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Service Is a Choice
(Excerpt from The Simple Truths of
Service) |
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No one can make you serve customers well. That’s
because great service is a choice. Years ago, my
friend, Harvey Mackay, told me 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 rearview 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.
Johnny the Bagger and Wally the Cab Driver made
a different choice. They decided to stop
quacking like ducks and start soaring like
eagles. How about you?
