INK TANK

Look In the Mirror Before Firing That 'Stupid' Employee

A Message from Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads

"I'll sprint into Radio Shack and grab a couple of gifts for the triplets' eighth birthday," I thought, rushing to get home.

As I entered the store, there was a man sitting at the counter, slumped over at his computer. Without looking up, he mumbled, "Let me know if you need anything." No eye contact. I was instantly turned off. I could tell my high-speed shopping experience was about to downshift into low gear.

"I'm ready to check out," I say, laying my pile of goodies on the counter. Slumpy mumbles something about "the guy in the back...." Who comes forward, a decade later, to check me out.

"Is there something wrong with my credit card?" I ask.

"No, it's this slow computer. This stupid company is to cheap to buy us new computers."

I grimace, debating whether I should bite my tongue. I can't.

"In all due respect," I said, "if I heard that one of my employees had just trashed the company to a customer, that person would not be working for me tomorrow."

He looked up, with anger in his eyes. Before he could say anything, I said, "You should be thankful you have a job. Do you have any idea how many people in this country would kill for this job and its slow computers today?"

He stammered a bit, handed me my merchandise, and mumbled something I can't repeat.

News flash: Unemployment is skyrocketing. It's bad business to share your internal frustrations with the customers. My little purchase probably paid three hours of his wages. His "stupid company" is fortunate to be in business, and upgrading computers is probably the last thing on their minds at the moment. They're thinking about survival.

OK, I'm venting. Like everyone in this economy, I'm spending less. And yet I EXPECT to be treated well when I go out of my way to spend money with any retailer. I throw nickels around like manhole covers -- and they're welcomed in other places that will treat me well.

Under no circumstances do I want to get anyone fired. I'm not that big of a jerk. Yet, as a business owner, hearing that one of my employees did this would be cause for a stern discussion. But the warning is not just to the employee. It's to the manager of that employee and, ultimately, to me.

In the case of Radio Shack, my first instinct was to call the manager, but my guess is that the manager is the problem. He or she HIRED this loser and has failed to properly train him and help him understand what good and bad customer service looks like. So if anyone should be fired, it's the manager ... or the regional manager ... or the CEO ... or the board of directors. After all, you know what they say rolls downhill.

"I'll be phoning no one because I've had dozens of wonderful experiences in this Radio Shack. But if I saw a pattern, I'd call their CEO, just I would hope my customers would call me. But they don't until someone is gone, and then they say, "I wanted to tell you what a loser that guy was, but I didn't have the heart." Frankly, I'd rather know early.

Frustrations run high in an economy like this. As managers, we have to accept the blame for all imperfections. Maybe the computers at Radio Shack are slow and the employees are frustrated. If fixing that one thing made employees feel like the company listens and empowers them to make changes, would it make a 10 percent difference in sales? It might.

Brad Anderson, the CEO at Best Buy, once told me that listening to employees and changing the order entry program made a huge difference in employee attitude and thus their sales. So maybe the managers should listen and eliminate that frustration.

But everyone is in survival mode. Maybe Radio Shack can't spend the money to fix the slow computers. Maybe the employee is slow, not the computer. One thing we all CAN do is improve our employee communication so frustrations can be on the table and so our employees know what good customer service looks like.

Have you designed and articulated the ideal customer experience? Do the people who touch customers at all levels understand what a bad customer service experience is? Do you have standards of performance for all customer touchpoints? It's one thing we can do even in this economy, and if it improves our customers' attitudes about us, it can make a difference in our business.

Eric Rhoads

Radio Ink Magazine
PS: Though we can make improvements in our own businesses you may want to share this with local retailers who can also benefit.

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The Promotional Courage Of Cecil Heftel

A Message from Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads

"Who is this guy Cecil Heftel?" I asked, trying to determine if I should take the job I'd been offered to be on the inaugural airstaff of Y100 in South Florida. No one knew him or the station. But that was about to change.

On August 3, 1973, a legendary station was launched, and at 17, I was thrown into the most competitive radio battle Miami had ever seen.

"Answer your phone with 'I listen to the new sound of Y100' and win $50,000." There were no state lotteries, and no media property other than The Price Is Right had ever given away that much money.

No radio station in history had given away $50,000, and at Y100 we did it several times.

Heftel's goal: Make a big impression fast. When we launched Y100, Miami-Fort Lauderdale was blanketed with billboards overnight. Everywhere you turned, you saw boards, bus benches and bus boards, full-page newspaper ads and TV spots.

Heftel once told me, "Don't do anything unless you can do it big." He spent millions to dominate media in the market, and Y100 become an icon overnight. He backed it up with the biggest money given away on the air anywhere.

Heftel said, "Double what the biggest competitor has ever given away, double their visibility, and hire air talent who are twice as good. When your competitor tries to match what you're doing, double it again. They can't keep up, and if we can cost them money, we're hurting them and they'll eventually back down. Nobody is willing to spend as much and for as long as we do."

Perhaps the best way to celebrate the life of a broadcaster like Heftel would be to see radio start promoting again and doing what we ask our advertisers to do.

No one I ever worked for had the promotional guts of Cecil Heftel, and I'm grateful for what he taught radio about promotion.

Eric Rhoads,
Radio Ink

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Win An iPad From Radio Ink
A Message From Radio Ink VP/GM Deborah Parenti
Radio Ink's Convergence 2010 will be held June 3-4 at the Microsoft Campus in Silicon Valley. The first 99 people to register will be entered into a drawing to win an Apple iPad tablet. Register here and now.