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Wisdom from the wRECk

Started by DouginUtah, December 10, 2004, 09:42:38 AM

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DouginUtah

...wRECk as in rec.woodworking newsgroup....

These are a couple of posts that were posted on rec.woodworking which struck me as being relevant for our business relationships. It's a long post but worth the read.
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Yesterday I went to the lumber yard to pick up some more maple for the mother of all chests of drawers I'm building. While waiting to pay for my boards I glanced down at a copy of the monthly employee newsletter that was on the counter. My attention was drawn to something in particular on the front page-my own name?!

I picked it up and started reading the message from the company president about a couple of letters she had received recently from satisfied customers and she wanted to tell the company about them.

A few months back, when I started the project, I called this lumber yard and asked about buying rough sawn lumber. The fellow who took my call was very helpful, quoted me prices for various species and thicknesses and answered all my silly newby questions. When I arrived at the bulk yard the guys had already pulled pallets full of lumber for me to pick through and checked in on me to make sure I was getting everything I wanted. Half a day and a half a thousand dollars later, I drove away with a van full of lumber and a lot of gratitude for the service I had received.

In a world where people are quick to complain, I decided somebody should hear about something different. I sat down and composed a letter of thanks to the company president, explaining how helpful her employees had been (naming names) and that they had earned a loyal customer (despite the 45-60 minute drive). I had hoped she might share the letter with the employees involved.

So, it was quite a surprise to see her share it with the whole company through her newsletter. She quoted the letter at length, included pictures of the employees I had dealt with, and concluded her monthly message with, "This is why we do what we do." It made me feel good that she chose to publicly praise her employees after receiving my letter.

I quipped to the cashier that I was flattered to have made the front page. "Oh, is that you? Hey Jim!", he yelled, "Come up here. The guy who wrote that letter is here buying more wood." Jim (one of the employees I had mentioned) came out of the back office and shook my hand. "You have no idea how nice that letter was. The president called me immediately. Morale around here is definitely up."

I don't share this to toot my own horn. I'm doing it because there are still places like this lumber yard and Lee Valley tools that really do provide customer service. It took me about 15 minutes to write the letter, a small investment of my time. If we each took a little time to praise when it was warranted, we'd probably spend a lot less time condemning later.

Ian Dodd
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Good post Ian.

I have done extensive business writing. I used to interview various folks who were very successful in their respective businesses. I never forgot an interview I did once with a guy who operated several unrelated businesses.  And they all did well.

He was busy writing notes when I arrived. He had me wait for a couple minutes while he finished up.  I quickly determined that these were thank you notes. They were gold engraved and had his name, address and phone number on them. I asked about them.

He smiled and told me that this was a tradition he has practiced for many years. He said that the world is full of rude and boorish people. And there is too little praise. So he carries these thank you notes all the time. Some are stamped so he could mail them. And some were plain so he could hand them directly to people.

And he wrote them out for everybody he met who he thought deserved them. If he got good service at a restaurant, he wrote two notes. One to the waitress and one to the manager. He would even write a thank you note to the chef.  He would often leave a store, write the thank you note and return to the store to deliver the notes.

This guy wrote a minimum or twenty notes a week and sometimes wrote as many as a hundred notes a week.  He had kind words for everyone.  A genuinely nice and appreciative guy.  Nobody had anything bad to say about the guy and he had an excellent reputation.

Needless to say, he did well in business. With that kind of attitude, people would have died for this guy. In a world where courtesy and niceness are considered quaint vestiges of the past, this sort of thing is REALLY appreciated and noticed.

Sometimes a nice note can make somebody's day. Other times it can have a super positive effect on somebody's life. We are remiss if we don't bless our fellow humans now and then with a well deserved thank you.  It is appreciated by all.
Lee Michaels

-Doug (aka bole2cant on the wreck)
-Doug
When you hang around with good people, good things happen. -Darrell Waltrip

There is no need to say 'unleaded regular gas'. It's all unleaded. Just say 'regular gas'. It's not the 70s anymore. (At least that's what my wife tells me.)

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fstedy

 ;D ;D ;D  DU  ;D ;D ;D  That was a great thing to do if we all would only take a bit of time to recoginize the folks that go above and beyond to help us the world would be a better place. The part about the man passing out the notes was very unique. To often all you hear about are the  >:(boastful people :( that like to toot their own horns.
Timberking B-20   Retired and enjoying every minute of it.
Former occupations Electrical Lineman, Airline Pilot, Owner operator of Machine Shop, Slot Machine Technician and Sawmill Operator.
I know its a long story!!!

leweee

Ahh.... reminds me of the movie "it's a wonderfull life' staring Jimmy Steward :) ;D ::)
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

Engineer

Paths cross in many ways.  I've been a wRECk regular for years (since 1996? 97?) and have seen bole2cant as the author of many posts.

And yes, I read both of those posts a few days ago.  It's nice to hear about people that take the extra minute out of their day to make others feel appreciated.  Doesn't happen very often - even the holidays seem to be an afterthought or an annoyance to many of us.

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