On Queueing, Oil Change, and Customer Experience
Earlier this week, I went to Jiffy Lube to get my oil change. I once worked for a person responsible for the redesign of many waiting rooms in various industries, so I went with an observant eye, looking for the items that he taught me about in his ethnographic work. It was a very interesting 30 minutes. Here’s what I saw and learned.
This person taught me a few things about observational research:
- Look for the ordinary, not the extraordinary: “ordinary” is what you are there to observe
Customer Service – A Chance for Redemption
In a very tough economy, keeping customers happy should have more considerable weight and attention from companies. I had a negative customer experience recently at Home Depot, where they had a chance to redeem themselves from a very poor customer experience.
Off-Topic: Win an AIG Maraca
Last night, I was on the floor playing with my toddler and I noticed that he was shaking a maraca — so we had a daddy/baby jam session, with me tapping on the carpet and with him shaking the maraca. Then, I noticed what the maraca said: “AIG – Sun America”.
I thought, “hey, maybe my baby boy won’t mind if I take this maraca and raffle this thing off on shmula.com” — today is your lucky day!
Raffle Details
Customer Service and the iPhone
related update:
In some organizations, the Customer Service function is largely viewed as a cost center, draining resources of the firm. I maintain that this viewpoint is largely false and is one that less mature companies support. I believe that Customer Service is an accurate litmus test of the overall health of the firm — indeed, Customer Service can play a very strategic role in the overall health of the product, service, and Firm.
Mind Before Money, Creativity Before Capital
My Kung Fu brother and I spoke last week and he taught me something that remains with me:
I continue to do Wing Chun because it allows me to create
In a business setting, how many of us can say that we enjoy what we do because it allows us to create? In fact, from my experience, when something becomes too difficult, businesses all-too-easily pull out their wallets and hire a consultant, preventing any need to think and creatively solve their own problems. This is analogous to good-hearted-but-misguided parents that do everything for their children, robbing their children of precious life-lessons.
The Atomic Rules of Kaizen
Systems that are internally consistent and externally pragmatic stem from just a few rules. Systems with exceedingly many rules typically fail or will not endure. For example,
- Most mathematical truths stem from just a few axioms
- Music stems from just a handful of finite notes
- Most Martial Arts stem from a few principles of angle, attack, force, etc.
This same approach is true for Kaizen. In Kaizen, it is important to have fidelity to just a few atomic rules, from which a range of behavior will originate. Below are the rules that I subscribe to:
My Experience with Twitter, Part 4
A few weeks ago, I posted on my experience with Twitter, Part 1. That post was retweeted by Robert Scoble, the traffic came, got a bunch of new followers on Twitter (welcome folks), and a flurry of passionate comments on the post, including 3 comments from Guy Kawasaki.
Then, I posted on My Experience with Twitter, Part 2, followed by My Experience with Twitter, Part 3, where I offended @darthvader.
Today, is Part 4 of that series on Twitter, Brand Relevance & Brand Intelligence, and Cash Money.
