Does purpose matter?

I often ask myself what is my purpose in life. As if there is some grand plan waiting for me to push the right button so I can achieve everything I was supposed to.

The grand plan thing must come from deeply entrenched beliefs about religion.

Is it possible that I have a purpose?

In a recent video, I saw the grandness of our universe and the size of our planet in comparison. Our planet is basically a spec of dust moving at 67,000 miles per second. Dr. Seuss may have described our Earth appropriately in "Horton hears a Who".

Yet our egos place us at the centre of it all. Humans fight over land, money and natural resources when none of it truly matters.

What matters is the current relationships we have with each other. People won't remember what we said. They will not remember what we did. But they will always remember how they felt in our presence.

Working hard to make a living, we forget that we are all on the same dust ball.

Maybe there is no such thing as purpose. Maybe we made it up to give our life meaning. Maybe there's no life after death.

All these answers are beyond my knowledge. But I know what I believe and that's what keeps me going.

Here's the only thing I know for sure:

We are living on a spec of dust spinning at 67,000 miles per second. We are insignificant outside our own selves.

I want to speak to the manager

Seven dreaded words when I managed a restaurant. My heart would miss a beat. I would tense up. The hair on my neck straightened. Was something so wrong the server couldn't fix it?

It hurt me to think that we did not do our best. I would ask the server what happened. Getting all the information, I would take a deep breath and go to the table ready for my lashings.

In most cases, the customer would thank me, offer praise to the staff or just want to say hi.

There were bad times. It is in those bad times, a manager is tested each and every time.

Here are my steps to handle a complaint.

Step 1: Listen and Understand
Let the customer say everything they have to say. Let them speak their entire mind. Ask questions to get more information. Don't offer a solution until you have all the information. A customer who starts to repeat themselves is probably done venting.

Step 2: Empathize and Acknowledge
Apologizing for a mistake is normal. Don't give excuses. A customer isn't always right, but they are about 95% of the time. Not all customers are equal. Asking a customer if this is their first experience with your brand is really important. A returning customer is more important than a first time customer. A first time customer can become a loyal customer if the stars align properly. But chances are if this is their first experience, and it's bad, they won't be back.

Step 3: Fixing the problem
Offer to fix the problem immediately. The manager's most important job during the day is fix this customer's problem immediately. Everything else becomes secondary. A fixed problem is a gone problem. A manager must always empathize that the customer's time has been wasted. All complaints need to be handled with tact. Putting a restaurant's immediate profits with this customer is not important. The future business is more important. If the problem can be fixed, offer a discount on this purchase but also on a future purchase. The rationale is to leave a customer with a remarkable last impression.

Step 4: Thank the customer
This is the most critical step. Saying something like, "Thank you for making my business better. I'm sure you're not the first person who this has happened to. You're courage in telling us has brought this oversight to our attention."

Most customers are not looking for freebies. They just want to be served. The very small percentage of customers that are potentially scamming the business is only damaging if you treat all your customers like thieves.

Picking up garbage

On a business trip recently with a business associate, I noticed that he was bending over. Looking down to see what he dropped, my eyes exploded in amazement. He was picking up a piece of garbage in the hotel lobby.

A piece of paper discarded as unimportant property. None of the staff saw it as important. My friend did. My friend is in the hospitality business. He's one of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever known.

I asked why he paid attention to someone else's trash. His answer was that his behaviour may change the employees behaviour. Although the hotel wasn't a client, he had programmed himself to be a model for change. Even if it meant picking up a stray piece of paper in a hotel lobby.

Yesterday, I went to the local coffee shop to drink a green tea while I worked. Another friend owns the place and a third friend is the manager. I chose my nesting ground and plopped my laptop on the coffee table only to find a discarded plastic cup and two paper bags filled with something that possibly might have been muffins.

Learning from my hospitable friend, I picked up the three pieces of garbage and went to the nearest receptacle to dispose of my undesired treasure. To describe the garbage can as filthy would be a compliment. It hadn't been cleaned in days, if not weeks.

Upon returning to my leased out chair, the crumbs on the floor reminded me of pebbles on a beach. I wondered if they were all from today or if the employees hadn't bothered sweeping this week. Maybe the sweeping is on the same schedule as the cleaning of the garbage can.

In either case, I listened to my heart. I followed my friend's lead in doing my part in removing the recognizable stuff.

I worry for my two friends who depend on this coffee shop for their livelihood. It looks like they are missing out on systems or they are not paying attention to details. Either way, it's a slippery slope.

It's not a customer's job to pick up the garbage. My hospitable friend does it. So will I. But most won't.

Leaving on a jetplane

I don't get it. Given the choice between working with a jerk and a nice guy, why would anyone give business to the jerk?

Maybe the jerk gives the best back rubs, pumps up the egos with pomp and circumstance and tells us how special we are. I don't let businesses that act like jerks anywhere near my back. I don't trust them. They probably have a knife waiting to steal my wallet.

Yet we accept jerky mediocrity in the airline industry.

In Canada we have two choices: Air Canada and Westjet. One has an extensive network while the other is trying everyday to prove its worth.

I had the pleasure to fly on the monster this week.

I've never been afraid of flying. But this experience made me happy to be on the ground.

The service at the gate was equal to my mobile phone contact centre. I'm used to it, so I accept it. But it was the lack of attention to details that nearly soiled my pants.

Sitting in seat 6B, I looked out at the wing to see a missing rivet. One rivet is not big deal I try to convince myself. The rivet had purpose. If not, it would not have been drilled. Now, it's gone. Does that mean the plane will fall apart? I don't think so.

I could've gotten over the damn rivet if I wouldn't have seen the peeled paint caused by a previous fire from the propeller engine. This plane had engine problems at some point in the past. Was the problem in the air or on the ground? Was I going to have to open the exit door? I heard the co-pilot but I hadn't listened to him. Would people depend on me to save them from this death trap? Doesn't the company see this as a problem?

I reached down to pull out the evacuation procedural manual to know my role in the worst of scenarios. In doing so, I pulled the back of the seat from 5B onto my lap.

In my panic, I wanted to abandon ship. I wanted to call my wife to tell her I loved her. I turned on my music and sunk into a make believe world where only unicorns and fairies exist. The reality was too real.

Luckily I am not afraid to fly. I know flying regulations are tight. If the jerky airline would have painted the wings and replaced the missing rivet and fixed the upholstery in 5B, I would not have worried. But this inattention to details made me worry about the potential bigger problems I couldn't see from my seat.

I don't trust this airline. I don't think they would ever hurt me on purpose. It's that they don't take care of me on purpose that pisses me off.

And that's the problem!

Special place

I spent the last three days on a special island. If you've never been there, you won't understand. If you're from there, you take it for granted.

It's paradise but not because of the weather. One day the wind chill was 30 below Celsius. The next day was plus 10. On the last day, it rained.

The people made paradisical. Just like any good business, the people are the defining characteristic of a great place.

This was my third visit here. I never noticed its magic on the previous two. It may be my age that appreciates it more.

Every where I went, someone was complimenting me. The street person told me he liked my scarf. The hotel employee acted like my mother. The stranger in the elevator told me a joke to get a laugh. Passers by on the street said hello as they walked toward their destination.

I had an accent to the natives. I was clearly an outsider when I spoke.

One could argue that people were less busy here. It's deeper than that.

These people are looking life in the eye. They haven't forgotten the only way to succeed is by working together.

There's something magical about island people. This island has 400,000 tenants. They act like we're all neighbors.

When I got home, I asked my wife why the server at the restaurant was so rude. She hadn't noticed. It was the second time that day that I felt under-loved in a business.

It hit me like a Codfish to the face on a cold day. I wasn't getting the personal care I got on my favorite island. My part of the country is extra special compared to the western front of this vast land. We got nothing on the folks further east.

One of the best employees I ever hired was a member of this island tribe. He was caring. He paid attention to customers. He worked his butt off. I always attributed his strengths to his expertise. My perspective has changed. He was brought up that way.

I hope the oil industry doesn't beat these wonderful people into big city, head down, smiles turned upside down, pickle sucking zombies.

Where ya to...

Hiring employees

Marketing your business from the inside out is the best way to ensure success as customers go through the trial stage with your company.

Internal controls, procedures and systems are required to ensure that not only you, the entrepreneur, but also any future hires act in a way that properly represents your new baby business.

The hiring of an employee is like pulling the pin in a grenade, and still holding the clip. If you let go of the clip, everything is lost. The easiest way to hold the clip is to create operations manuals for everything that needs to be done in that job. Create systems to ensure training of that employee and followup with ongoing evaluations.

Most businesses need employees. The successful ones know how to hire the best.

We all want the best. To get them requires hiring practices that are systemized. 

The definition of the best employee will vary depending on your viewpoint. Some are looking for the dependable, no bullshit, straight to the point person. Others will look for the caring, mother hen. You may want a little fun, but not crazy fun as a quality in your hire.  

The first step is identify the qualities you want in a new hire. You then find five questions you can ask looking for insight into your desired qualities. The person either has what you're looking for or they don't. Don't swerve from your objective. Don't settle. Don't hire anyone with a pulse. Don't put words in their mouth. Let them do the talking. It's time to listen.

I know one entrepreneur who defines his perfect hire by how they work on the job. In the interview he asks them if they would be willing to work one shift for free to see they would like the job. The candidate doesn't realize the most important part of the interview will be the observation of the potential employee in action. The entrepreneur looks for body language clues or facial expressions during the free work day to see if they are a good fit. This entrepreneur is playing poker and the candidate is showing him all his cards on the job. It's worked for him. Average turnover rate is under 1 employee per year for the past 10 years. At 10%, his turnover is well below the industry average of 150%.

Starbucks founder Harold Shultz was asked what his secret was to getting people to smile at Starbucks. His answer, "We hire people who like to smile". 

Can it be that simple?

But we can't hire the right person unless we first identify the characteristics of the right person. A good hire will grow your business. A bad one will shrink it. It's your job to know the difference.

As the Chetshire Cat says in Alice in Wonderland, "If you don't know where you're going then any road will do."

Marketing inside out

When we think of marketing, most confuse it with the 30 second commercials on TV that show big breasted women selling a can of beer. That's advertising and it plays a small role in the big business of marketing

Marketing is a broken up into the four categories. They are affectionately known as the four P's: Product, Price, Promotion, Place.

Promotion is comprised of advertising, street signs, decals, flyers, billboards, outside signage.

Price is your strategies on price. Any promotions you do that is price related is part of this funnel.

Place is your physical/virtual location. You may have a website, facebook page, twitter account and youtube channel. You may also have an email address, and physical location. If your place is a restaurant and it smells bad, customer probably won't buy from your company in the future.

Product can be physical or service related. In a service industry, time is sold instead of physical stuff. Time is still a product.

When we market our business, we need to market from the inside out.
Most focus on the outside in.

Let me give you an example of an outside-in perspective. Imagine you have a billion dollars to spend on advertising your little restaurant. You dominate the airwaves on TV and radio. Everyone in your market know you exist, where you are, and what the current promotion is. They drool over the food on TV and the next day they go to your restaurant. The first day is a Monday and your restaurant is packed with hungry people who saw the ads over the past week. The cooks are overwhelmed. The average table gets food in 45 minutes. The servers are running around like chickens and the food is cold by the time it gets to your table. Not to mention the server didn't refill your pop once, nor did she look at you when she handed you the bill. The food looked nothing like the TV advertisement. The service was poor and slow. You don't complain but you won't be back.

I'm exaggerating the obvious. But many entrepreneurs have poor standards internally and when customers stop coming, they think the problem is an outside marketing problem. When in fact, the problem is internal. Fix the internal problems first. Be awesome at what you do first. Word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising.

It works really slow.
Advertising speeds up the inevitable. If your company sucks, more people will find out faster with advertising. It works the same if your company is awesome.

Start with being awesome.