco is not necessarily about the cheapest price but is all about value.

They were happy to hear that I often tell others about the Costco brand. Prospective customers receive positive word-of-mouth by Costco diehards.

They were happy to hear that I know that Jim Sinegal is currently the CEO of Costco.

They were happy to hear that I know Costco doesn’t have a marketing department. And they don't do any traditional advertising.

They were happy to hear that I really appreciate Costco’s liberal return policy even though I’ve never used it in 7 years.

They were happy to hear that I thought Costco had one of the strongest brands around.

Needless to say, why would Costco ever need advertising when they have believers like me?
Prior to dropping in, these two Costco representatives had no idea they would run into someone like me. Someone with discriminating tastes who often sings the praise of Costco.

How should Costco handle someone like me who generally signs the praises of this specialty wholesaler? Should they treat me differently than a prospective customer? Is it ever a competitive advantage to have positive things said about your company as opposed to negative press? Can the positive ever trump negative press? What do you think?

Is There a Better Way?

2010-12-18T23:25:00.008-06:00

DASANI VENDING MACHINE

I work in an educational institution and about 4 months ago, I noticed the Dasani vending container was out of service. At first glance I took note and was glad there was a sign indicating it was not operational at that point.

About a week later, I noticed the machine had not been fixed. No big deal. Another week went by and still no functioning Dasani machine. Another week and another week...still no functioning machine. It's been about 4 months and still no functioning machine.

Are clients bothered that this machine is inoperable? Has anyone noticed this besides me? Was this machine used much prior to the out of service notice?

From a eco-perspective, how much electricity has been expended on a non-functioning machine? Someone has to be pay for licensing for that machine.

If the machine is not fixed shortly, will the Dasani water still be fresh? In other words, is there an expiration date on the water bottles?

TORO RADIO COMMERICIAL

It's November 8 and I hear my first snow blower commercial since last winter. It's the good people at Toro advertising trying to convince hard working Midwesterners that now is the right time to buy your new snow blower.

Their theme revolves around the fact that last winter, you back, feet and brain took a beating with all that snow. If you know what's good for you, get a snow blower to avoid that pain. Fair enough.
If you properly shovel snow, and have years of experience doing it, it's not your back and feet and brain that should be suffering. First, how does your brain get a break? You still have to brave the cold...it's not like you don't have to drive in the stuff or remove it from your driveway if you purchase a snow blower.

In terms of other body parts, if your back and feet hurt after shoveling snow, you're probably not shoveling correctly. You need to lift with your legs as much as possible to avoid your back from hurting. Once in a blue moon, my back may hurt as a result of shoveling and I've been shoveling for over 30 years. I can see other body parts hurting from time to time, including my arms or elbows from the weight of heavy snow but my brain and feet?

Maybe Toro feels they don’ t need to be accurate in their commercials…mention cold and pain and a way to eliminate it for a price and you have just the right tool to deal with the harsh Midwestern winter. Or maybe their market research shows that most people don’t properly shovel snow and often have pain in the feet, back and brain as a result. Or maybe they hope many shovelers improperly shovel snow – they would only win in the long run. I will say one thing about Toro, when someone mentions a snow blower or snow thrower, you think of Toro regardless of their latest ads? What do you think of Toro or this type of ad?

Review of the College Planning Process-Part 2

2010-12-14T00:02:00.000-06:00

TUTORING THROUGH THE HIGH SCHOOL?
It is not uncommon for some students to struggle with certain subjects. Especially if they are taking a challenging curriculum. Some students strong in math or science may have some challenges with certain literature or writing papers. Other students, strong in language arts, might need a little tutoring in Trigonometry or Chemistry.

There may the option of receiving tutoring from fellow classmates. When this isn’t an option or isn’t desirable, high school guidance counselors often can recommend local adults who can provide
tutoring services. Fees range by locale but this might be in the $20-50 per hour rate. Often, this tutoring can help your son or daughter improve their performance. As another option, there are private companies which can provide this service. Generally, this service is more expensive than local, part-time tutors through the high school.

LEVERAGE THE HIGH SCHOOL ADVISING AREA
I think it's useful to work with your advisor to help guide you through the process but it's important for parents to stay involved too. Especially if the parents don't feel the advisor is doing the kind of work they'd like, parents need to stay involved.

APPLY EARLY – THE SUMMER OF YOUR SENIOR YEAR
Start applying for colleges early. When the applications become available in August or September, submit your application shortly thereafter. For example, Indiana University had their application available in early August. Obviously, focus on all your targeted schools that provide early applications and get as many of them done as soon as you can. If you plan well, you could be done by mid-October. Sometimes, later in the fall, you may have overlooked a school or decided to apply to one more school. If so, by being organized, you're in a much better position to be flexible and spontaneous if necessary.

The fun part. You receive acceptance letters (if appropriate). Most of the heavy lifting is done with the college application process – now you need to think, reflect and maybe strategize.

IMPORTANT
One more thing, the summer before the start of your senior year, work on your resume and essays. That way, this work will help you during the application process. Because you'll be in the midst of your senior year when you apply to certain schools, having a few essays already done will position you in much favorable light. Especially in situations where you may have to write another essay or two. Having something available in a pinch can help reduce how much time you need to spend during busy times of your senior year.

SECOND ROUND OF COLLEGE VISITS

Accepted at 4, you may visit 2 colleges. It really depends on your financial aid and the actual fit at the university. The student may spend the night in the dorms.

Review of the College Planning Process-Part 1

2010-12-10T16:01:00.000-06:00

VISIT COLLEGES EARLY

If you can, begin visiting colleges the summer between your child's sophomore and junior year of high school. Because high school grades are so important, especially for your junior year, you may consider limiting your visits during that time.

Once junior year is complete, try to finish your first round of college visits that summer. During that summer, consider incorporating a weekend trip or vacation around some college visits.

GATHERING CREDENTIALS

Credentials are important too. If your son was a camp counselor or an assistant camp counselor, consider getting a recommendation. Recommendations could come from current or past employers in middle or high school. What about extracurricular activities for your daughter? Maybe a recommendation from a middle or high school staff member? My daughter was involved in girl scouts for 13 years so she utilized those contacts for recommendations to help market herself in a favorable light. In addition, her Gold Award achieve through Girl Scouts also adds to her credentials.

The summer between my daughter's sophomore and junior year was invaluable. She was able to volunteer a number of times which helped her acquire valuable experience and credentials. She also studied for her ACT and also had time to take driver's education.

ACT OR SAT TEST ANXIETY
If your child struggles with test taking, consider taking the ACT or SAT more than once. Some high schools give the test the spring semester of their junior year but before the official test, students could take it one or two times. Consider taking it the summer before your junior year to provide feedback and a valuable baseline. If the student does well with reading and writing but struggles with math, the tutor can focus primarily on that weak area to overall improve the ACT or SAT score.

SENIOR YEAR IS IMPORTANT TOO
Even though many universities focus on the first three years of a four year high school, students need to be careful not to "get lazy" and lose focus their senior year. I've heard situations where students were initially admitted into their "dream university" only to see it lost when they did poorly their senior year. High school admission counselors say most universities don't focus on the last year of high school unless the student grades significantly trend in the downward direction.

On your college applications, for your senior year, you need to include what you're taking for both semesters. If student drops a class, let the university know through written communication. Senior year, students should be conscious not “slack” and take easy curriculum. From what I’ve ready, colleges and universities wants to know students’ curriculum is challenging for all four years.

: Notes and Notes

CONSIDER THE ENTIRE PICTURE
When you consider private versus public institutions, be certain to gather all the facts before you lean in one direction or the other. Your child may be interested in a private school although the price tag may be $35,000 per year, making it less attractive but be sure to factor in everything. However, they may qualify for a $10,000 annual scholarship, so the $35,000 per year college becomes more attractive at $25,000.

The contrast is a public institution like University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Even though it’s a public institution, the total tuition will be in the neighborhood of $30,000 annually. Considering the fiscal situation with the State of Illinois, that tuition will not level off any time soon. Also factor in that most students will not qualify for any scholarship money, so receiving scholarships at a private institution needs to be carefully considered to determine total out of pocket costs.