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Nov 25 2009

Customer Service Heroes: AlienBees

Photographer Erik Pierce of Paparazzi Tonight thought the person on the phone did not understand him. Pierce had dropped one of his electronic flash units, breaking off a piece of the reflector. He called AlienBees, the manufacturer, to find out how much it would cost to fix or replace. They said they would send a free replacement.

"But I dropped it."

"No problem," said the AlienBees representative, "It should have been stronger."

3 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 6:15 AM

Nov 18 2009

Customer Service Heroes: The Sprinting Waiter

In Good to Great (Harper Business, 2001), Jim Collins writes that "good is the enemy of great." That is certainly the case with customer service, as customers notice when someone has done something extra special just for them. We may not be able to surprise and delight every customer, but we should build a company culture of people who will jump at the chance to do so.

2 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 4:20 PM

Nov 11 2009

Customer Service Heroes: Morton's The Steakhouse

On a recent visit to Washington, D.C., I called Morton's The Steakhouse to make a dinner reservation. "Oh yes," said the person who answered the phone, "Mr. Orfalea has dined with us before." My excellent customer service radar started to tingle. It's nice to be remembered.

When we arrived, restaurant manager Dan Festa greeted us. Dan personally welcomes all of his guests and lets everyone know that his job is to take care of us. Attentive service and excellent food rounded out my evening, and as a customer service enthusiast, I knew I had to learn more about Morton's company culture.

10 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 3:29 AM

Oct 29 2009

Third Person Narrative

Third-party perspectives help a company better know itself, even as a one-person start-up. After your business gets big, outside points of view become essential, because when you reach the top of a mountain, you can see a lot, but you can no longer see the mountain.

10 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 12:25 AM

Oct 21 2009

Fads, Trends, and Brands

For those with an entrepreneurial spirit, trends and fads are fun to spot, but it's extremely important to distinguish the two. Fads come and go reasonably quickly, with a small window of profitability. Obvious examples are pet rocks, pogs, and Pokemon cards. Trends mirror or exploit large-scale socio-economic shifts, and offer varied and sometimes repeating profit life cycle opportunities.

10 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 3:31 PM

Jul 1 2009

Don't Overlook Democracy as a Management Model

An organization called WorldBlu was formed in 1997 to champion the growth of democratic organizations. Founder Traci Fenton identifies ten principles of organizational democracy, including transparency, accountability, decentralization, fairness, dignity, and choice.

Principle six on WorldBlu's list, Individual + Collective, was more or less enshrined in the Kinko's Philosophy, which stated, "...we encourage independent thinking and teamwork." This presents one of the great challenges of a democratic workplace, and one of the greatest benefits. The advantage of balancing independent thinking and teamwork comes from the unleashing of individual creativity. The challenge is the balance itself - keeping that creativity directed toward advancement of the organization's goals.

4 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 7:24 AM

Jun 18 2009

GM's Big Dreams

The standout exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair belonged to none other than General Motors. Called Futurama, the display took visitors on a tour through an incredibly detailed - and mostly accurate - model of the continental United States as it would appear in the far-off future of 1960. Considering that the World's Fair took place after ten years of Depression and while Europe was descending into the madness of war, General Motors' imaginative optimism seems all the more impressive.

General Motors recognized the harsh facts in front of them, but nevertheless dreamed big dreams and worked to make them come true - they helped to create America's future. So what happened?

0 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 5:35 PM

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