No one can make you serve customers well….that’s because great service is a choice.
Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .
He handed my friend a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment…
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’ My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’ Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice…’ Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’
Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.
‘Tell me, Wally,’ my amazed friend asked the driver, ‘have you always served customers like this?’
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always.. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.
He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’
‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’
‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.
‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
How about us? Smile and the whole world smiles with you… The ball is in our hands!
A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up… let us do good to all people.
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.
Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.
03-03-10
Here’s the story of a recently naturalized citizen; makes you think!
Subject: Thank you
I became Citizen of the United States today and I just want to say few things:
Did it ever happen to you, that you wanted something so badly, that when it finally came true, you needed to pinch yourself to make sure you were not dreaming ?
Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed about coming to United States of America. In my dreams it represented everything worth living for. It was a perfect place to escape to in my mind while being bombed during the war, while being ridiculed because of my first name, while suffering discriminative remarks because of my last name, while laughed at because of my ideas and opinions, while hated because I loved to laugh, while…just being.
Nobody believed me when I said I was going to go to College in USA. Everyone thought I was delusional. I always knew, deep down in my heart, somehow, that I was going to go to USA. I believed firmly. I simply knew it. Don’t ask me how, I just did. Ever since I was a kid, I knew.
I worked toward my goal since childhood; In Elementary school I paid 90% of my attention to English language, in High School I paid 90% of my attention to English language, begged rich classmates with computers to teach me how to work on them, negotiated my parents into buying me one, spent nights and days on the internet searching for scholarship, scooped libraries in search of any material related to studying in United States, even called families of rich Croatians asking for answers on how their kids made it to college in USA, enrolled in college in Zadar (Croatia) just to buy me time to find scholarship for USA, read Herman Melville under the table in the "German Literature Class", showed up for the premier of Star Wars movie in Zagreb dressed as Princess Leia in front of hundreds of people and ended up in all the newspapers in the country (!!!), called Croatian Television and suggested they do a show about me going to USA in order to get a free traditional costume for the Rotary Program…
To make a long story short; I made it to USA. 
)
I graduated Business Management from Columbus State University in Georgia (Dream Nr. 1)
Had my family at my graduation ceremony, even though my father was missing from the picture (Dream Nr. 2)
Made it to one of the biggest cities in the world – Chicago (Dream Nr. 3)
Met a tall, dark, crazy dude who became my husband (Dream Nr. 4)
Became Citizen of United States of America !!! (Dream Nr. 5)
I realized that all of that was made possible by having kind, loving, generous and supportive people by my side. Although "I had a Dream", people that surrounded me in my life, were those who made it all possible. They are the thread, of the web, of my dreams. I am sending this to you to say: THANK YOU for being part of my life and for helping me make my dreams come true.
Love you all,
Nina
Nermina Grgas
Public Relations and Communications Professional
Phone: 224-406-4439
Fax: 847-627-8817
Email: nermina_grgas@yahoo.com
02-19-10
STORY NUMBER ONE
Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago .. Capone wasn’t famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.
Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was Capone’s lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie’s skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time..
To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.
Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.
Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object.
And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.
Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn’t give his son; he couldn’t pass on a good name or a good example.
One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done.
He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. So, he testified.
Within the year, Easy Eddie’s life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street . But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.
The poem read:
"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will.. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still."
STORY NUMBER TWO
World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare.
He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank.
He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship.
His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.
As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold; a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet.
The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn’t reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet..
Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber’s blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent.
Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible, rendering them unfit to fly.
Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction.
Deeply relieved, Butch O’Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier.
Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch’s daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft
This took place on February 20, 1942 , and for that action Butch became the Navy’s first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Medal of Honor.
A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29.. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.
So, the next time you find yourself at O’Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch’s memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It’s located between Terminals 1 and 2.
SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?
Butch O’Hare was "Easy Eddie’s" son.
02-13-10
Check this out…
Call the Nestle Hotline at 1-800-295-0051, When asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, wait quietly for about 10 seconds and you will smile. Keep going and press 4. then press 7. If you comment on this to anyone, don’t give away the surprise…Keep trying if busy! You can’t make any noise into the phone, or this won’t work!!
02-07-10
We all have bad days but if you ever think things are really bad and you’ve gotten the short end of the stick or if you’re ever discouraged by your human limitations, then watch this:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=9xwCG0Ey2Mg>
01-23-10
Check out this article on Daniel Pink’s theory of motivation.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122221202
01-05-10
I’ve heard many people say that they will be glad when this year is over; well, it pretty much is and, I agree, it’s been a tough one. But before we sigh in relief, let’s remember some of what we’ve learned in 2009:
- We learned that we are a lot tougher than we thought we were.
- We learned how to increase service and reduce cost at the same time.
- We learned that we need negotiations skills as well as sales skills.
- We learned that it’s too easy for our customers to forget us and what we did for them last.
- We learned that there are many “staffing solutions” that we bring to our customers beyond ramping up and projects.
- We learned the necessity of really knowing our customer’s business—not just their industry.
- We learned to make tough decisions and move on.
- We learned how to lead in battle and to execute on critical plans.
- We learned that we can trust each other to do what it takes.
- We learned to laugh in the midst of the storm.
So, now, let’s go into 2010 and use what we learned to clobber the competition!
12-29-09
To all the friends and family of the Jholdas Group around the world from all of us…
Merry Christmas
12-21-09
Here are some things that can be done to help create jobs:
1. Stop extending unemployment benefits and reduce them back to the short-term bridge they were meant to be.
2. Forgive the Title XII loans that the states have had to take from the Treasury to cover unemployment extensions and are now paying back by tripling SUTA for employers.
3. Immediately pass portability for all healthcare insurance nationwide.
4. Return the bail out money to the Treasury and pay down as much of the deficit as it will cover; that would strengthen the dollar tremendously.
5. Commit to keeping Capital Gains taxes at the current 15% rate to encourage investment.
12-08-09
It takes six times as much effort and investment to gain a new customer than it does to retain and expand an existing customer. So why is most of our effort focused on new sales (important) and not customer satisfaction (vital)?
12-08-09
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