Let’s make beautiful music!!!!!

My daughter, Michelle, is currently studying abroad for a semester in Scotland (Stirling University). We took a trip in March to go visit her and do some touristy stuff. It was a great time. First of all, great to see her and secondly, good to be able to see Scotland.

One of the days, we were in St. Andrews. No, I’m not really a golfer, but we did stop by the “Old Course”, just to be able to say we had been there. One of the other places that we visited was the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral. Very cool. So why bring this up? On the grounds of St. Andrews Cathedral was a cemetery head stone that I found fascinating. It said “As measured notes of set music we pass in fast or slow marches to the grave.’

I think that it is very interesting to think of our lives as a musical piece being played note by note. Many times this musical piece is played in front of large audience. And who are we playing for or to?

I guess each of us makes a decision about what kind of music we play and what the audience is that it is intended for.  But, alas, I am getting significantly off my intended track.  I really wanted to comment on organizational music.

Think, a minute, about what kind of music your organization is playing. Do your customers enjoy the tune? I think that a simple melody is the best of all.  My wife and myself had symphony tickets this past winter for the first time and we attended a number of performances. We found, however, that we just did not understand the music enough to appreciate or enjoy it. I think that an organization’s customer must be able to understand the melody of the song that we are playing.

That can be a lot easier when an organization is small with only a couple of people playing, but, how about a company of 100 or 100,000. The music gets a lot more complicated with that many people playing and that many parts to the music.  Is complexity good or bad? It certainly makes it a lot more difficult to keep all the musicians together!! However, many people working / playing their parts in harmony with each other can create something of great beauty.   

It’s enlightening to think of an organization as playing music to their customers. I know I’ve had situations where I or on of our associates were a little out of tune. As we grow, I know I need to work hard to make sure that we are all playing the same tune even though the number of different parts being played increases.

Hmm, food for thought. McDonald Containers as a musical piece. Some days it’s rock and roll, a little edgy and maybe rough around that edges, other days it’s hymns, comfortable and familiar.  

I hope that the tune we are playing for you (our customer or potential customer) is one that you enjoy and if we start to get out of tune or someone has lost their place in the score, you will let us know. Drop us a note here, visit us at www.mcdonaldcontainers.com or give us a call at 800-888-0753.

Jim

My daughter played keeper at the World Cup

We are passionate about futbol. We try to follow the US Men’s National Team as much as we can. Fulham is our team in the English Premier League (Go Dempsey! ).  We closed the shop to watch the US games during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Hey, we even watched the US Women’s Team’s heartbreak last summer. Passion is a good thing, right?!

I was thinking about what passion is. I think it is about an emotional involvement in something. I’m not that passionate about Pro Basketball, I just don’t have an emotional involvement. Is passion good or bad? It depends on what that emotion causes you to do.  There certainly are numerous examples of people that have done things under the guise of passion for their team/college/etc. that should not have happen.

So, why write about passion? What does passion have to do about running a business? I have run into numerous examples in the last couple of months of companies that certainly were not passionate enough. Based on their behavior, there was no emotional committment or involvement on the part of the employees. They may have been passionate about getting a paycheck or keeping their job or getting to Friday at 5 o’clock, but they sure were not passionate about me as a customer or potential customer.

I’m here to say that we need more PASSION in the workplace. We need more people that care, that are emotionally committed, that are actually engaged in what they do. As I consider some of the best customer experiences that I have had, I would have to say that a vast majority of them were with companies or employees that were very passionate about what they were doing.

As I consider McDonald Containers, are we passionate? About soccer maybe, but more importantly, are we passionate about serving customers? I think we are. We try to remember that every time the phone rings, it may be someone that is trusting us and giving us a chance to serve their needs when it comes to shipping and cremation trays.

2006 World Cup before the US Ghana match

About my daughter playing keeper, my son also played forward at the World Cup. It did happen to  be just one of the fan pickup games outside the actually World Cup matches, but it was still a great time.

Hey, we are passionate about what we do, let us know what you think! Tell us how we’re doing.

Could we use a little more customer passion? We always value any feedback that we get. Drop us a

note here on the blog or feel free to use the comment page on the website at

www.mcdonaldcontainers.com.

By the way, “OLAY ~ OLAY OLAY OLAY ~ USA USA (repeat until you run pass out) GO USA”.

 Jim

Tell me a story, Aunt Bea!!

Aunt Bea from the Children's Bible Hour

My wife, Dawn, and myself took some time last week and did some customer visiting and spent a night in Helen, GA. Helen is a kind of a German / Europe village transplanted to northern Georgia. Quiet in early December, but I understand it is a madhouse during their celebration of Octoberfest and during the summer when they have a lot of active water activity ( a little river runs through town and there is a number of tubing places). We had a great time and as we were driving we listened to a number of NPR Podcasts that I had downloaded to our MP3 player. One of my favorite podcasts is “Walter Edgar’s Journal” (http://www.scetv.org/index.php/walter_edgars_journal).  Why do I enjoy it so much? It’s the STORIES.

What is it about stories that we all enjoy so much? As a kid, I used to listen to a radio broadcast from the Children’s Bible Hour called “Tell me a story, Aunt Bea”. I can still remember enjoying immensely. You know, that’s even more true today. I still love a story. Things come alive with stories. I have the privilege to teach a sunday school class occasionally and I know that if I start to lose my audience a great story will bring them right back.

Stories connect with people, they create emotion, they engage, they get people involved. If you want people to sit up in their chair, move forward in anticipation or pay attention, tell a good story. I don’t believe there is a much better way of communicating or educating than by using stories in your presentation.

Stories also create culture. Join any group of people and spend some time in a casual setting and almost any group with something in common will start to tell stories. These stories serve to unite the group, to create a certain attitude about the subject matter and educate newcomers to the group.

Stories are a big part of a company culture. Employees and customers are constantly tell stories about your company. These stories create and reinforce an image of what your company is. The key is what are these stories telling about your company. Are they stories of successes, of employees who are heroes, of customers victories, of service beyond belief? Or are they horror stories about mistreatment of employees and customers, of bad attitudes and even worse customer service? What do the stories being told tell your new employees and potential new customers?

I hope that the stories being told about McDonald Containers are stories of employees going the extra mile, of customers expectations being exceeded, of products and service levels that are beyond belief.

We want to hear your stories. Give us a call, tell a friend, send us a comment at www.mcdonaldcontainers.com. Let us know what your story is. We need to learn fr0m your stories and we really do love stories.

Jim

 

 

 

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

Fire, aim, ready

I was thinking back the other day about one of the jobs that I did in a previous life. I managed a manufacturing facility that was part of a larger conglomerate. On the company staff was an individual that was HR, trainer, coordinator (kind of filled in a number of blanks in the corporate structure). In some of our long range planning and training sessions, he was fond of saying that one of the biggest problems with American business was their lack of planning. He would say that American businesses would “Ready, fire, aim”, where as the Japenese businesses would “Ready, ready, ready, aim, aim, aim, fire”.  The Japenese  were (are?) famous for their 99 year strategic plans and how much they studied something before they proceeded.

I really think that he was wrong. What is one of America’s great advantages? We are entrepeneurs!!  To quote Bill Murray (from Stripes) “We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A’, huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. …… But we’re American soldiers! We’ve been kicking ass for 200 years!”. American entrepreneurs have been changing the world for 200 years. We’re rebels, we’re creative, we’re risk takers, we’re looking for opportunities everywhere we go.  All you need to do is go where a crowd is gathered and within a couple of hours someone will be there trying to sell you a hotdog or a neon necklace or a seat cushion.

I think anything that stiffles that opportunistic capitalistic drive in America starts to reduce our world dominance.  Don’t get me wrong, I think there is a place for planning.  What did the Cheshire Cat say to Alice? “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”.  But, I believe that 5 year plans prevent more progress than they promote. Everyday, well meaning planners and accountants and corporate staffers prevent success from happening to their corporations. So focused on preventing failure that success rarely happens. You don’t want to take a shot in the bow below the water line, but taking a couple of shots in the deck won’t hurt that much.

So,  why am I whining? I think that in one way the recent downturn in the economy has been good. It has forced a number of people to look a little harder at what was going on in marketplaces and maybe take a little risk or get a little more creative or get out there with a little more urgency. America needs to maintain it’s aggresive wild west entrepeneurial spirit alive to stay at the front of the world economy. So may I suggest: Fire, aim , fire, ready, fire, aim, fire (rinse and repeat).

Jim

We are a service business!

 

We went away for the weekend a couple of weeks ago, just a two day trip to the ocean with my parents. We had a great time. We did the tourist thing in Georgetown, SC. Good company, good food and good sites. We did, however, have an experience that got me thinking.

We were only in Georgetown for one night and stayed at a Hampton Inn there. Very nice facility, always a good breakfast at the Hampton Inns and a reasonable price for being close to the ocean. We had a little problem, though. We stayed at the Inn on Friday night and were to check out by 11:00AM. My father and myself were going to play golf early on Saturday and wanted to be able to come back to the Inn and freshen up (maybe catch an early football game) after we played. We requested a “late check out”.  The young lady at the desk was quite definite that that would not be possible, but I could check with the manager. I spoke with the manager and received the same response, “any late stay would require the payment for an additional day”.  Not very flexible. I received an email from the Hampton Inn people a couple of days later and they requested some feedback on my stay. I shared with them that I was disappointed with the staff’s service level.

100% Hampton Gaurantee

I share this with you why? One of the main reasons that I tell organizations issues I have with them is to see how they react. Hampton Inn has a “100% Hampton Guarantee” . Not satisfied, don’t pay. I thought that I quite clearly let them know that I was not satisified and I have yet to hear from them. I believe that their “100% Hampton Gaurantee” still needs some work.

Hampton Inn is not selling me a room for the night, they are selling me the complete lodging experience, the room is just part of it. They are a service organization.

When I was young, my mother had a package of peanuts that she bought that were stale, terribly. She wrote the company and let them know. She received a letter with an appoligy and some new peanuts. WHAT? That was awesome. In most companies, that would make no sense at all. Spend $40 or $50 over a complaint on a $1 bag of peanuts? Are you crazy? Unless you have a committment to serving your customer.  They knew that they were a service organization.

Tom Peters’ books are great reading for some of the incredible stories he tells of customer service. Companies that understand that they may make and sell products but they are a service company.

As I mentioned when I started this, my experience at Hampton Inn started me thinking. What is all this talk about the US developing in to a “service economy”? I sure hope so.  I hope every company, organization and association realizes that they are in the service business.

Well, we certainly try to make McDonald Containers act and look like a service business.  I hope you would agree with that statement. If not, let me know, send me some feedback, tell me where we can do better, our goal is to be part of the service economy. Oh, and by the way, we may try to sell a couple of cremation trays or shipping trays too while we’re serving you. Hey, stop by and visit us at www.mcdonaldcontainers.com.

Jim

Hmmm, emotion provoking.

I was in a little gift souvenir shop a couple of weeks ago and came across a little card that really got me energized. It was from a company called quotablecards (www.quotablecards.com). On the cover of the card were a series of quotes that spoke to life in general, a number of which really sparked me. It got me wondering why do we so much value quotations, what about them inspires us, causes us to smile, nod with understanding or maybe makes us set our jaw firm and determine to do better / different /more.

It seems that some quotes just cause a great emotional response. “My name is Inigo Montoya” . Don’t movie quotes just cause a smile to jump to your face or maybe another one causes a tear to form in your eye or your heart to warm slightly or it makes you want to turn on a nightlight. Five words can bring an emotional rush. It’s like a small key opening a big room.

Successories (www.succesories.com) has made a business of using quotes as inspirational and motivation triggers combined with pictures. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. They have an incredibly large offering of everything that you could hope for in little reminders to fire you up. If fact, I believe that they may offer you the ability to

quotablecards

make your own.

Quotes can serve to steady your ship in the midst of the chaos going on around you, reestablish your focus and get you back on the path. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” I think it is often that we need gentle reminders we are part of a larger community.

 

And lastly, quotes also teach us / remind us / hit us along side the head with a two by four about the larger things that we forget about while we are involved in the day to day to day to day minutia that is our lives. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son”. I should tattoo that one to the inside of my eyelids.

I love quotes. They are like vacation photographs that say so much more than what is visible in the picture. “Great things do come in small packages”.

Jim

 

I love you guys!!

I’m really an accountant at heart (and at mind). I love numbers. I love the logic of them. I love the way things fit together. I’ve been involved in manufacturing /production for a long time and the things that I like most about production is the pattern of it all.  I love the elegance of MRP (Material Resource Planning). There is a real beauty to the method of it.

When we bought McDonald Containers, I worried about the parts of a business that require the skills and passions that I don’t have. Mostly, the sales end of things. How in the world would someone who is most passionate about logical things ever going to be able to deal with the softer side of business? I knew that I was going to have to get out and meet Funeral Directors and visit funeral homes and really get to know people and try to understand their needs. This was not a skill set that I had. I have a friend that I envy in this area. He is the most engaging individual and is probably one the the best “people persons” that I know.

 So, what to do, I needed to just get out there and do some visiting. I found that funeral directors are some of the most considerate, friendliest people in the world (even to people making sales calls). I have visited maybe a thousand funeral homes over the last 5 years and I don’t think that I have ever been turned away harshly. I’ve met many directors that were willing to set aside what they were involved in to spend a couple minutes with me at the drop of a hat. I certainly am not a skilled communicator and need to work every day on how to listen better (just ask my wife), but you guys and ladies, have turned this into (dare I say it) an enjoyable part of my job.

We were in upstate New York last week on vacation and I took some time to visit with some of our customers in the area and it confirmed how much I appreciate working the the funeral industry. One funeral home I visited, the director was in the prep room occupied, but was willing to free himself up to spend a couple minutes chatting and letting me get to know him better. Another director was in the middle of preparing for a service and also was kind enough to give me about 15 minutes of his time so we could get to know each other better and discuss how we can work together.

I just wanted to say thanks to all the funeral directors and staff members that I’ve met over the last six years and say that a I really am thankfull to be involved in an industry that is so relational at it’s core and kind in its interactions.

One of the funeral homes I visited while I was in New York had this beautiful wood entry door and I thought to myself that there are many lovely funeral homes around the country but what is really beautiful is the character of the people inside.

Jim

What is a family business?

 

It was my daughter’s last day of work today. She is returning to Clemson in about two weeks and we have a little vacation planned first. She has worked with us for four summers now, during high school and now after her first two years of college. Her major is in entrenpenuerialship and her goal is to have her own business some day, but probably not this business. She needs to leave her own mark first.

I had an uncle who was a farmer. He had 5 sons and probably would have loved to have one of them take over the family farm when they grew up, but all of them chose different paths. Was he disappointed? I don’t know, I need to ask my mother some day (it was her brother). I also worked for Bissell, Inc. in a previous life and I remember that they had a rule about Bissell family members had to first work somewhere else and meet certain educational requirements before they could join the management ranks in the family business.

Is a family business a good thing? It’s been wonderful to be able to spend time with my daughter and see her start to connect the dots about how a business operates, but I worry that I’m too hard on her or not hard enough. She hopes to have a business internship next summer somewhere and I think it will be great for her to see how other businesses run.

We didn’t get into business to have something for our kids to do and I can’t say that I’m disappointed that they want to do their own thing. What’s that about “if you love something set it free”? If someday she (or her brother) finds what I do intriguing, I might enjoy working with them again, but I think that exposure to other ways of thinking will do them a world of good.

So, is this a family business? We love our family and have had a number of them wander through over the years, but I think they all need to find something they are passionate about and charge into it. “Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life”.

Guess which one is Michelle. Yes, I’m smiling.

Michelle has been the voice on the phone over the summer and you may have talked with her, so you may miss her. But she is blazing her own path and looks to create something that only she could do. Yes, I think this is a family business, because we love families and, even if none of our family works here, they are still one of the biggest reasons that we get up in the morning and come in.

Jim