A Crane's Eye View

Happy Blog Action Day

Well, I must admit, I haven't been good at all at blogging.  It took a reminder from the coordinators of "Blog Action Day" to get me motivated.  So thank you folks for getting me out of my blogging hiatus. 

So, what can I say about the environment...I think my biggest passion right now is supporting local farmers and local businesses.  Especially with this tough economy, it makes the most sense to put your money into the local community to make it thrive.  This also reduces transportation costs and keep prices lower. 

I still don't understand what the allure is of bottled water from Fiji.  Sure, the bottle is pretty cool, but in the end, your spending so much money on the plastic packaging and the transportation costs from half way around the world!  So the tip of the day...buy local distilled water.  It's the purest form you can get without any additives, and you can find local bottlers, thus supporting the local economy.   One simple step can make such a big difference!  Drink up! 

If You Want to Start a Fire, Don't Drop a Log!

It never ceases to amaze me how events happen in groups.  As several sayings go whether is "when it rains it pours" or "it's either feast or famine" "luck seems to come in threes"...it reflects how groupings of similar events happen, and these events all seem related.   

What surprises me lately is that I've been exposed to several people within the last several weeks who have an expectation of instant gratification and demand instant results. They expect to be paid high wages when they haven't built their practice and customer base.  They expect relationships to be built instantly, and that the conversation revolves around what that individual can get out of a project or relationship rather than what can be done as a collaboration or team.  It disturbs me sometimes when I see this behavior as often the individual has absolutely no clue that they are so self-centered.  Needless to say, when you point this out to them, it's not greeted with a kindly tone such as "gee, thanks, and I'll try to improve on that."  Rather it's like the Cartman character on Southpark who'll say "Screw you guys, I'm goin' home."   

With the advent of electricity, television, the cordless phone, the cell phone, pagers and the Internet, people want an answer and they want it now!  People seem to have an entitlement attitude of believing they deserve a job, a promotion, a new car, house, etc. and they deserve it now!   It seems that hard work and starting slow just don't count for much anymore. 

It reminds me of the process of building a campfire.  I had done some backpacking and camping throughout my life, and when building a fire, it's important to take steps gradually.  You need to find a good clearing and a spot where you know the fire won't cause any damage.  The necessary materials need to be gathered ahead of time in order to make sure there's enough fuel for the fire.  And lastly, the fire needs to be monitored and fed properly in order to grow and sustain itself.  The whole process of building a campfire also takes patience, and in this world, I'm finding that there is less and less of that and people are so busy moving, moving, moving that they forget why they needed to so frantically get to their destination so quickly. 

So, I leave you with this thought.  When you're building a relationship, think about this like building a fire.  It takes time to plan and prepare the materials.  And once the relationship begins, you need to tend to the fire and keep feeding it in order for it to sustain itself.  Whether this is a business relationship or a personal relationship, start slowly.  Build the relationship, set the stage and add the kindling gradually.  Don't just drop the log onto a small spark.  It will squash it out immediately and smother it.  Gradually build the relationship or fire and feed the log later at the right time.  If you've tended to the relationship well, you'll know when the right time takes place.    It's really that simple.   It's worth the investment and the patience to see the results.   

Managing Multiple Consulting Engagements

As a consultant, I often find that I will have multiple engagements that will take me to various parts of the country.  My recent travel had me in the following locations supporting four distinct customers:

Thursday night to Friday afternoon - Norfolk, VA

Saturday afternoon to Monday evening - Orlando, FL

Tuesday morning - Raleigh, NC

Tuesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon - Hendersonville, NC

How do I handle all this travel and keep all my customers happy?  It's essential to keep good records that are easy to track and to keep customers informed.  Here are my consulting tips:

1).  Keep organized and good records.  To keep organized, I've adopted using file folder jackets.  These have been tremendously helpful in ensuring that all papers are in one location so they can be easily accessed.  Unlike ordinary file folders, file jackets have side closures, so papers do not tend to get tossed about or lost especially when you have a stack of them.    The file jackets I use also allow me to put customer and project information on the outside of the jacket, so I can easily find information.   You can also place regular file folders you may receive from a customer within the jacket so all the information is together in one place. 

2) Keep copious notes and your day planner accurate.  I still use a hard copy day planner since it's easy for me to enter my information and retrieve it instantly no matter where I am.  If I'm on the road driving and need to pull over to check on a date, it is easy for me to refer to my day planner.  With online systems or even portable PDAs, I find I have been able to retrieve it much faster this way.  If online systems work for you, I'm not suggesting you change this!  What's important is to have accurate records that you can easily retrieve when a customer is on the line.

3) Know  your limits.  When prospective customers ask me whether I can participate in an engagement, my response is usually "Five Hours House to Hotel".  If I can manage to get to the location from my home within five hours by any form of transportation available, I can work with that account.   If the travel will take me outside of range for a different engagement that same week, I will often decline an opportunity as I know I cannot stretch myself too thin.  If it's outside of that five hour range, I look for partners that can help.  If I can find them, then I will submit a proposal.  Which leads me to...

4) Select respected and trusted partners to help.  When customer engagements appear that are remote, I will seek out assistance from other consultants and work them into the proposals.  This provides the customer a higher level of service with a local contact who often understands better the nuances of the local culture, and it helps to provide a stronger proposal as you leverage more minds behind a project.    I've found that the most successful partnerships occur when I've had an opportunity to build a relationship.  In some cases, I have been asked to partner with others who I had never met.   I  find that these relationships still need to be fostered and developed over time.  Some work out fine;  In other cases, I will think twice before working with them again. 

5) Keep your customers informed.  When I know I'm going to be on vacation or out of the office for an extended period of time.  I contact my customers in advance to let them know of my availability usually by phone or in person.  Whenever there is new information I discover about a new product,  service or book on the market, I contact them to let them know if this may apply to their situation.    Nowadays, everyone relies on emails,  email newsletters and blogs that customers appreciate the extra time I take to make a personal phone call. 

6) Make a personal connection. I've found that most of my business comes from referrals.  Either organizations find me through a referral from a nonprofit management organization such as the Alliance for Nonprofit Management or North Carolina Center for Nonprofits.  Or students who have attended one of my classes or speeches will find that they require additional assistance at their local site and will ask me to facilitate.  Regardless of how the referral comes, the personal relationship and trust needs to be established.  After all, if someone refers you to their friend, that person's reputation is on the line as well! 

Attention to detail and customer service is so important in the consulting industry.  If you want to continue to grow your consulting business and build strong relationships with your customers, take the time to get organized, keep good records and make the personal connection.  You'll see your business grow and find you stand out in the crowd from other consultants. 

Office Depot: Worst Remote Customer Service

Needless to say in trying to get my home office organized, I thought I performed a simple act by ordering an ordinary HON four drawer black file cabinet from the Office Depot.  I gave them plenty of time to get the delivery straight as I had ordered it on July 5th.  The staff at my local Office Depot were very friendly and put in the order promptly.  In fact, the clerk said it could be delivered on Friday, July 7th, but I needed to be in Atlanta that weekend for a customer event.  So, instead we planned for it to be delivered on Friday, July 10th.  The clerk said I needed to be at home between the hours of 8:30am to 5:00pm for the delivery..."um, can we have a little smaller window?"  Nope, he said, "that's what the system provided."  Okay, no biggie, I was planning to be at home that morning and planned a tentative consulting engagement that afternoon depending on the delivery.    I thought this would be a simple furniture order.    Once the cabinet arrived, I could have the furniture placed upstairs in my home office and off I could go to take care of the rest of my errands that day.   I was not prepared for the horrendous customer service. 

The problem with outsourcing call centers is that it's convenient for the companies, but not convenient for their customers.  I placed my first call to the 1-800-GO-DEPOT number about 2:00pm yesterday, on July the 10th, as I had to inform my client whether I would be able to arrive that afternoon (thankfully, I had forwarned them about this possibility...I guess my ESP powers were working strong to foresee this possibility).  I was greeted by "Angelica" who couldn't find my order...no big deal, let me give you my phone number so you can call me back when you find it.  "Unfortunately, ma'm, I'm not allowed to do that."  So, I asked where the call was being taken from...the Phillipines, of course...outsourcing at its finest. She placed me on hold three times even after I had asked for a supervisor as I just wanted a status.  I repeated several times.  "It's a simple question...is my file cabinet arriving today or not?  A simple yes or no will suffice."  "Let me place you on hold again."  After going back and forth several times and asking for a supervisor, "Joseph" came on the line and said there was nothing they could do to look up whether the shipment was arriving today or not. "Okay, fine.  Can I please have a US postal address where I can register a complaint?" I said.  "Ma'm, I'm sorry, but we do not have that information.  I can tell you that the company is in Florida."  Uh, yeah...

So, after asking several times for a U.S. postal address where I could do the old fashioned way of writing a letter to complain, he said "We file complaints on behalf of the customer."   A bit puzzled, I inquired..."Don't you think that's a bit of a conflict of interest?  How can you truly represent my opinion of your service?"  "I'm sorry, ma'm," he said, "that's how our system works."   Okay fine...next simple question.  "What outsourcing company do you work for?  You are an outsourcing agency, right?"  Pause.  "I'm sorry, ma'm, but that is confidential information.  We are not allowed to give that over the phone."  I see.  I'm thinking, what does this guy think I'm going to do, get on a plane for the Phillipines to look for "Joseph" about my file cabinet?  Puh-leeze!   I just needed this information for the handwritten letter I was going to write to the company.  Once again, I asked, "can you give me a US Postal Address where I can write a letter to the company."  Pause.  "I'm sorry, ma'm, I do not have that information."

By this time, I figured, I'm getting nowhere with this, so I said to the man.  "Don't bother, I'm going to find another way to resolve this and thanked him for his time."  So, I go to their website and file a similar complaint, with the simple question:  "Please send a US Postal Address where I can file a complaint."   (Still waiting to hear from them.)

Okay, so now it's getting to be 4:30pm, and the file cabinet is supposed to arrive by 5:00pm...at this rate, it's not looking good.  Let's call again at 6:15pm...the file cabinet is really not going to show up today...this time I get another woman, "Nina" on the phone in the Phillipines with customer service.  She said "UPS is going to deliver the cabinet in about two days."  It's on the truck in process.  Uh, okay, so you had me wait at home for nothing???"  Pause.  So I ask, "so why was I asked to stay at home?  I thought someone was going to come to my home and place this file cabinet into my home office.  So, UPS is going to leave a box on my doorstep and expect me to lug this up the stairs?  Also, can you tell me what company you work for?"  "I work for Office  Depot," she says.  I said, "well, technically, you are not an Office Depot employee because you are a contract worker with an outsourcing agency.  So once again, can you tell me the name of the outsourcing company you work for?"  Pause.  "No, that is confidential information."   She files a complaint for me and tells me I will hear from someone within 3-4 hours.  I give her my cell phone number and needless to say, by 10:30pm...NO ONE HAS CALLED.  No surprise there.  Given their track record, it would have been a miracle to get a call.   

Okay, next step...I head to my local Office Depot store to talk to a live person.  I brought two bags of items I had purchased on the same day I had purchased the file cabinet and ask for a credit.  After all, why should I continue to patronize a company that isn't getting their customer service right.  And of course, I ask the question, "Can you give me a US Postal Address where I can write a formal complaint?"  Hallelujah!  Someone knows the answer.  Here it is for anyone else in cyberspace who needs it:

Office Depot
2200 Old Germantown Road
Delray Beach, FL  33445

It is not published on their website, so you have to go to your local store to get it.  On their website, you can only complain by filing an online form (which I did asking for the US Postal address) or by calling their 1-800-GO-DEPOT number. 

The staff workers at my local Office Depot are very nice and courteous.  I am sad that I will not be seeing them much moving forward.  This one employee also mentioned that now that they are using 1-800-GO-DEPOT instead of keeping inventory in stock, that there are far more customer complaints as shipments cannot be guaranteed as they have in the past.  They couldn't even give me the UPS tracking number so I could go onto the UPS system to find it even though they do know they are using UPS.  I can't even get a credit on my account, and they can't cancel the shipment.   All I can do is write a note on my door that says "UPS, I Refuse Shipment."  Once it goes back into inventory, then I get my credit.  She was very sympathetic and hopes that my efforts to bring this to the executives attention will maybe provide some change.  It sounds like they aren't listening to their own employees either. 

So, cyberfolks, I will keep you posted on how this goes.   I have been doing Google searches and finding press releases to get the names of the current executives at Home Depot office in Delray Beach and some will be getting some notes very, very soon.  Maybe one of them will listen.  Maybe one of them will actually make an effort to fix this for all customers.  Maybe one of them will look to companies who excel at customer service to improve their services.  They clearly need to rework their system or more former loyal customers like myself will be buying their products from Staples from now on.   I'm hoping their tagling "That was easy" is exactly that.   I may need to call Staples' customer service first.  Considering all the outsourcing that's going on, I may end up with the same support staff when contacting them for a misplaced file cabinet! 

So, folks, this may be the first in a set of evaluations for customer service.  Watch out Zagat, JD Powers, the 1000 Cranes award for Customer Excellence may be coming soon.  Needless to say, Office Depot will NOT be on that list.  :-)   

Why Leaders Need to Set Direction

I recently sat in a meeting with one of my clients, and the conversation took a bit of a circular path with the discussion of the direction a marketing campaign should move.    The conversation centered around not being reactionary in determining what geographic region to move next but rather to take in all data points so that we can make a better decision.    Needless to say, the direction to choose a region was never finalized yet again as there was too much discussion about waiting for all the necessary data to come in. 

I have been recently reading John Kotter's book, Leading Change, and he hit the nail on the head.  More people know how to manage rather than to lead.  It's easy for people to take data, analyze it, make assumptions and MANAGE this information before making a decision.  True leadership, however, requires setting a direction with the anticipation of what will happen without having all the data.   When John F. Kennedy decided to set the vision to put a man on the moon, no one had performed this.    It took true leadership and courage to take that risk and inspire us to achieve it.   Unfortunately, leadership is a skill that is still missing in our nonprofit and corporate board rooms, and we need to look deeper into cultivating the necessary leadership skills to set direction and accomplish  goals.   Setting a direction and placing risk mitigators is the key.  If the direction begins to look as if it cannot be accomplished or attained, then you adjust and look at the risks and change appropriately.  Unfortunately, too many people feel a requirement to look at all the data without really seeing what's needed to set leadership and focused effort.    It is my hope that political dynamics will not get in the way of their leaders creating and setting focused direction.    They clearly have the potential if they are willing to let go of their typical management habits. 

Departures of Grace and Glory

It always makes me wonder when I hear of an executive deciding to turn in his/her resignation in order to "pursue personal interests" or for "personal reasons" which of course are deliberately vague in nature.    When most people write a resignation letter to an organization, it  is usually accompanied by an explanation of what we are pursuing, our hopes for the future, our desires to be a part of something different.  So when people leave an organization to do these things, it's exciting; it's new; it's the great adventure to explore.  We have a going away party with a cake.  Our last few weeks in the office are jammed packed with people who want to take us out to lunch or coffee.

Compare this to the person who gets so frustrated by a boss or organization that they boldly shout out, "That's it!  I've had enough of this!  I quit!"  At least there is passion in this person, there is the fire in the belly.  There is an earnestness and commitment that everyone at some point in their life can relate to as so true.   People rally around this person and say "You go, Norma Rae! Tell them how bad it is here."  You become the glorious  siren of truth in an unappreciative environment, and the one with the guts to say it out loud.    That is the beauty of our first amendment.  It is a cornerstone of who we are as Americans.

So I wonder, in a land where freedom of speech allows us to really say what is on our minds, why would anyone want to leave an organization with such a lackluster phrase as "to pursue personal interests?"  The fanfare of a celebration isn't there.  The shouts and cries of angst are not there, but rather a simple handshake, a sideways glance and a "best of luck to you", are usually all that's given.   

When you resign for "personal reasons", all the hard work you've done takes a backseat because people are wondering "Why did he quit? "Was she forced out of her position?"  "Are they forcing him to retire?"  So why would you want to do this?  Why would you want to leave an organization in this fashion?  Ifyou take on an assignment or job, strive to leave in glory and build a legacy.   Make a mark on this world and be remembered!   Live out your commitments if you've made them, and if you can't, then provide an explanation for your anger or decision to depart.  Don't become one of those who hides behinds words that mask how you really feel.   You owe it to yourself to leave an organization with grace and glory.   

The Joys of Being a Night Owl

You'll often find that I'll post items and respond to emails in the wee hours of the morning as I usually stay up until 2:00am or 3:00am.  Needless to say, the early morning hours are my most productive time, and several of us are just plain wired that way. 

According to Dr. Simon Archer of the University of Surrey, a portion of this behavior may be explained by his research surrounding one of the clock genes known as Period 3 or per3.  Night owls tend to have a shorter version of the gene while early birds have a longer version. 

"We found most of the extreme morning preference people have the longer gene and the extreme evening preference people have the short gene," Archer told the BBC. "There are extreme morning people and extreme evening people, and it seems that behavior has a genetic basis to it."

When I discovered this research, I was relieved and felt vindicated!!!  I have always been prone to stay up late even as a child which always made it dreadful to wake up for those early morning classes.   Whenever I meet a person who is a night owl like me, I share this information as we share the common bond of an inherent prejudice against our late evening tendencies.   We often get cold stares when we roll into the office at 9:30am or 10:00am in the mornings.  Others fail to realize that when an 8:00am meeting is called, us night owls have only had four hours of sleep beforehand, and we absolutely need to nurse those two cups of coffee to stay alert! 

It's good to see that industries are adopting policies for allowing more and more people to telecommute and work on flex time schedules.  With gasoline prices going up and the bird flu scare, employers are now forced to start thinking creatively about productivity and office working hours.   The next step is to have services available at other times of the day as well.  It's nice to have 24 hour grocery stores and late night fast food restaurants available now...so when will salon services, dry cleaning, dentist offices and computer supplies stores also be open late?  Rush hour traffic would also be reduced greatly if everyone wasn't required to be on the road at the same time.    Now that I'm consulting full time, it is much easier for me to adjust my schedule as needed.  For others who work on a regimented schedule, it can be challenging. 

So, the next time you see an office worker strolling it at 10:00am to start their day while you've been there since 7:00am, consider that they may have been up until 2:00am the previous morning.  Cut them some slack for having a genetic night preference and having to adapt to a world that runs on a different schedule.    When you're fast asleep at 9:00pm, they are likely working another three hours after you have already gone to bed. 

References

• Why Some of Us are Early Risers, BBC News
• Why Waking Up Early is So Hard, Netscape News