Pet Peeves - Customer Service Failures

There are some things that really drive me crazy.  Here are just a few that happened recently…

We moved this fall from Long Island to New Jersey.  As part of the process I had Verizon put in a standard old fashioned copper wire phone line.  It is literally just for backup as a result of my experience after Super Storm Sandy.

In the aftermath of the storm two years ago, we had no electricity for 11 days.  Cell phone service was spotty at best, and the only technology that continued to work was that good old reliable copper wired phone.  We kept in touch with our parents, our children, and of course, my clients.

So on October 7^th, the nice Verizon installer arrived to get me hooked up. 

It’s important to note at this point that in this era of deregulation, Verizon’s job is done when they get dial tone at the interface block outside the house.  From there, it’s really up to you. 

I keep remembering the old Green Acres series where their phone was up on top of the pole.  They had to climb the pole whenever they wanted to use the phone!  But I digress…

Verizon will, if asked, run wire inside and install a jack.  However, this service is billed by the hour and charged separately.  In my new home, my office is on the same side of the house as the interface block.  I haven’t actually measured it, but I estimate that the total distance is about 6 feet. 

The installer drilled a hole from the corner of my office, through the vinyl siding and then struggled (for more than 10 minutes) to push the wire through the hole.  Having finally accomplished that, he installed the jack and then proceeded to connect the wire at the interface block.  The result, no dial tone!  After nearly a half hour back and forth the installer finally figured out that he had wired it wrong.  In spite of the fact that I assume he does this for a living, the guy had picked one wire from one pair and another from a different pair.

Two weeks later, I received the bill which included a $175 labor charge.

I called the billing office with what I presumed to be a simple question.  Was the $175 a standard charge (it seemed high for such a relatively simple job) or was I paying for the incompetence of the installer (who behaved like he had never done this before)?

Remarkably, the business office didn’t know the answer and transferred me to the repair office. 

Remarkably, the repair office didn’t know the answer and offered to have the foreman call me back with a breakdown of what the charges were.

Pet Peeve #1:  This will not surprise you, no one called me back!

I don’t think it is unreasonable on my part to understand what I am being billed for.  I was not objecting to the charge so much as looking to understand it.  Even if they needed more time, would it have been such an imposition to simply leave me a voice mail telling me they are working on an answer and setting my expectations on when I will hear from them?

I called Verizon again and the business office connected me to the repair office once again.  The woman in the repair office explained that she did not know why I never got called back.  The only thing she could do was to email the foreman and tell him to call me.  When I bristled at the fruitlessness of that plan, she explained that while she could transfer me to her supervisor, it would be better if the business office supervisor contacted the foreman as they were peers.  I agreed to let her transfer me back to the business office.

Instead, she managed to transfer me to someone in the Finance department.  She would be happy to help me work out a payment plan for my bill but was not equipped to do anything about getting an answer to my question.  She transferred me to someone else who, after hearing my story, arranged a $75 credit to be posted to my account.

Pet Peeve #2: Who’s in charge here?

There seems to be no one at Verizon who has overall responsibility.  It is up to the customer to navigate through their various departments to get any answers.  I started with what I thought was a simple question about what I was being charged for, an answer which I have not yet received, and ended with someone in the business office giving me a credit to keep me from cancelling the service and jumping out the window! 

Every business, especially large behemoths like Verizon needs people whose job it is to resolve customer issues.  The customer should not need to try to figure out who to talk to in order to get his question answered.

Late this week, the foreman finally called me back.  His voice mail message made it pretty clear that he had no feel for what I was calling about, referring to my second call instead of the original question.  I have not returned his call.

Pet Peeve #3:  Just leave a message

The woman in the repair department does not appear to have given the foreman any information about the purpose of my call.  I find that more often than not, people are leaving messages that don’t provide any information.  If the foreman knew why I was calling, he could have left a message on my voice mail telling me how they arrived at the $175 charge.  Instead, he just left a call back number which would require me to call him to tell him what I was calling about.  I bet we could play phone tag for weeks!

What’s your pet peeve?  I am going to start a collection J

Lessons learned from IBM

I confess, I never worked for IBM.  Not that I didn’t want to.  I have submitted applications over the years for various positions with the company, but, never generated any interest on their side. 

I have, however, learned some valuable lessons from the company over the years that are worth sharing here as a reminder to us all.

1)      Appearance is important

IBM has always insisted that its employees dress appropriately.  The mantra in the ‘70s, which I assume still continues today, is that employees should dress like the CEO of the company they are visiting.  For the most part, that meant dark suit, white shirt, tie, patent leather shoes, etc.  One notable exception at that time involved the garment industry.

Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, New York was the center of a thriving garment industry.  CEOs at those companies typically wore jeans or even shorts to work and IBMers working there were permitted the same.

I think the lesson here is that people respect and will take advise from those who look like them.  You can see that in most corporate board rooms.  Diversity is hard to come by, even in 2014.  Boards continue to be dominated by gray haired white men.

If you want to try an experiment, Google any major corporation and go to the web page that shows the board members.  Cover the titles and see if you can pick out the Chairman or CEO.  Chances are it won’t be easy.

If you want these decision makers to listen to you, it’s best to make sure they feel comfortable with you.

This is a lesson that I tend to forget and need to work harder at.

2)      It isn’t what they ask for

This is a lesson I learned while working at Citibank in the late 1970s.  I took a job in their Foreign Exchange Department managing their back office computer operations.  The bank decided that it was time to upgrade their aging hardware and applications in that area and pulled together a taskforce to find a replacement.

Our team spent countless hours developing a very detailed RFP which specified various performance requirements which we felt were critical in the high volume environment we were in.

For those of you not around in the 1970s or were too young to remember, the computer hardware industry was crowded with players.  In addition to IBM, the competition included Hewlett Packard, Digital Equipment Corporation, Prime, Tandem, NEC, and others.

At the time, those of us in the industry all believed that it was all about the platform.  The applications were secondary and derided as SMOP (simple matter of programming).  I think Bill Gates was one of the first to recognize that we had it backwards.

Anyway, we sent our RFP to every hardware manufacturer on the planet.  The results demonstrated something that I will never forget.  Roughly 80% of the companies chose not to bid on the project.  They could not see any way to meet our requirements with the technology they had available to them.  Everyone else, with the exception of IBM submitted detailed proposals on how they could meet our specifications.

IBMs response was an eye opener to me.  They carefully explained how our specifications were wrong and told us what we should be really asking for.  They essentially rewrote our RFP to match their solution.  In the end, even though their proposal was significantly higher than the competition, they won the bid.

IBM recognized that they did not literally have to meet the requirements as spelled out in the RFP.  Instead, they provided a solution that met the business problem we were trying to address.  And, by the way, matched what they could provide!

It is important to recognize what’s behind the question and not necessarily to respond to the question as asked.  By helping clients to redefine the question, it gets to the root of the problem they are trying to solve.

When dealing with your customers, in whatever industry you are in, keep these IBM lessons in mind.  They will help you to be a better business person.

Crowdfunding

In my business, most of my clients are early stage companies.  They are great entrepreneurs who are learning to be great business people.  Often, these people have expended the bulk of their treasure and their family’s treasure, maxed out their credit cards, etc. investing in research and development and other startup costs.  Now they are finally ready to grow and need help building a scalable operation and finding ways to fund their growth.

The other common thread is passion.  To qualify as a potential client, the business person must have a passion both for their product, of course, and for turning that into a business (two very different things)

These companies can’t access bank financing as they have not been in business long enough nor do they have the necessary 3 years of profits to show.  Without the banks or more family members, the options are limited.

·        Angel Investors. 

These are people who have very deep pockets and are looking for places to invest and get returns greater than they can achieve in traditional financial markets.  The difficulty for the entrepreneur is that she will have to give up significant control and future profits to her “angel” which is often hard to do.

·        Factoring

A factoring company basically loans money against an invoice.  Although expensive, this option gives the business a chance to utilize the money to buy inventory to fill the order.  Particularly if the invoice is large, this is a very doable solution. 

·        Crowdfunding

This is a relatively new option and includes such sites as Kickstarter.com; gofundme.com; indiegogo.com; etc.

I am learning all about Kickstarter.  It’s an interesting concept.  In short, it’s people helping people which is the essence of humanity.  People turn to Kickstarter when they have a great idea and need some help getting it off the ground.  They post a video explaining how much money they are looking for and why it’s needed.  If you buy into the concept, and want to help, you simply make a pledge and complete the transaction on Amazon. 

There are a couple of catches however…

First of all, if the required total is not pledged, no transaction takes place at all.  For example, if you need $1,000 to buy parts to make your prototype and only get pledges of $999 then you get nothing at all.  Obviously, if you get that close on any project, call me and I will chip in $1 to make it go.

The other catch is that you must give people something for their donation.  Perhaps you might send them an autographed napkin or post their name on your website or even send them a sample.  You can imagine that the better the incentive, the more likely it is that someone will contribute.

Rob Thomas raised $5.7 million on Kickstarter in April of 2013 to make a Veronica Mars movie.  People who pledged $10 received the shooting script while the $10,000 backer got a speaking role in the movie.

Of course, the average project on Kickstarter has much more modest objectives.  Just today, John Chartier launched a project to raise $500 to help him figure out how to bake “a really good apple pie”.

Bibby’s Chocolates has launched a Kickstarter project to raise money to fund their huge potential growth.  Founded by chocolate expert Bridget Ludy, Bibby’s combines chocolates and flavored almonds creating a taste sensation that is out of this world.  Bridget is in talks with a large California supermarket chain as well as most of the large Silicon Valley campuses (Apple, Google, etc.) to sell her products.  As a woman owned business, she is being actively solicited by a number of municipalities looking to promote her products in their facilities.

Assuming Bibby’s can meet their project goals, it will take them a long way towards being able to fulfill these orders when they come to fruition.

Check out their Kickstarter video at: 

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bibbyschocolate/bibbys-chocolates-inc-is-growing-and-we-need-your

I believe in Bridget and her products and know she will succeed.  I went on the site and pledged support.  I think it’s a worthwhile investment

Customer Relationships

I am a big believer in customer relationships.  At the end of the day (to use a much overused expression) I want to do business with people that I like and trust.  I preach to my students that they need to get to know their suppliers and customers.  It’s all about sharing information.  If I trust you, I am happy to share my plans and it’s easy to get my concerns addressed.

One example I use frequently is a customer planning a big promotion.  If he gives you sufficient notice, it will be much easier for you to ramp up production then if you suddenly receive an unexpectedly large purchase order.  Similarly, when the unexpected does happen, you want your supplier to care about your needs and help you to respond.  Try getting the attention of a supplier you know only through the internet.

An area that is notably lacking in the implementation of this concept is residential real estate.  My wife and I are in the process of purchasing a new home.  We have found this process difficult and relationships are prevented or discouraged.

Playing Telephone:

Everyone enjoys the kid’s game of ‘telephone’.  If you need a refresher, the point of the game is to find out how garbled a message gets as it travels from one player to the next.  The first player whispers something to the person next to her and that person repeats what he heard in a whisper to the next person.  The last person in the chain then says what she heard out loud.  Inevitably, especially if the chain has more than a couple of players, the message spoken out loud is very different from the one originally whispered!

Real estate transactions seem to be set up to work the same way but there is nothing fun about it.  Instead of being able to speak directly to the seller, my words have to travel through a chain that includes, my lawyer, my real estate agent, the sellers’ real estate agent, the sellers’ lawyer and of course the sellers themselves.  Questions that could be resolved in less than 5 minutes can take hours or even days to answer.  In the case of our transaction, the sellers’ real estate agent nearly scuttled the deal by making up an unfavorable response to our request for a later closing date.

One Time Hit:

Because of the infrequency of the transaction (my parents bought one house 62 years ago) the players fail to recognize the benefits of developing a relationship with their clients.  My lawyer does only real estate law (I think, I never actually met him).  We spoke on the phone once or twice and are conducting our business exclusively via email.  I will meet him only once at the closing and then probably never again. 

I cannot tell you the name of the lawyer I used to buy our first house in 1978 and he (or she) has made no effort to keep in touch.  For our second house, I remember where the lawyer’s office was but can’t recall his name, he has made no effort to keep in touch.  For our third house, we used a very large firm, I know the name of the firm but again not the name of the attorney who helped us.  For our fourth house, we used a close friend, who we know and love, to represent us.  Sadly she is no longer practicing law and referred us to someone else.

By the same token, I can’t remember the name of any real estate broker we used on any transaction, with the exception of the homes we sold and purchased in 2008.  I remember him only because he was also our painter and we had developed a relationship.  He let the relationship drop and I never even considered using him for this current transaction.

Moral:

The message should be clear.  These people, by failing to make the effort to develop and maintain a relationship with me, did not get my business the next time around.  Stay in touch with your customers and stay close with them.  Even if there is no business today, why would you let someone else supply them the next time?

Getting to the source of your supply chain, (in my case the sellers), can make a world of difference in making sure the transaction is completed smoothly.

Rocky Mountain Highs & Lows

As you no doubt know by now, as of January 1^st the State of Colorado has legalized the recreational use of marijuana.  This has created a huge industry almost overnight and equally huge problems that will probably require an act of Congress or Supreme Court Ruling to resolve.

The basic problem stems from the fact that pot is an illegal substance in the United States.  The Controlled Substances Act lists marijuana as a schedule 1 controlled substance.

Schedule I Controlled Substances

Substances in this schedule have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.

Some examples of substances listed in Schedule I are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), peyote, methaqualone, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ("Ecstasy").

The penalties are severe:

Possession of any amount of marijuana (even a single marijuana cigarette) is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $1,000 on the first offense. The second offense carries a 15-day mandatory sentence, and can be extended for as long as two years in prison. Any possession after that gets a 90-day to three year prison term, and a $5,000 fine. 

The sale of anything less than 50 Kilograms of marijuana is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a whopping $250,000 fine. Selling more than 50 Kilograms is generally something that is relegated to the criminal underworld, but the penalties get exponentially worse:

50-100 Kilos distribution/cultivation: Up to 20 years in prison, with a $1,000,000 fine

100-1000 Kilos distribution/cultivation: Mandatory 5 years, up to 40 years in prison, with a fine of $2,000,000

1000 Kilos+ distribution/cultivation: 10 years to Life in prison, with a $4,000,000 fine

What's more, distribution of anything over 5 grams to a minor (under 21 years of age, not 18), OR within 1,000 feet of a school, housing project, youth center, video arcade, public pool, or playground automatically doubles all the punishments listed above (both jail time and fines).

The federal government can even administer the death penalty for marijuana sale. This is reserved only for the heads of criminal enterprises that distribute more than 60 metric tons of marijuana OR annually make more than $20,000,000 from marijuana sales.

Since by definition, federal laws supersede all state laws, Colorado marijuana growers face a huge risk.  But this is just the beginning of their problems. 

The fact that they are, in effect, cultivating and selling illegal drugs, has made it impossible to get banking services.  Banks who accept deposits from the growers are at risking prosecution for money laundering.

The potential punishments for money laundering are extremely severe: 

·        Criminal sentence of up to 20 years in prison

·        Criminal penalty of up to $500,000 in fines

·        The government can file a Civil Penalty lawsuit for the value of funds or property involved in Money Laundering

·        The Department of Justice also has the unique power under money laundering laws to pursue civil lawsuits against financial institutions even though they may not have been charged with the crime of money laundering.

§  Suits are based on allegations that employees laundered money

§  The lawsuit seeks recovery of the amount of money laundered

So without banking services how do you operate a supply chain?

Surely most suppliers will accept cash in payment for their goods and services (money laundering laws focus on cash transactions of more than $10,000).  The biggest problem arises when they need to pay taxes.

At the state level, where sales tax revenue from marijuana is expected to exceed $100 million in 2014, growers have been paying their tax bills with wads of cash. 

Now we come to Al Capone’s problem.  Capone, if you recall, went to Alcatraz for tax evasion. Not paying taxes (regardless of the source of income) is not an option.  That leads us to the question, how will they pay the IRS? 

According to their website.  The IRS can accept Debit or Credit Cards; Electronic Funds Transfer; or Check or Money Order.  Without banking services all of these options are beyond the growers reach. 

President Obama and his Justice Department have pledged not to prosecute the banks and growers but unless the law is changed, the banks won’t participate.  I am certain that the government will come down hard on these folks if they fail to pay taxes.

I have other nagging questions as well.

·        How did the growers get started?

·        Where did the seeds to grow the plants come from?

·        How do you operate a supply chain when the risks are so great?

Some of my students are helping me to get these answers and more.  Stay Tuned!

May the Force be With You

Gather round me children, it’s time for you to learn the truth.   Many of you may already have begun to notice some of what I am about to tell you.  While others of you will find it all very difficult to believe that it is even possible. 

Just like Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, you too have inherited a great power that flows through you.  Of course, Luke and Leia and the rest are only fictional characters, but, your powers are very real.   Just like Luke, you will need to learn to control this power and ultimately decide if you will use it for good or evil.  This power, once you harness it, can control people’s minds and change the world.

“Right”, I hear you saying.  “I have no such power old man.  What have you been smoking?”

Please be patient while I explain.

You began to exhibit this power when you were very young.  Your mother, this power flows strongly through her, put you in a situation where you were sharing a set of toys with another child.  Though you may not have noticed, whatever toy you picked up, the other child wanted.

As you grew, you may have noticed that all of your friends wanted the same costume as you on Halloween, or joined the same clubs, etc.  In fact, throughout your life, your actions have influenced others.

Now that you have grown, your influence has only become more powerful.  If you want proof, try this experiment.  If you work in an office, where the dress is casual, start dressing a little nicer.  Start wearing a tie and sport jacket if you are a male or a skirt and blouse if you are a female.  I can almost guarantee that soon others in your office will do the same.

So hopefully by now, you are beginning to sense that this power really does exist.

In the supply chain, you have a huge opportunity to learn to control this power.  You can help your customers and suppliers to care about things that are important to you.  Get them to reduce excess packaging, pay a fair wage, etc.  Have them report their carbon emissions and find ways to lower their energy costs while slowing global warming.

If you practice using your power, you may just find that you can make the world a better place.

Heed my warning though my children.  Beware of the dark side.  Make sure that you are using your power for good and that you believe in what you want others to do.

Distractions

This blog posting is not for you!

Oh sure, you are welcome to read it, in fact, I hope you do.  However, in truth, I am writing this as an affirmation for myself, reinforcing the things I need to pay attention to and, more importantly, not pay attention to.

Working from my home office requires an enormous amount of discipline and focus.  Especially when the task at hand is an unpleasant one, it is so easy to get distracted.  Here are some distractions that I struggle to control.

1.      Food

The proximity of my kitchen is a double edge sword.  My wife and I always keep the refrigerator and pantry stocked with the things I love.  The temptation, to take a snack break is sometimes overwhelming. 

What’s worse, is that I have the facility to make myself lunch.  I love to cook and sometimes find myself cooking some elaborate dish instead of working on work.

2.      Email

This is not unique to working from home, but is a huge problem for me.  One of my resolutions this year is to disconnect and try to schedule when I read my emails.  I find myself keeping MS Outlook open on my desktop all day long and hitting Send/Receive every couple of minutes.  My goal is to check my emails no more than once an hour

I keep my cell phone sitting on my desk and I am constantly looking at it to see if there are new messages.  My goal is to keep my phone in my pocket when sitting at my desk.  This will require me to retrain my clients to call my office phone first if they need to reach me.

I have a synchronization program that keeps my Google calendar in sync with my Outlook calendar.  I had it set to synchronize the calendar every 10 minutes.  To make matters worse, if Outlook is closed, the program pops up asking me to confirm which Outlook profile to use (never mind that I have only 1 profile, it asks anyway).  I changed the schedule to have the calendars sync up every 2 hours.  How can that not be enough?

3.      Chores, etc.

This is less of a problem for me but something that bears watching.  I call it the ‘you’re home anyway’ syndrome.  Today, for example, the roofer is scheduled to come over at 11:00 to see why my roof leaks.   Last week, I brought my wife’s car to be inspected by the insurance adjuster at 2 in the afternoon.

Many times, such activity cannot be avoided, but it can easily become a problem.

4.      Computer Games

I find myself obsessed with several games and websites.  

I am taking these games off of my computer:

·        Chess Titans

·        Solitaire

·        Spider Solitaire

·        Free Cell

·        Hearts

I am also going to stop looking at the following sites all day long:

·        Newsday

·        NYTimes

·        LinkedIn

·        Twitter

·        Jigzone

My goal is to check these sites no more than twice each day.

I urge you to follow my lead on this.  We can support each other in our quest to focus on the goals and avoid the distractions that can drain our precious time.