Just as I finish my 3rd out of 5 lunch presentations with MAPP Construction, Dwayne, one of my participants says, “Karen, I’m lending you this book that our company gives all of us when we start working here. You’ll like it.”
“Great. I’ll read it!”
Raving Fans, A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service, written in 1993 by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles still rings true. In parable format Charlie, a Fairy Godmother, mentors an Area Manager. Sounds corny, but it works.
When they’re not golfing, Charlie takes our Area Manager to a grocery store, gas station and a manufacturing plant that have all adopted Charlie’s three principles. Each place has transformed into a vastly successful business after each flirted with bankruptcy.
Here are the three principles – all true – yesterday, today, and tomorrow – whether you are high tech, low tech or no tech.
1. Decide What You Want.
You have to have a vision of your own to start with.
2. Discover What the Customer Wants.
Talk to your customers. Find out what they really want. Listen – even to the silence. Listen to the music as well as the lyrics.
3. Deliver the Vision Plus One Percent.
Consistency is critical. To be consistent means having systems in place. Once you’re consistent, ongoing improvement is equally important. And that improvement happens one percent at a time. Piece by piece. If you come to your company culture with wholesale change there might be a backlash. But moving forward with flexibility one percent at a time will gain traction.
Add all three principles together and you’ll get Raving Fans for your organization.
Thank you, Dwayne, for lending me your book. I can see why MAPP Construction has Raving Fans and is a very successful company.
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