Where everyone knows your name!!

 

 

What has the digital age done to us? We certainly are relational animals. “Cheers” was the bar where “everyone knew your name”, except maybe Cliff’s.

Has the digital age changed that? Are we so addicted to the speed of communication that we fail to stop and get personal? Or is digital personal? Skype has made personal communication even better across time and space.

 

Before texting and cell phones, I might not communicate with my wife more than once a day (while at work :)). Now, I might get a text in the morning, maybe an email of something of interest during the day and a phone call to touch base while I’m having lunch.

 

So why, then, as I think back on the pieces of communcation that we value the most, does it ends up being hand written or typed notes that we save and store for years. What about a hand written note is of value to us?

A Personal Note

 

I have in my personal files a couple of notes that I received over the years that I have saved.  Why have I saved them? Why the value?

 

I think that it says something about the sender, that they were willing to spend the time to personally write and communicate to me about something. There is also a sense of permanence about a physical card.

 

I have some software on my computer called “Smilebox” for sending personalized digital greeting cards. It’s great for something quick to send a message, but it’s not the same as a physical card.

 

Maybe it’s about engaging the senses, digital only engages sight, but a physical card also engages touch. I guess that logic would say then that the best cards would have a sound card, be scented and be edible. Humm, a new product idea.

 

So, relationships are important, family, friends, business associates and customers. I think that I need to be sending out more cards. I’m afraid to think about what scent to use for a cremation container company, so I think we will just stay with unscented.

 

What do you think? Is a personal hard copy card a thing of beauty or has the digital age made it a dinasaur from another age? Leave a comment, visit us at www.mcdonaldcontainers.com,  shoot me an email at jwfaber@mcdonaldcontainers.com or, you may not know this, but I love to get cards.

 

Thanks,

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

1, 2, 3 strikes you’re out

 

We made a mistake last week and sent the wrong product to a customer. OUCH! So, Thom left this morning to go fix the problem and hopefully maintain a relationship and customer that we value very much. Thinking about that this morning, I wanted to just blog a little bit about making mistakes.

I have a theory about organizational mistakes. No mistakes are fatal in and of themselves. What makes a mistake fatal is how the organization reacts to it. Follow along with me here.

We shipped the wrong product to a customer. Strike One. Not good.  Customer is upset, he has product he doesn’t want / can’t use and doesn’t have what he needs. How do we, as an organization, react to the next pitch? We are down in the count and still want to get a hit. Thom headed up to hopefully fix the problem. Did we get a hit (save the relationship) or is this another strike? Hopefully, Thom gets a hit.

But let’s say, the van breaks down, he’s having a bad day, the materials in the van get wet, the mission does not go well. Strike Two. We are still in the batter’s box, but we are only one strike away from being out. This is where we need to rescue the at bat and hit one out of the park. We have to bring our A game at this point. This is where you need to do something amazing and memorable for the customer.

If we blow it at this point, Strike Three. I would say that, if we don’t recover here, we just struck out. The catcher may drop the last strike, but even then, we probably won’t get on base. You still need to try to run to first base, but this will require a super human effort to maintain a relationship with this customer.

I believe that even mistakes are opportunites to serve and build relationships. I think we have all had experiences where something went wrong, but at the end of the day, it still ended up being a positive experience for a customer.

Home Run

Well, I have a hard time remembering any situations at McDonald Containers where we struck out. I think that we’ve may have gone to a full count a couple times and may have only been able to get an infield hit out of it.

 

We want to always get a hit on the first pitch and if we sometimes swing and miss, let us know and we will try to hit it out of the park with the second swing.

Hey, visit us at www.mcdonaldcontainers.com and let me know how the game is going from where you’re sitting.

Jim