I am a restaurant person. My first job was handing out cheese samples in the mall for a gourmet cheese company. That was my first job serving food and making sales. I love restaurants…and have worked in virtually every position on the org chart. Perhaps I would still be in the restaurant business if my husband hot rod’s partner had not died.

ac·count·abil·i·ty
: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions

re·spon·si·bil·i·ty
1 : the quality or state of being responsible; as a : moral, legal, or mental accountability b : reliability, trustworthiness
2 : something for which one is responsible

The meat market in Lewisville, Texas is a landmark. Not only does the meat market sell meat, it serves great lunches, including outstanding BBQ, homemade pies, etc. Every year, we hold a “Rib Off” at the Service Roundtable where we buy ribs from three different restaurants and conduct blind taste tests for the sauce and meat. The meat market wins every time it’s in the competition.

I’ve spoken with a number of Nexstar® Network members who’ve asked for ideas to get the phone to ring. Together, we’ve come up with thoughts that we have gotten quite excited about, and I’d like to share some of them with you.

“How much will a new water heater sot me – mine is leaking?” Anyone in the PHC service business hears this question and others like it numerous times a day over the phone. Most attempt to answer it by quoting an hourly labor rate or giving a “ballpark” estimate of what the job will cost based on the caller’s description of the problem.

The more I travel, the more astonishing it is when I find outstanding customer service. If someone is pleasant to me, I am usually delighted, and don’t expect much more. On a recent trip, however, I had an extraordinary customer service experience. It was a simple interaction, but the good feelings it inspired stuck with me for days. That’s a solid indication that I should write about it. So, here goes…

I was staying at a run-of-the-mill Radisson Hotel. The décor was a bit outdated. The carpets were a touch worn. Overall, the hotel facilities were just so-so.

It was the people who made me pay attention, and one person in particular.

I speak with plumbers all the time. The biggest question I ask is what are you doing differently to grow your business? Maybe when starting a business the most important consideration is the technical aspect of getting the job done and doing it right. That remains to be an important aspect in business, however as the business grows and matures many other aspects become equally important.

Sales, Marketing, advertising, brand identity; Fleet Management, etc just to name a few. It reminds me of a restaurant I went to once. It had just opened and the food was great! The next time we decided to go there, it had closed. We never saw any local ads, coupons, etc. That just goes to prove, you can have the best {fill in the blank}, but if no one knows about it, the business will not grow. In summary having a great technical skill is just one aspect of running a business.

Jeff Grossarth has been installing floors since he was 13 when he began helping a neighbor with his flooring installation company in Seattle, Washington. At the age of 17 Jeff decided that he wanted to start his own business and in 1980 started Jeff’s Flooring.
In the 1990s Grossarth moved his business to Cookeville, Tennessee and has been installing floors throughout that region ever since.  It was during one particular installation several years ago, in a home located in one of Cookeville’s upscale areas, Grossarth witnessed a catastrophe that changed the …

It’s 8:15 am. Your experienced, professional, sales oriented, customer service focused, technically masterful sales team is still at the shop. Ready to go…with nowhere to go. Maybe that sales team consists of just lil’ ol’ you. All dressed up and no where to go.

Sigh. Now what?

It’s up to you. Put on your Marketing Hat, and CREATE some action.

I have ideas…most of these great ideas I got from YOU. Thanks…and thanks for sharing!

Last November I wrote about the importance of customer feedback (“How Does Your Customer Service Measure Up?”). Our company tries to stimulate it by providing as the back side of our job ticket a postage-paid self-mailer postcard asking questions about the performance of both our dispatch and field personnel.

This is valuable but not sufficient in itself to give you a clear picture. The postcards rely on the customers to take the initiative. We also try to audit the performance of our service techs with random phone calls to recent customers. These calls serve three distinct purposes: