RAVING FANS BY Ken Blanchard tremendous impact on day to day management of people and companies Chairman of Blanchard Training Development Inc full service management consulting and training company Writer in the management field His impact has been far reaching Sheldon Bowles President and CEO of Domo Gasoline Corporation Ltd for 15 years He was a reporter Then President and CEO He now spends his time writing The area manager has just been promoted to manager He is sitting in his office very nervous Because 3 others have been recently filed out because they haven t done a good enough job Quality is how well the product works for the customer All of a sudden Charlie appears in the area managers office Charlie is his Fairy Godmother Manager asked how cause he is a boy and he said he met the quota because fairy godmother s are usually women HE LOVES GOLF He can also read the area managers mind If you really want to own a customer if you really want a moving business you have to go beyond satisfying customers and make raving fans You want to make your place their favorite place to go The area manager and Charlie go play a golf game On the first tee Charlie helped the area manager out a little and made him shoot amazing He switched shots with him because he played for the Immortal Masters for centuries The customers are only satisfied because they are no worse than the competition Charlie then led them into Varleys Varleys Leo Varley Greeter wearing blue pinstriped suit All employees wear RED carnation Pinned WHITE carnation on customers from class must ask what if customer is allergic Free coffee offered from class if you re going to provide free coffee it needs to be made every hour not made at 8am and have it get stale Sales woman at Book department Linda Woman offered to go to another store in the mall to retrieve him the book he wanted Price will be matched to the penny She also gift wrapped it for free Large children s play area Washrooms will always tell you if a company cares about customers Very nice Soft lighting rich wood paneling marble counters White cloth hand towels Bottles of every grooming aid imaginable Man in white coat polishing mirrors Washroom was spotless Leo Varley On a carpeted platform in middle of store with executive desk on it Sign said Leo Varley May I help you Please come up and say hello Leo responded to area manager when he asked how he can afford all the things he does was How could I afford not to Twice the sales of average department store At Varley s Department store we live the vision First Secret to getting Raving Fans Decide what you want You are the source Create the vision of perfection centered on the customer The secret doesn t say you have to be perfect It tells you to imagine perfection centered on the customer Thinking back looking how the customer interacts with the products to make the changes she needs Area manager asked Linda why she goes through so much trouble It s store policy It s raving fan service as Mr Varley calls it She worked in another department store and hated it Treated customers badly Felt like a machine Bad attitude Mystery shoppers only gave bad feedback Now she helps customers and enjoys doing it Likes feedback from supervisors All graded on service to customers Get congratulated for doing well and helps when they don t Dressing Room had no limit of clothes that can be taken in Then Charlie led them to Sally s Sally s Market Sally The World s Best Grocery Store Huge pots with flowers marked each parking aisle Valet Parking Bright Kelly green uniforms Opened door for customer Valet gave them list of specials for the day He liked the fresh strawberries Were ripened on the vine rather then in a warehouse Staff will also go look for other colors or sizes or bring clothing suggestions to you Dressing room limits are a blatant example of abusing customers He had some they were great Area Managers neighbor drives forty miles to go to Sally s Red carpet extended from Valet to the door Aisles were wide Carpeted Brightly lit Obviously busy But not crowded Judy Store advisor Helps customers get the best value and make shopping as easy as possible Gave area manager a list of items on his grocery list and on sale In order of which items he would pass first following the yellow arrows woven into the carpet List also showed the recommended best buy List gave comparison Stars alert of good deals and items with excellent nutritional value The longer the shopping list the more likely to go to Judy There are also computer terminals and keyboards where you can type the list in yourself Free shoe shining Debbie suggested it as a gift to the husbands She got promoted from stock clerk to cashier Computer sets up a customer record account to keep track of your purchases It will alert you when your favorite brands are on sale Automated billing system Bare code tags on every item in the store One inch square piece of thin cardboard Drop it faceup in the tray on the side of the cart Cashier will slide the tags into a special bar code reader All the packaged goods will be totaled up Next month they will be able to weigh and measure produce to give tags in the produce section Do you run spot checks to make sure customers are honest Their shrinkage loss is far below average They run the random sample to ensure the equipment is working properly Comfort both to Sally s and the customers The automated checkout worked well and was fast No lines at the checkout stands Every department has a manager on the floor George Brought sally her coffee and watched area manages cart Businesslike businesses as you call them aren t necessarily famous for customer service Trouble is most people don t believe they need help Don t really care about customers I know exactly what perfection looks like so I know what my goal is Once you have a real vision what you have to do is bring down the picture from your mind and impose it over your organization and see where the bumps and warts are That s what you work on Sally s didn t help load groceries into the car Have rug cleaning machines for rent Sell fresh fish Develop camera film for you It wasn t in her vision Charlie was in the car and suddenly disappeared Manager thought I ve lost him and he suddenly heard Charlie said Not unless you give up golf The next few days the area manager was unusually productive Several days later he answered his phone and Charlie asked if he wanted to play golf Charlie picked up the