Service Compliment Leads to Multi-Market Push

   “It is amazing how a billing problem resulted in a great opportunity for our customers and LaserShip,” wrote a Charlotte based healthcare provider.    

   LaserShip’s Charlotte office started performing just a few on-demand jobs for the customer; when the company was bought by a large national pharmacy a billing question prompted a meeting in which LaserShip Regional Sales Manager Jim V., who used the face-to-face opportunity to bring up the benefits of LaserShip’s overnight shipping program.  

   “We are now providing service to three locations in my region,” comments Jim: “completing approximately 100 overnights per day with an additional market (Raleigh NC) soon to come on-line with about 75 more deliveries per day.” 

    “We are now in a multi-market push,” reports Jim.  In addition to the great service Charlotte has provided the company, a big break came when the local contact introduced Jim to their regional manager.  “Now our service and our relationships have developed within the entire organization to use LaserShip wherever we offer service.” 

   On Thanksgiving eve, the Charlotte customer sent a thank you to LaserShip: 

       “Thank you for helping us get packages to customers when THEY need it. LaserShip Charlotte just  delivered a record number of packages for us on Monday.  All packages made it to customers when needed with no complaints. Thanks for the great service which completes the final transaction with our customers each month.”

   The “they need it” comment, reports Jim “is related to the nature of the drugs we are delivering.  Most of patients are terminally ill or have very long term health issues that require very expensive and particular drugs.  So when he says ‘they need it’ he literally means they need these drugs to survive.” 

   “This is a wonderful compliment,” comments LaserShip’s V.P. of Sales and Marketing to the Charlotte team, “and just the kind of comment that enables us to grow the account into other markets.  Thank you for doing a great job for our customers!”

The Power of Gratitude

On this eve of the uniquely American holiday of Thanksgiving it is appropriate to not only be thankful for and appreciate all that we each have in our lives, but to also ask how we can be more thankful—be more appreciative and show more gratitude. 

  There is a “power of gratitude.”  It is similar to positive thinking: Once you start showing more gratitude on a regular basis, it multiples—not only within yourself—but among others. Its amazing how one simple, easy, positive action can change so much.

   The simple act of gratitude on a regular basis will change anyone’s life, positively and immediately. Simply showing gratitude by saying “thanks” can make you a more positive person, a better achiever, a better colleague, a more productive person and definitely a happier person. 

   Here are some suggestions on how you can incorporate gratitude into your life, and how it will change your life.

1. Have a morning gratitude session. Take one minute in the morning (make it a daily ritual) to think of the people who have done something nice for you, to think of all the things in your life you’re grateful for. You won’t get to everything in one minute, but it’s enough. And it will instantly make your day better, and help you start your day off right. Can you think of a better use of one minute?

2. When you’re having a hard day … make a gratitude list. We all have those bad days sometimes. We are stressed out from our work. We get yelled at by someone. We lose an account or perform poorly on a project. One of the things that can make a bad day much better is making a list of all the things you’re thankful for. There are always things to be thankful for — loved ones, health, having a job, having a roof over your head and clothes on your back, life itself.

3. Instead of getting mad at someone, show gratitude. That’s a major switching of attitudes — actually a complete flip. And so this isn’t always easy to do. But it’s a great thing to do. If you get mad at your co-worker, for example, because of something he or she did … bite your tongue and don’t react in anger.

   Instead, take a deep breath and try to think of reasons you’re grateful for that person. Has that person done anything nice for you? Has that person ever done a good job? Find something, anything, even if it’s difficult. Focus on those things that make you grateful. It will slowly change your mood. And if you get in a good enough mood, show your gratitude to that person. It will improve your mood, your relationship, and help make things better.

4. When you face a major challenge, be grateful for it. Many people will see something difficult as a bad thing. If something goes wrong, it’s a reason to complain, it’s a time of self-pity. That won’t get you anywhere. Instead, learn to be grateful for the challenge — it’s an opportunity to grow, to learn, to get better at something. This will transform you from a complainer into a positive person who only continues to improve. People will like you better and you’ll improve your career. Not too shabby.

5. Instead of looking at what you don’t have, look at what you do have. Have you ever looked around you and bemoaned where your life ended up or how little you have? How the job you have isn’t what you planned twenty years ago.  How the car you drive isn’t as nice as you’d like, or your friends have cooler gadgets? If so, that’s an opportunity to be grateful for what you already have. It’s easy to forget that there are billions of people worse off than you — who don’t have much in the way of shelter or clothes, who don’t own a car and never will, who don’t own a gadget or even know what one is, who don’t have a job at all.  Compare your life to these people’s lives, and be grateful for the life you have.

  And with the Power of Gratitude who knows what tomorrow might bring—the simple act of showing gratitude multiplies.

Who We Really Are: Customer service-focused team that works together

1^st A Story about the importance of pulling together as a team

   A man was lost while driving through a rural area. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch.  His car was stuck deep in the mud, so he walked to a nearby farm to ask for help. "Warwick can get you out of that ditch," said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field.

   The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, "Yep, old Warwick can do the job." The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted, "Pull, Frank! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!"

   And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.

   The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, "Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?"

   The farmer grinned and said, "Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he's part of a team, he doesn't mind pulling."

2^nd: A True Story about what teams can achieve

   The all-hands-on-deck alert went out at 11:35 a.m. last Thursday.  “We need an answer on this now,” emailed Carrier P., Manager of _____ (A to Z) Customer Service.  “This is going to be a very escalated issue. This customer is threatening to get legal council because she believes that the driver stole the package.  She wants me to give her the driver number and she wants to call the police.  Please respond with an action plan.  She has given me 1 hour before she calls the police.” 

    The Boston team quickly responded and sent the driver to the location. 

    Whatever the driver did and said, it worked miracles; the driver, Manny, turned a very negative situation into a positive one.  Before the customer had been raving, cursing and threatening, but after the “Manny treatment” the customer was a raving fan. 

   The customer sent an email expressing her appreciation:

   “I just wanted to let you know that Manny, one of your LaserShip drivers personally dropped off my package for my recent order, and I truly appreciate his efforts to retrieve my box.
   “Honest mistakes happen and I don't feel right that this should reflect on him in any way.
   “He seemed like a very kind individual who has went beyond the call of duty to satisfy a customer, and in complete honesty I find that an admirable quality in this day in age. LaserShip should be very lucky to have a man so committed to his work.
   “If anything, I would like him commended on his due diligence to rectify my situation promptly.
   “I hope this message will clear up any earlier situation that transpired during my recent conversation. I will use your service now based on the fact that there are people out there who will go well and beyond the call of duty.
  “I personally thanked him and hope that LaserShip does the same.

    “This situation,” commented a LaserShip V.P., “is truly a representation of the results achieved by a customer service-focused team who works together.  Well done Boston and CCS.  You have succeeded in showing this customer who we really are.”

    Teamwork is what it took to coordinate the outcome that resulted:  From customer service to Boston ops to our IC driver, everyone made the effort to appease and please the customer.  It goes to prove that as long as we are part of a team, we don’t mind pulling. 

Find Out What Your Customers Think

1^st a Customer Service Parable     

   A young boy named Johnny walked into the corner drug store and placed four $1 bills on the counter, asking the pharmacist to give him dimes so he could make phone calls (this happened within most of our lifetimes, but seems ancient now).

    Johnny sat down in the phone booth in the back of the store and started to make calls. With each call, he told the person that he cuts grass for a summer job, and for a very cheap price, would like to cut their lawn.

   The pharmacist watched Johnny as he made each of the 40 phone calls. And in hearing one side of the phone conversation, the pharmacist could tell that none of the 40 phone calls resulted in a sale as Johnny closed with, "Thank you anyway. Goodbye."

   As Johnny walked back through the pharmacy he had a big smile on his face. The pharmacist of course was curious and asked how Johnny could be so cheerful when he had failed to make a single sale. The explanation by Johnny was, "I already cut each of their lawns. I just wanted to call to see if a cheap price could buy their business away from me. I must be doing pretty well."

2^nd a Customer Service True Story

   In Charlotte last week, Regional Sales Manager Jim V. and General Manager Dave N. did the modern day equivalent of calling on a pay phone: They met with the Charlotte based  supervisors and specialists of a large payroll processing company—a group of around 35 people.

   As soon as Jim and Dave were introduced, the meeting room broke out in applause.  “The next 20 minutes were filled with individual testimonies about how they and their clients love our service,” reports Jim.  One payroll specialist reported on a client that had moved locations and were now receiving service from UPS; according to the specialist, “they called me and requested to go back to LaserShip as soon as possible”. 

   Information: Prompt and accurate.  That is specifically what the payroll company likes about LaserShip's services.   “Inquires are handled promptly by LaserShip team members Chase and Matt and the information is always accurate” said one payroll specialist.    

   “What can we do to improve our service?”   The answer from the group was a resounding, “Expand your service territory” so more of our customers can experience LaserShip.

   Asking our customers what they think of us—what they like, what they would like—is the single best way(other than calling them on a pay phone to lure them away with a cheap price) to ensure customer loyalty and longevity. 

Honoring Our Fallen Veterans

There were more than 8,000 U.S. military personnel missing in action from the Korean War (1950-53).  One of them came home this week.  His remains were met by an Honor Guard from Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, CO.  The U.S. Army Honor Guard includes Tim Jones, son of Baltimore’s Paul Jones.

Remembering the Sacrifice

   There were 6.8 million Americans who served during the Korean War; 54,200 died in service during the period of hostilities—of those, 33,700 were actual battle deaths; there were 7,140 POW’s during the Korean War.  Of those, 4,418 returned to the United States, 2,701 died.  The remains of Corporal Floyd E. Hooper returned this week. 

    Corporal Hooper was 27 when he was captured in February 1951 and held captive in North Korea.  Other Prisoners of War told officials of how he died of dysentery and malnutrition. He had been in captivity only a few months. His remains were only recently identified through a DNA sample submitted in 2004 by the last of his three brothers, who has since died. 

   Hooper was born on February 24, 1924. He grew up in a small town on the eastern plains of Colorado and about 30 miles west of the Kansas border. He attended high school in his hometown, attended Anderson College in Indiana, and joined the Army.  Hooper and his unit were sweeping an area south of the Han River when they encountered Chinese Communist forces that were supported by artillery. Surviving POWs told about how he had been held in a POW camp in what is now North Korea before he died.

    60 years later there is no one left to remember or mourn Corporal Hooper; all of Corporal Hooper’s relatives are now deceased.  Corporal Hooper was one of 6.8 million called to duty and one of those who gave the supreme sacrifice in a war long over and now little remembered.  But, for the Army which never forgets. 

   Tim Jones is part of that honorable tradition.  Tim is stationed at Ft. Carson and is currently assigned to the honor guard in his unit. He assists in the funeral duties of our fallen soldiers that live in that area, no matter when they may have passed. “I am very proud of him,” said dad, Paul Jones.

Turning Adversity into Possibility: Inspiration, courage and perseverance in the face of the impossible

Whenever we can extract valuable life and work lessons from non-business sources—especially those that are life threatening—the lessons in developing strength, enduring difficulties, triumphing over adversity and surviving challenges are more powerful and effective; the Chilean miners comes to mind as a recent source of inspiration, courage and perseverance in the face of the seemingly impossible.

   While the miners and their rescuers teach us many lessons about teamwork, another extraordinary example, soon to gain wider spread exposure due to the release of a new movie, is of an individual finding his own deep inner strength and courage, ability to endure and desire to survive in an extreme situation. 

   Aron Ralston is one of life’s true survivors. When faced with his own torturous, impending death, Ralston made a choice. Despite the pain, he chose to endure the unimaginable in order to survive. And because of that decision, he lived to tell his story. In 2003, deep in an isolated and narrow Utah canyon, all alone with his hand trapped by an 800 pound fallen rock, the outdoor adventurer endured for 127 hours before finding the inspiration and courage to save himself by first breaking his own arm bone, amputating his forearm with a small pocketknife, and then climbing out of the canyon and hiking 8 miles until rescued.      

   Aron made huge mistakes—going off alone, not telling anyone of his plans and taking a huge risk descending the narrow canyon walls—leading to a painful and regretful plight.  Yet, as distressing as his situation and solution were, there are many lessons to be learned from the outcome. 

   Aron learned, and writes in his book, about not letting fear and panic interfere with decision making; not letting those reactions to situations skew decisions for the worse.  “Instead,” writes Aron, “no matter the severity of the situation, it is necessary to maintain a calm and rational thought processes, all the more so when the consequences are greatest. 

   “Fear and panic are always the overriding thoughts and emotional responses when your life is on the line, and it is something I have learned to respect, avoid, and manage.  When fear and panic rear up, the most vital response is to take action and implement strategies to manage the situation in a calm and deliberate manner. This is the major similarity between the close calls I have had: I was successful in moving through the paralyzing effects of panic to take action for the better.

   “When my life was on the line I was able to make the right decisions at the right time and maximize the resources available at that time. 

   “I hope people will understand from my story that we each have it within ourselves, through courage, faith, and perseverance, to turn adversity into possibility.”

  Ultimately, survival in any adverse situation depends on how strong is the individual’s determination to endure and see it through.  The instinct to overcome adversity is within us all.  It is often hidden—even from ourselves—from a lack of truly extreme situations in our lives. 

   The question is, with role models such as Aron and the Chilean miners, are you the sort of person who, when it mattered, can just do whatever it takes to endure extreme difficulties and survive extraordinary situations.  Learning that you can survive no matter what the situation can end up being the greatest lesson in learning how to live.   As Aron has said: “It’s not about what you do; it’s about who you are.”

   What did Aron do when caught between a rock and a hard place?  He dug deep to find the strength to last a little longer, to make decisions that would lead to better days, and to understand that the struggle was worth it.  In enduring, Aron discovered that it wasn't just himself, that one of the main things that gave him the strength to get out was his connection to the outside world.  It was a chance, Aron has said, “to examine what is life about. And for me, it was about relationships, how they sustained me while I was there, how they motivated me to get out of there, and how they built me back.”  No one knows what is in him till he tries. 

   “I could not have survived without the lessons learned from other experiences,” Aron has related:  “The saying goes, ‘Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.’”

    

Hockey, Einstein and LaserShip: Doing things differently

   A Different Way in Hockey

  Our LaserShip hockey fans should not feel slighted with today’s LaserDay about how the hockey team from Tampa—The Tampa Bay Lightening—are shaking up the game—and winning!

   Hockey is a conservative sport—“this is how we do it, this is how it is done.”  But, by turning this upside down—“this is how we will win against the competition”—Tampa has won four of their first five games and scored an impressive 17 goals in its four wins. 

   What are they doing differently?  Tampa calls the changes they have made to the traditional form of play “the hurry-up offense.” The key ingredients are two changes: Faster skaters on the ice and a different approach to play. Tampa wants to dictate play and shoot the puck 40 times a game—twice the number of traditional play—while limiting opponents to the lesser number of 20 shots.  Boiling it down, Tampa’s slogan is simple:  “Shoot. The. Puck.” 

   The result is a fast-skating brand of hockey that often looks like an all-out blitz.  In their first game, the Lightning raced to a 4-0 lead in 25 minutes. Monday of this week, against Dallas, which had been undefeated, the Lightning outshot the Stars 44-19.

   "The main idea of it is just being aggressive,” says the team’s center, “five guys on the puck all the time, don't even let the other guys get a chance to set up.  When you see it work you wonder, 'Why hasn't anyone done it before?' "

A Different Way at LaserShip

   Sometimes, to win, it takes faster players and a change in tactics.  Our DC office, for example, had to examine its performance when a key on-demand client left for a “faster, more reliable” competitor.  To win back the law firm, keep others and gain additional clients, the office shifted personnel and responsibilities, added additional car and bike contractors, and shifted to a high communication approach. The approach has shown promise—getting the client who left to give LaserShip the “try” it needs to prove itself. 

   “Despite losing the client 3 months ago,” says Senior Shipping Consultant Chris Harney, “we kept in touch and made sure they knew they were missed by us a company and as friends.  By demonstrating that we were willing to shake things up—not just play the same old game—they were persuaded to give our team a trial run.”

A Different Way in the Sciences

   The great scientist Albert Einstein once said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them," Einstein's point was that anyone's knowledge and understanding is limited to his or her own experience, training and information sources.  To solve problems that we ourselves have created all of us must first be open to new ideas and reach out for new perspectives.  In the case of DC’s On-Demand team, this involved reaching out to see their people, processes and performance from a uniquely customer perspective.  Thus DC is solving problems using a different kind of thinking than was used when they were created.

  Einstein’s genius was his ability to break out of the traditional, conservative approaches that existed in math and physics:  Thinking that while seemingly logically defined was a box that trapped the advancement of the sciences.   Einstein was the first “out of the box” thinker; he used his imagination to "leap out of the box" to see what results would look like using various scenarios.

  Winners Don’t Do Different Things, They Just Do Things Differently. Winners have a tendency to look for differing perspectives, to seek the bigger picture. If they are handling a project, they do not just look only at how things were done yesterday or what needs to be done by the day; while doing what needs to be done today they are also analyzing and planning how it could be done better tomorrow.