Today’s message involves an article I once read in the Florida Sun Sentinel.
It involved customer service, and this particular article referenced the DHL Freight & Shipping Company as an example of how to do things right.
As you might imagine in came a few emails with examples of DHL’s lack of professionalism and care for their customers.
I am sure that with a company the size and of DHL, one could expect a few balls to drop now and then. But that is not the point of today’s message.
The motto that apparently got DHL to where they are today simply read “I’m on it.” This is another way of saying that “the buck stops here.” The Ritz Carlton Hotel Chain implies this sentiment with different words: “You tell me your problem, I just bought it.”
Good companies don’t pass the buck and they don’t thrive on excuses. They see, hear, or witness a problem and they fix it.
Here is today’s reminder:
DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO.
- If DHL tells me “they’re on it!” then they had better be on it.
- If a Ritz Carlton employee tells me they just bought my problem, then they had better fix it.
- If you tell anybody anything you had better do whatever it was you said or implied you were going to do.
Doing so doesn’t mean that you are going to be able to walk on water. All you can do is all you can do in any given situation. A lot depends on the circumstances of the snag. But not responding proactively with some degree of speed positions you as just another slug along the stressful, anxiety stricken, problem-laden competitive, self-serving world.
You want to stick out like a sore thumb? Do what you advertise. “Get on it.”
Mike Marchev freely shares his experiences, strategies and observations with travel professionals in an effort to keep them on top of their game. For a complimentary copy of his 12-Word Marketing Plan send him an email at mike@mikemarchev.com.
Mike’s daily column is made possible by AmaWaterways.