Catering to Your Customers

The Wilkes-Barre area is home to many fine locally-owned restaurants, most of which have been open for years (and suitable candidates for a visit from Robert Irvine and the "Restaurant: Impossible" crew!)  So, when a new specialty diner opened not far from our house, we dropped by and were excited to discover a tiny treasure of delicious, fresh home cooking (albeit in a plain vanilla box!)

With the upcoming celebration of the 1st anniversary of GWC's relocation into our new building, we decided it would be a nice gesture to order a luncheon for the office from the new restaurant.  Even better, when we called them, we discovered they catered and were more than happy to deliver.

The owner visited a few days before the event to scope out the logistics and seemed genuinely excited about being part of the fun.  On the appointed day, he and his manager arrived on time, set up the trays and served us a delicious meal.

Unfortunately, as the event wound down, things went awry.  As is often the case, we had over-estimated our needs and there was a lot of food left over.  And when nobody was looking, the caterer began packing up the food in his truck.  Kim caught them and demanded that, since we'd paid for the food, they should leave it so our employees could take it home.  He sheepishly agreed and brought back one tray before heading back to his truck and hitting the road with the rest of our food.

This is wrong on so many levels:  First, it was OUR food.  Second, he deliberately took it after being asked to leave it behind.  Third, and worst of all, he most likely planned to serve that food back in his restaurant, hours after it had been cooked and left out in our conference room unrefrigerated.  (Can you say "salmonella"?)

Needless to say, despite amazing service in delivering the product and wonderful tasting food, we will not be using them again.  And if each of the 60 or so people in our office tells 10 other people about this, it's likely that the new restaurant just lost a substantial amount of future business.

The lesson:  Customers generally start out wanting to do business with you.  They want to like you and may even be predisposed to help you out.  However, you can destroy that goodwill in an instant if you do something stupid to destroy a customer relationship, even if it's after you've delivered the product. 

What Am I Reading?

"If the Ramones had never existed and came out right now, we would still blow people away.  The Ramones were never supplanted by anyone."

-Johnny Ramone

I thought of this quote when I heard the young man seated next to me at the Penguins game last week singing along with me and a number of other people at the game as "I Wanna Be Sedated" blasted through the arena loudspeakers.  Johnny Ramone loved the idea of his punk rock band being played at sporting events.

The Ramones exemplified authenticity:  They really WERE four working class kids from Queens/Long Island who put on leather jackets, to the subway down to CBGB's in the Bowery and played 2-minute power punk songs for about 20 years.  Like most pioneers, they were under-appreciated in their lifetime, but the Ramones' musical legacy has only bloomed since they split up in the mid-90's. 

Unfortunately, three of the four founding members have since died young, which makes Johnny Ramone's autobiography (which came out last month, 7-1/2 years after his death in 2004) such an unexpected thrill to read.  It's definitely Johnny in his own stream of consciousness words; no fancy prose or apologies, just a firsthand account of a fascinating life on the inside of an amazing, sometimes misunderstood, band of societal misfits.  I had to smile when I read this line, written by the outwardly dour Johnny:  "People would think I was unfriendly, but I wasn't.  I just didn't like the people I was around."

Changes

“I've been living through changes,
It's not the same thing every day.
I hope it's not my age,
But I wouldn't like to say.”

-Julian Cope, “Treason”

Lately I’ve found myself regaling people with tales of my first positions in business with General Motors.  Needless to say, the world looks a lot different today:

• People could smoke at their desks.  And if you were unfortunate enough to share an office with a smoker, the company solution was to deposit a portable electric air freshener on your desk to inhale the fumes.  (At about the same time, Orbit, a long-defunct humor magazine in Detroit likened compared designating a “No Smoking” section in a closed room to setting aside a “No Urinating” section in a public pool, but I digress…)

• My parking lot abutted that of Burroughs Corporation which, at the time, was over one hundred years old and one of the largest computer companies in the world.  Does anyone remember them today?

• We drafted our documents in longhand and passed them over to secretaries (sometimes in a secretarial pool) who typed them using a Wang system which saved the documents for future editing.

 I didn’t even mention that at the time General Motors had 40+% of the U.S. market share for new vehicle sales.

In the mid-1990’s GWC Warranty Corp. was founded as Guardian Warranty Corporation.  I’m proud to say that our company has evolved a lot in the 17 years since its founding.  In fact, the pace of change over the past few years has been staggering, as we’ve expanded our talent, products, technology, even our office space.  Consequently, we are rapidly growing and thriving in an ever more competitive market.

However, we will NEVER rest on our laurels and stop changing.  So buckle up and join us for an unpredictable but rewarding ride.

What Am I Reading?

Thanks to our friend and neighbor Natalie B., I recently devoured Child 44, the debut novel by Tom Rob Smith that came out a few years ago.  It’s a riveting murder mystery that unfolds in the shadows of the Stalinist Soviet Union of the 1950’s.  In that terrifying, totalitarian world, a child murderer simply could not be acknowledged, lest it be seen as an indictment of the perfect order of the State.  One fearless investigator, a seemingly broken man, risks the shreds of life he and his wife are clinging to in order to bring a killer to justice while racing against a state bureaucracy out to crush him.  Simply spellbinding storytelling.

My Annual Battery Pack Rejuvenation

For the past four years, the folks at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina have been kind enough to invite me to speak at their Sophomore Experience event (http://www.wofford.edu/center/sophomoreexperience/).  Scott Cochran, the Dean of Wofford’s Center for Professional Excellence, is a dear friend of mine and someone I will write about in more detail in a future blog.

The important thing today is the sense of rejuvenation I am feeling after my visit to Wofford.  NEVER let someone use broad generalizations to tear down today’s youth.  The liberal arts students I meet every year at Wofford inspire me to no end and this year’s crop was particularly intriguing.  They included future businesspeople, doctors, entrepreneurs, attorneys, poets, activists, psychologists, accountants, musicians, car traders…the list is as varied as you might expect.

The engagement, passion and enthusiasm these students shared with me, however, was somewhat unexpected.  These young people are cautiously idealistic:  They want to change the world for the better but they know it will take smarts, hard work and commitment, all of which they have in abundance.

When I returned to work after my visit, I was already pretty pumped up.  Then a box containing the Steve Jobs biography arrived.  Even better, the students had taken the time to write personalized notes thanking me for MY inspiring them.  They had it backwards:  As gratifying as it was to be appreciated for my time, THEY are the ones who inspired me and gave my batteries an annual mid-winter re-charge.  Thanks Wofford.  Keep emailing me updates as you chase down those dreams.

HEY are the ones who inspired me and have given my internal batteries their annual mid-winter charge.  Thanks, Woff

HEY are the ones who inspired me and have given my internal batteries their annual mid-winter charge.  Thanks, Wofford!

What Am I Reading?

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill came out in 2008 and somehow completely escaped my attention (despite apparently being widely publicized as the first novel that Barack Obama read on his summer vacation in 2009!) 

Netherland is told by Hans, a banker transplanted from the Netherlands, who is struggling to find his way in New York after his wife and son head to the U.K. in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.  Hans stumbles upon a varied cast of immigrants who bond over cricket matches played in the shadows of New York overpasses and other odd places they’ve conquested to play the world’s most popular stick-and-ball game.

This story about strangers in the margins who struggle to make it in a city where they are often anonymous is both intimate and wide scale. 

Unsung Heroes

Every organization has them, those unsung heroes who show up every day and often toil in the shadows of more high profile members.  Like offensive lineman of the gridiron, they aren’t afraid to get dirty even as they do the blocking and tackling for superstar quarterbacks and running backs who get more glory and inspire kids to wear their jerseys.

At GWC Warranty, those unsung heroes are our teammates in the Claims Department.  They are somewhat anonymous (until they’re needed!) and tend to stick together in a tight unit in the back quadrant of our office.  But each and every one of them has an enormous impact on our company’s results:

• They handle an unbelievably high volume of calls every day, generally from the moment they sit down to the time they go home.  Those calls directly translate to our bottom line results.
• They are on the front line in dealing with our customers, dealers, service shops and parts vendors.  And generally, their contacts occur when something has gone wrong (or is about to!)
• They are master negotiators, ensuring that we meet our obligations in a fair, timely manner while giving respectful service.  That means saying “no” at times in the nicest possible manner.
• They are the living embodiment of our “No Worries, Just Drive” motto.  It’s what we sell.  When the Claims Department adjusters do their jobs, they ensure we live up to our customers’ expectations.

So, today, I want to give a special shout out to these unsung heroes.  I could call them out individually if I had room, but instead let me just give particular props to Brett, Ed and Big John, the seasoned Managers and captains of the group (as well as our newest Manager, Jon).  They lead, mentor and inspire their teams and for that we (especially Archie and I) are grateful.  Thanks!

What Am I Reading?

 Nightwoods by Charles Frazier:  The new novel by the author of Cold Mountain tells the story of a woman in the rurals of 1960’s North Carolina suddenly given charge of her deceased sister’s mute but wild two children.  Things take a turn for the worse when their murderous father turns up looking for his missing loot.  Frazier is an incredibly gifted storyteller with an incredible knack for simple details that bring the time and place to life.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!  It's already 2012 and time for Resolutions, which I make sporadically and keep haphazardly!  However, this year there area few areas I HAVE to improve in.

First, I resolve to stop swearing.  This has been an ongoing vice for me but it has really gotten ugly lately.  If only certain expletives weren't so versatile; what other words can serve as nouns, verbs AND adjectives, sometimes in the same phrase?  Regardless, I've got to stop, probably cold turkey.  I somehow managed to raise the two older kids without infecting them, but I fear for my 8-year-old, who is much more impressionable!

So, if you're reading this and you know me, please help me by administering any necessary admonishments when I slip up.  You'll be doing all of us a favor.

Second, I resolve to slow down, particularly when driving.  After three speeding tickets in the past two years (Steve from Allstate, please be merciful:  Nobody got hurt except my pride!), I need to become one of those drivers that dawdles down the road in front of you causing you to wonder "What in the heck is wrong with him?"  (Notice how I worked Resolution 1 into that last sentence?)  It's either that or risk becoming a permanent passenger with Jeanette or Chris as we head down the mountain to work, and nobody wants that.

What Am I Reading?

The Leftovers by Tom Perotta.  A Rapture-like event has occurred and the residents of a small town are grappling with how to make sense of their lives knowing that for inexplicable reasons they were not chosen.  And, at the same time, fill the holes in the town's fabric left by those who were.