Tag Archives: Customer Service

Customer Service

‘People buy from People’. A lesson for knowledge workers from Deenna Boutique and Neath Music

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Neath Music from company helecopter

Neath Music from company helicopter

I know that I shouldn’t be surprised by this statement. ‘People buy from People’ is one of those truths that underpin so much human activity, particularly if this involves some sort of exchange. The exchange can involve a product, service or knowledge and information.  This is where knowledge workers fit in; stick with me…….This week I met some people who run small businesses at the launch of FYI Neath, a website to support the development of the South Wales Town of Neath (and surrounding areas).

The ‘People buy from People’ theme was kicked off by Joel Hughes (who has said this on several occasions). The general idea is that; if you know, understand and trust another person, you are far more likely to exchange things with them. An important concept if you are in business and need to sell products and services, but just as relevant if you are a knowledge worker. A while back I wrote this post The Disconnected Jerk which talks about some research on people not sharing knowledge with people they don’t like or trust (even if their job requires them to do it).

Part of the FYI Neath event involved people who run small businesses talking about how they develop a relationship with their customers online, so that they can reach the point where ‘people will buy from people’. Here are some of the points I took away, thanks to Deenna Boutique and Neath Music:

  • You are your business. Whatever you say online has to reflect who you are. It’s the same as if someone walks into the shop to speak to you. Let the passion for your business show.
  • Give the ‘pros and cons’. You need to be honest about the products you sell. Customers will expect that and respect your opinion.
  • Deliver on what you promise.

The objective underneath all of this online activity was to develop a relationship with customers so that they know who you are, understand you and above all trust you. Good advice for anyone working in the field of knowledge management.

Dave Snowden talks about this concept as knowledge can only be volunteered; it cannot be conscripted.  It has also been described in this post as one of the 7 Principles of Knowledge Management by David Gurteen, which is worth a read. The underlying principle here is that people won’t exchange or share knowledge with you unless they trust you. Being a knowledge worker in a massive organisation is just the same as running a small business in Neath.

Or maybe not…….. You have to check out Neath Music. As part of building the relationship with the customers they write a blog. One of the latest features is ‘Local Stars playing reasonably priced guitars’. Now then, why would you want to buy an Epiphone EB-3 Base Guitar online, from some anonymous corporation, when you could go into Neath Music and meet some fantastic characters? I’m quite tempted to pick up my Banjo again, I think it needs re-stringing.

So what’s the PONT?

  1. People buy from people. The small businesses in Neath know that.
  2. Developing a trusting relationship online is as important as doing it face to face.
  3. Knowledge exchange is a social process. It depends upon people trusting each other to share what they know.

Picture Source: This is Neath Music – taken from the company helicopter (apparently). http://www.neathmusic.com/contact/screen-shot-2012-12-30-at-15-32-33/

Links to related posts:

Low Trust Costs You Money: http://whatsthepont.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/low-trust-costs-you-money/

Why is Good Practice such a bad traveller? : http://whatsthepont.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/why-is-good-practice-such-a-bad-traveller/

“Every CEO should try to access the services their organisation delivers using a mobile phone, at least twice a month”

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20130221-115930.jpgI wish I’d thought of that.

It was actually said by Jon Beech (@_jonb) on twitter and sparked a conversation about how senior officials could test the ‘lived experience’ of service users by trying to access their organisation’s website using a mobile phone. It’s been rattling around inside my head for a while and found its way out in the surroundings of a WordPress Users Wales meeting this week on responsive design.

I knew this was an important point when I first read it, and this is how it makes sense to me after the meeting. A few factual statements first:

  • People use websites to find out what services are delivered by organisations;
  • For large parts of society the Internet is the primary route they use;
  • Many people are using mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets etc) to access the Internet;
  • The percentage of people using mobile devices to do this is continuing to increase;
  • Many websites have historically been designed to be viewed from a desktop or laptop computer; and
  • Viewing a website designed for a large desktop screen, on a much smaller mobile phone screen can be a real hassle (go and try it out for yourself).

This is was why I was listening to James Cryer talk about responsive design at the WordPress meeting. In essence, responsive web design is about how websites are ‘responsive’ to the device on which they are viewed. The way that content is displayed will change to ensure that the reader has the best possible viewing experience for the size of screen they are using. This isn’t just about getting smaller (desktop to mobile), James pointed out that getting bigger (desktop to large screen TV) also offers challenges.

Using responsive design is helpful if you want your service users to understand what your organisation does. The easier it is to find and read the content on your website, using whatever device people choose (increasingly likely to be a mobile phone), the better it is for everyone.

So, why should this matter to your average CEO?

In the busy life of a CEO it is going to be difficult to ‘go back to the floor”, visit every department or take part in a ‘mystery shopper’ exercise. However, trying to access one of your services using a mobile phone is something you could do in a spare 5 minutes waiting for a train, sitting in a taxi or quietly in a senior management team meeting. This straight forward exercise would put you directly in the shoes of service users, a sort of virtual mystery shopper exercise. If your website isn’t responsive, I wonder how it will feel? It is a relatively low effort and possibly high impact activity, why not have a go?

Back to the WordPress responsive design ‘live demo’ session. Someone suggested it would be interesting to see if there were any good examples of responsive public sector websites in Wales……….. errrr….right.

Anyway, have a look at one we found for the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust. I’ve included a few screen shots of the site on a tablet and a phone. The point to note here is the location of clinics and other facilities is responsive and works brilliantly on the small screens. Just what you need if you are using a mobile phone and need to find the location of a facility. Interestingly the responsive elements of this site were developed involving someone who that was at the WordPress meeting and works in Wales, Craig Cartwright at precedent.co.uk. Nice one!

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. The move towards greater use of mobile devices means that websites need to be designed with this in mind.
  2. Responsive design is a way of changing web content to fit different devices and make it easier to read the content.
  3. Checking services using only a mobile phone would be a cheap and effective method for CEO’s to do some virtual mystery shopping, and see things from the perspective of a service user.

Thanks very much to James Cryer for an excellent presentation at the WordPress Users Wales meeting. You can pick up James’ presentation here. http://www.slideshare.net/jamescryer/rwd-wordpress

Picture Source: This looks interesting. North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust Mystery Shopper Programme. http://www.combined.nhs.uk/ourservices/Pages/shopper.aspx

Explanatory leaflet available here: http://www.combined.nhs.uk/dc/Documents/Mystery%20Shopper%20faqs.pdf

Central London Community Healthcare ‘locations’ viewed on a tablet, followed by the same information on a mobile phone, try it out yourself.

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Email Read Receipts. Does the misuse of minimum effort technology undermine trust between colleagues?

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20130113-111352.jpgDo email read receipts make your spirits soar…….? Not mine.

Why do people send them? Many people I’ve spoken to have, like me, been on the receiving end of read receipt misuse. Pointless, irritating and questionable behaviour.

I must admit that when I get one, particularly from repeat offenders, I’m sorely tempted to just delete the email without even reading it. Not quite the user experience (UX) emotion or response I’d imagine programmers, developers or the email sender were looking for.

There are many reasons why people need to send email read receipts. These range from the well-intentioned and legitimate, right through to something more sinister like, a lack of trust between colleagues. Unfortunately the virtually effortless act of sending a read receipt request can lead to misuse and undermine trust (I’ve explained my logic on this previously). Here are some thoughts on why people send them, particularly in relation to colleague to colleague communication.

Legitimate and Well Intentioned. This does what it says on the tin. This is a really important email you need to read. Possibly something that affects your terms of employment, has legal implications or involves money. It’s a bit like the ‘registered post’ package you have to sign for at the front door. A hassle to carry out, but necessary for your protection, and the person sending you the package. These situations are generally few and far between in colleague to colleague communication.

Unconscious Ignorance. I’m being generous here. Some of the ‘read receipt’ emails I’ve seen relate to very innocuous interactions. Why on earth would someone require a read receipt for an invite to an optional lunchtime presentation? I can only assume that it’s because the sender has some email feature set to automatic and isn’t aware of the impact (or how to turn it off). At least they get to feel the pain of the response emails flooding back in their own, undoubtedly, massively overloaded inbox.

Something More Sinister…… I Don’t Trust You! Unless the document falls into the same category as ‘registered post’ I really don’t see the need for the read receipt. The only other conclusion I can draw is that “you don’t trust me to read and act upon your email, so you want evidence in case you need to use it against me”. It’s a bit like sending a ‘cc’ to the boss of a colleague, a sneaky action that undermines trust between colleagues.

The read receipt is undoubtedly a useful feature that has great value, in the right circumstances. However I’m not sure that the potential for misuse by people was fully appreciated. Unfortunately the misuse that is enabled by virtually zero effort (cognitive and physical) turns something useful into a problem. For those on the receiving end the impact can range from mild irritation to something much less desirable, the undermining of trust between colleagues.

Interestingly the technical community can also feel the pain of their creation. Here’s an interesting story about an email migration project on exchangeserverpro.com. The project encountered 24,368 unread ‘read receipts’ held by a single person (the mind boggles at the state of that inbox!) This is a technical account but worth reading, particularly for the first comment……, “Read receipts have to be the most inane and narcissistic feature of email. They’re the first thing I disable when being setup under a new email system.” Nicely put….! Perhaps we should all get our IT departments to follow this advice, for the sake of trust between colleagues.

I’ve not got much to add to that other than what I’ve said before, ‘emails don’t send emails, people do’. Same for the ‘read receipts’, it’s all about how we choose to behave.

So, what’s the PONT?

  • There are legitimate and well-intentioned reasons for sending ‘read receipts’. Think ‘registered post’, otherwise don’t use it.
  • The impact of a ‘read receipt’ is two-way. Think about what your request means for your recipient? Also, do you really want 24,000 confirmation emails back in your inbox?
  • It’s all about behaviours. We have choices about whether to send ‘read receipt’ or not; ‘read receipts’ don’t send themselves, people do.

Photo source: Check out the Paul Cunningham post on exchangeserverpro.com

http://exchangeserverpro.com/real-world-case-read-receipts

Good News.
There is something practical you can do to switch off the annoying read receipts.
Here is an excellent link from @Darrenruddick, thanks Darren.

http://blah.winsmarts.com/2010-7-Outlook_2010_-and-ndash;_Disable_the_read_receipt_annoyance.aspx

Newsletter vrs Podcast, Who Wins? Remember, a paper newsletter can also keep you warm.

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20121216-140255.jpgMy father in law once told me about how managed the mountains of mail that landed on his desk as the Head of a large High School. One of his routines was to drop all of the newsletters neatly into a box with the intention of reading them at the end of term. Mostly they ended up on the bonfire, unread. This was pre recycling days but I don’t think much has changed.

This week I encountered several people who enthusiastically described how they were going to ‘change the world’ by sending newsletters (I’m exaggerating a bit, not like me I know). The point is that their passion for the cause, energy and commitment were not in doubt. Sadly though I felt their enthusiasm it was a bit unrealistic and miss-directed. Haven’t we been down the well trodden ‘let’s send out a newsletter and change the world’ path many times before?  Just to illustrate here are a few learning points from the week.

There are apps to automatically remove newsletters.  I know I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but there are. Unroll.me is an app that does this under the banner ‘End Email Overload’. Here is a description of how Sarah Kessler reduced 271 subscriptions to 17 and packaged had them into a single email using unroll.me

The underlying motivation seems to be that most newsletter subscriptions are a nuisance that should be removed from your email inbox. Something newsletter editors might want to think about?

Prevention is better than cure.  There are plenty of people advocating the ‘just say no’ approach. If you search online for information on how to deal with email overload it’s not long before you encounter advice telling you not to sign up for email newsletters in the first place and un-subscribe from any you currently receive.

The emailcharter.org has got some very helpful advice on how to prevent email overload, focused upon individuals taking responsibility for their actions. When it comes to newsletters I particularly like their ‘Join Our Mailing List’ button. This has a note next to it saying “Don’t Click This! “  Go and click it and see what happens

Newsletters seem to have acquired the status of ‘problem’. Something that clogs up your inbox which you’ll never ever read.

Paper newsletters don’t get treated any better. Saturday morning at home is time to sort through the week’s post. This week generated six newsletters that went directly from package to recycling bin without passing through the brain. OK, there were some things like the ‘Greyhound Rescue Shelter News’, but you get the point.

The carefully crafted design, eloquently written content and cost of printing don’t count for much if the newsletter closely follows the junk mail into the recycling bin (I think I might actually take more in if I were glancing at them before throwing them onto the bonfire…..?).

Good News, there is another way…….Podcasts.  While I was engaged in my Saturday morning chores I had a podcast playing.  This was the disruptive social care podcast from Shirley Ayres and Stuart Arnott. Listening to Shirley, Stuart and their guests is one my most useful learning experiences (it’s like Radio 4, but better….).

This podcast is in a completely different league to newsletters and as it happens the guest this week picked up on the point. Richard Humphries, Senior Research Fellow at The Kings Fund made a comment along the lines of….  ‘the social care sector produces lots of outputs, reports, papers etc which he struggles to keep up with. However, he always finds time to listen to the podcast which provides a fresh perspective’ I think that pretty much says it all.

Do have a listen to the disruptive social care podcast for yourself, it’s a great example of how to share knowledge. Even if social care isn’t your main area of interest, it’s surprising what you can learn.

So, what’s the PONT?

  • Knowledge exchange is a complicated area where multiple channels of communication are possible. Knowing what works for your target audience is essential.
  • The trusty old newsletters (paper or digital) do get treated a bit like spam or junk mail. Something editors need to recognise.
  • Podcasts offer a fresh perspective which is very engaging for many people. The time will come when they are the ‘standard approach’ that the newsletter used to be.

What IKEA Hacking has taught me about project management and learning from failure.

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I’ve used a version of this picture before (see 4 foot posts story), but it’s so uncannily accurate that it’s worth seeing again. The purpose is to illustrate some of my project management ‘issues’ and learning through failure. This was all the result of some accidental IKEA Hacking.

The Project: Refurbishment of a Client’s (youngest son) bedroom. Transformation from a pre-teen ‘mosh-pit’, to something significantly more sophisticated (that will last until he moves out).

The Project Failures:

  1. Poorly Defined Outcomes. The Client changes his mind about thirty times a day. This includes ‘big ticket’ issues like ”am I a vegetarian or meat-eater?”, so little choices like door handle design were bound to be fluid. I never got a solid commit to anything.  Fail 1..
  2. Lack of Scenario Planning. I did have a plan and an idea of how IKEA were going to meet my needs. Unfortunately I got dazzled by a special offer of ‘end of line’ mirror doors and the original plan was forgotten. The ‘last minute surprise’ always happens to me in IKEA, I should have been prepared. Fail 2.
  3. Poorly  Executed Procurement . After vaguely agreeing changed specifications with the Head of Project Procurement (controller of finances/Wife), I headed off for some fun. Spinning around in the office chairs (23 revs/min) followed by a lie down to recover. We did come in under budget, but with a set of surplus half doors, how did that happen?  Fail 3.
  4. Construction Phase Conflict. Nothing new to say here, I’m sure most people will have experienced this. Things always go wrong during the construction phase, some people lose their cool and behave badly and the construction team becomes dysfunctional (yes it was my entire fault, sorry). Fail 4.
  5. You Tube to the Rescue. Hurrah! You Tube is full of videos of how to build IKEA stuff. I finally work out that it isn’t my fault. I’ve got the wrong stuff and I’m actually IKEA Hacking. Everything is on You Tube. Success!
  6. Face to face is best. Full of righteous indignation I was ready to take on IKEA. Unfortunately telephone help-lines don’t really work at 10.30 on a Friday night and neither do 25 minutes ‘hold’ times. The only realistic option is to show up in person. You are harder to ignore in the flesh. Fail 5.
  7. Physical things are easier to deal with than intangibles. I did visit the store, twice. First time was with just the neatly ordered paperwork, and I failed to resolve the problem. Second time was with a trolley full of badly re-packed boxes. It’s amazing how that changed the dynamic. It’s almost as if the problem only really exists if it’s sitting there in front of you. I also got to speak to an expert installer who solved my problems immediately. Success! Unfortunately I still have the surplus set of half doors (still don’t know how that happened). Fail 6.

Learning from Failure: if I want my next project to run smoothly I need to:

  • Have clear outcomes;
  • Plan carefully;
  • Modify plans when things change;
  • Stay positively engaged with the Team throughout;
  • Communicate face to face whenever possible; and
  • Know when I need to speak to an expert.

So what’s the PONT?

  1. We can learn a lot about project management by building things from IKEA. I’ve learnt more during this practical experience than in several classroom based project management courses.
  2. Communication is an absolutely critical part of the project management process, in work and real life.
  3. A small amount of time with an expert can save a lot of hassle. 30 seconds with the expert installer was more useful than about 2 hours of watching (and re-watching)  ‘how to’ videos.

Apparently what I was doing is called IKEA Hacking. This involves taking standard IKEA products and doing something different with them than what was intended. This is a good example of open innovation by-product users, and unfortunately the source of my difficulties. Not surprisingly there is plenty of material on the Internet dedicated to IKEA Hacking, here are a few links:

http://www.ikeahackers.net/p/about.html  (I wish I’d looked at this site before I started)

http://www.businessinsider.com/ways-to-hack-ikea-furniture-2012-8?op=1

http://www.complex.com/art-design/2012/05/the-10-coolest-ikea-hacks/

Picture source: http://tamingdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/tree-swing-project-management-large.png

Opportunity in Adversity. Glass Half Full Thinking at Arriva Trains Wales (@ArrivaTW)

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Here’s quick follow up to the post about Arriva Trains Wales and their journey to improved customer service.

Last week saw another blip on the tracks. On Tuesday morning damaged signaling cable caused significant disruption. I know because I was due to meet people who were stuck at Newport (and I picked it up through Twitter).

It was interesting to observe that those people making use of Twitter (following the various train companies and Twitter hash tags #) were far better informed (and less stressed) than those who weren’t, but that’s another story……

What has grabbed my attention is the request ATW put out on Twitter for feedback on how communication worked during the disruption.  I think this approach is interesting in a number of ways. My observations:

  • You have been horribly delayed in your journey (not actually ATW’s fault), but they have tried their best to communicate with you while it was happening;
  • They have been honest and open about the limitations of their current communication  methods (no live tweeting on the disruption, see picture below);
  • But they do care about how they communicate with you, so they are asking how things worked on Tuesday so that they can make things better;
  • Sending this ‘how can we get better’ message takes some the heat out of the situation (in my opinion);
  • Gathering feedback in a structured manner while the issue is still live should capture information that is ‘fresh in the mind’, so it’s probably more accurate;
  • In my view, this is better than something six months down the track when a generic customer service questionnaire asks a potentially vague question about ‘communication during disruption’; and.
  • How good is your memory of the communication aspects of the event likely to be in 2 weeks time, let alone 6 months? This (almost) real-time feedback has got to be more useful.

I really like what ATW are trying to do here. It’s a good attempt at trying to engage with service users through Twitter as part of the improvement journey. Even though it was a difficult situation they have seen an opportunity to try and make things better. Real ‘glass half full’ thinking, nice one ATW.

I wonder if any other public service providers might have a go at something like this?

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. During disruption, service users really appreciate knowing what’s going on. Twitter offers an opportunity to do that.
  2. Being open and honest about your limitations and asking for information on ‘how do we improve’ is a good way of engaging service users.
  3. Gathering feedback while the situation is still ‘fresh in the mind’ should provide information which is more accurate than a survey months later.

Open and honest communication with @_LaurenCook_. Followed by a few screen shots of the survey. A wide range of communication channels available. I count 12!

@ArrivaTW- twitter love is a Long Train Runnin’ (without love) at the minute

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How to read this post: click on this link, let the soundtrack start, come back here and start reading…….

I’m sending some Twitter love to Arriva Trains Wales (@ArrivaTW). They are trying hard to engage with customers through Twitter but aren’t fully feeling the love yet. It’s also an opportunity to link to some music from The Doobie Brothers in the shape of Long Train Runnin (Without Love). I reckon the Arriva Trains Wales Twitter operators should adopt this as their theme tune. Nothing like a bit of 1970′s funk to lift the spirits.

Over the last year I’ve been enthusing about London Midland Trains and how they engage with customers through twitter. If you don’t believe me follow them @LondonMidland, you could even try tweeting them, there is a better than 75% chance of them responding to you very quickly. How do I know this? Well I follow @engagementindex who send me regular tweets on customer service performance of a range of organisations who use twitter. I have posted about the fantastic performance of @LondonMidland previously, and had commented that @ArrivaTW had some way to go…..

Well something has changed. In the July update from @engagement index I spotted that @ArrivaTW had leapt up the rankings. From a position where they weren’t responding to any tweets from customers they were doing much better.

My spirits soared, look how things can change in a year.  Twitter enabled customer service for trains in Wales (and the Marches).  Even better was the new @ArrivaTW Twitter bio. An honest statement, “we try our best to reply”.

I had to take a closer look for myself. Unfortunately this has coincided with an incident at the main Cardiff Train Station. A collapsed wall resulted in major disruption for several days. Hardly the fault of @ArrivaTW, they just run the trains, but they got plenty of criticism on Twitter. If want to see the collapsed wall, check out the @ArrivaTW Twitter pictures, brilliant use of social media.

What I saw on twitter were valiant attempts by the @ArrivaTW tweeters to help out, but unfortunately on occasions they got some pretty offensive comments.  It’s a real shame. Nobody deserves that kind of abuse, particularly when they haven’t caused the problem and are just trying to help. Perhaps @ArrivaTW should add to their twitter bio, “please try to be polite (we are real people with feelings)” just like the one on @LondonMidland.

So, what the PONT?

  1. Here is some Twitter love from me to @ArrivaTW. What a difference in a year.
  2. Nobody deserves abuse for trying to deliver a service in difficult circumstances (particularly if you didn’t cause the problem), at the end of Twitter account there are real people with feelings.
  3. Keep plugging away @ArrivaTW. Hopefully the love will come, even if it feels like a Long Train Runnin’ (without love).

There is some love out there for @ArrivaTW!

Do car dealers use the lean thinking from the manufacturing process?

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This is on the heels of recent posts about customer services. This morning, in the pouring rain and a howling gale, I dropped my mother’s car off at the garage for repairs. I hadn’t been there for about 7 years but was instantly reminded of why I stopped – shocking organisation which resulted in hassled staff and poor customer service.

Looking at what was going on I couldn’t help thinking, they could do with some Lean thinking here. A bit of Gemba Mat wouldn’t go amiss either. Admittedly it wasn’t a Toyota dealership, but I’m sure the manufacturers they represent would employ some sort of Lean thinking. Why on earth hadn’t it found its way out here?

This is what I experienced:

  • Lack of signs. The service department and sales were opposite sides of a main road. There was nothing obvious to say this and I initially went to the wrong place.
  • Drop off time. I was only offered 8.30am as was everyone else. This had negative consequences.
  • At drop off time the area around the Garage is highly congested with people dropping off vehicles, commuter traffic and the local kids heading to school.
  • There aren’t enough ‘service’ parking spaces at the garage. You either need to park on the main highway or in a nearby street.
  • If you are being collected, your lift will have to park some distance away; a big deal if it’s raining like today.
  • Everyone booking in at 8.30am leads to long queues and delays at the booking desk.
  • People are hassled because they are running late, this translates into irritation with the booking clerk.
  • The booking clerk gets annoyed, and a vicious circle develops with the next customer in line.
  • Just to add the icing on the cake, the detailed information provided over the phone hasn’t found its way onto the partly prepared paperwork, so they ask you all the same questions again. Fine when you know your vehicle intimately, not so good when dropping off your mother’s car.
  • Finally, you know that the car won’t be seen until at least 2pm.
  • Now proceed to work….. “Have a nice day”….. No thanks to the garage.

I know there is a better way.

I’ve experienced it in other garages.

Had the garage taken even a cursory look at the process they would have seen so much opportunity to improve the flow and end up with happier customers and (I’m sure) happier and more engaged staff.

My suggestions to improve:

  • Multiple booking in slots during the day. Even a morning and afternoon session would reduce the congestion and have considerable benefits.
  • Better signs – let people know what’s happening and where. All pretty straightforward visual management / 5s activity.
  • Please use the diagnostic information you get over the phone.

I do find it amazing that this was the customer facing end of a highly efficient manufacturing organisation that uses approaches like lean, yet it doesn’t seem to travel beyond the factory gates. I wonder why?

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Some systems and processes are set up in a way that they cause blockages which results in an inefficient service and customer dissatisfaction.
  2. Customer dissatisfaction can have a negative impact on staff which leads to a ‘vicious circle’ developing.
  3. There are straightforward techniques like Gemba Mat which help improve processes and flow. They are widely used in vehicle manufacturing and could be adapted and applied by car dealers…….. please have a go.

But there is hope at the end of this tale. I’ve just come across the book featured in the picture. ‘Creating Lean Dealers’ by David Brunt & John Kiff. It was a Shingo Prize winner for research award in 2010 so well worth a read. I’m going to recommend it when I pick up the car, today hopefully.

“Car manufacturing has been transformed by lean over the last 20 years, yet car dealerships have remained virtually untouched – until now. “

In the face of petty officialdom sometimes you just have to pucker up and take the pain.

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Here is an irritating situation. It’s 11.30pm on a Friday night in Cardiff Bus station. You have a 7am flight from Heathrow and the coach driver is getting all chesty about putting your carefully dismantled and beautifully bagged up bicycle into the luggage compartment. Apparently it’s in the  small print rules of the online booking form. It is at his discretion to decide if he allows the luggage on or not. Just to cap it off he threateningly announces that the bus will get full up at Bristol, and he will probably remove your bike off there. Welsh customer service at its worst!

A very anxious journey to Bristol followed, where the bus did not fill up. My only guess is that the Bristol University Canoe Club failed to turn up with their kayaks. That’s the only way that luggage hold was going to become overcrowded, in my opinion (sorry un-necessary sarcasm here).

If ever there was a clear-cut example of the need to do away with petty rules and useless officials this guy was it.

During the anxious journey (while Geof was willing him a painful death through the power of telepathy) I was pondering, had we done anything wrong to wind him up? What can we do to make things better?

Had we done anything wrong?  All I could think of here was our over enthusiasm to help. Bounding forward with two oversized bags full of bicycles was obviously the wrong thing to do. Helping him to lift them into the luggage compartment must have insulted his manly prowess in some way. Suggesting that they could slide into the special tall compartment, where every other bus driver shoves them, was totally in the territory of “don’t tell me how to do my job sonny”. Finally, never ever lean into the luggage compartment to help pull bike bags forward. This (apparently) breaches so many health and safety rules that it’s lucky the police weren’t called to arrest us.

What we should have done?  I spent the rest of the trip carefully studying the driver as he picked up other passengers. This guy was master of his universe. What he wanted was a dutifully compliant person who bowed down to his superior knowledge and respected his position. The way to get ahead was to shuffle forward with your head bowed and not make eye contact with him. Offer your paperwork and maintain an air of complete helplessness and deference. Bend down to his superior position and bingo you are on the bus in no time. No hassle, not quoting of the (pointless) rules in the small print and no threats of ejection at the next stop.

Sometimes in the face of petty officialdom you just have to pucker up and take your medicine. You aren’t going to win against ‘the rules’ so it’s not worth fighting – well not this battle anyway.

By the way the experience at Heathrow Terminal 5 with the BA baggage people was fantastic; they didn’t bat at eyelid at bikes in large bags. Likewise First Great Western Trains were equally helpful on the way home, the platform staff at Reading in particular. Interestingly the driver on the bus link between Heathrow and Reading was also good. No fuss about loading the bike bags from him, in fact he was quite happy for us to actually put them in the hold. How can there be such a difference in people working for the same organisation?  Yes you’ve guessed who…… National Express.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Sometimes, when you have no other choices, you have to endure poor customer service. It’s not right, but it happens unfortunately.
  2. When faced with petty officialdom, if you can’t challenge and win the battle you may have to settle for deference and compliance with the rules…… sacrifice the battle to win the war.
  3. We will definitely be using the train next time even if it costs lots more. And joy of joys, National Express has sent an email asking for some customer feedback. Ha ha ha Geof will be completing that one……. look out!

Picture: “does my bike look big in this?”…… a beautifully packed bike at Cardiff Rail Station. Future transport method of choice.