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By the time I got out, it was after twelve-thirty, probably approaching one o'clock, and as I
drug my stuff out onto the sidewalk, just like I'd drug it in the night before, I saw
Willie standing there. His arms were crossed. He was smiling, just like he's smiling right
now.
I said, "How you doing, Willie?" and his first words to me were these:
"You been talking about me, ain't ya?"
I said, "Yes, I have. Why wouldn't I?" Why wouldn't I? See, the amazing thing is, that
you're going to be talked about one way or the other. People see service as being good
or bad, and they're going to talk about you in either event.
Now, this may sound foolish to you, but I mean it with absolutely no exaggeration whatsoever.
Willie Watson taught me the best customer service lessons I've ever learned in my life.
Matter of fact, he taught me seven things, and because of the time I'm not going to go
into any of the seven in great detail, but I want to give you the seven things that Willie
Watson taught me, that I have since been sharing with people all over the country.
Matter of fact, you might find this interesting. During the time since I met Willie Watson,
I have shared the story I have just shared with you, absolutely no exaggeration in the
story at all, total truth to the word. I've shared this story with somewhere in excess
of forty thousand people. Willie Watson has never been to a customer conference that CSI
or anybody else put on. Willie Watson learned customer service because he understood it
pays.
What did I learn from Willie Watson? Number one, I learned that you redefine the routine
activities in your job. You redefine them. You look for those things that you do regularly
and realize that that's the foundation of your business, not the new things that will
be coming up next week, next month, next quarter, next year, but the things you're doing today
are the things the customers are noticing. They don't care what else is happening just
yet.
Those become moments of truth. Every time the phone rings. Every time a customer walks
in off the street. Every time one comes through the window. Every time you process a statement,
that's an opportunity to prove your professionalism one more time: a moment of truth.
Number two, Willie taught me that recognizing and acknowledging the customer immediately
is absolutely key. From the moment that I walked up, Willie's attention was solely on
me, not on the ball scores, not on the traffic, not on anything that was going around, but
on me, his customer, and he made the most of it. Why? Because number three, he gave
me his undivided attention.
Undivided attention: from the time we were in that cab, as far as I was concerned, he
felt as if I was the only other person on the planet and all during that process, number
four, he listened honestly. He'd learned to listen so he could listen honestly. He asked
questions. He wanted to know what kind of business I was in. He wanted to know where
I was going and he wanted to know what was important to me. Then he fashioned his service
model around my needs, not the other way around. "Well, this is what I do. If you don't like
it, Mr. Van Hooser, just get out of the cab right now." That's not the way it was.
Number five, number five, he listened and used a little common sense, which led to number
six, which meant he bent the rules sometimes. Listen to me very carefully. I wish I had
more time to go into this point, but effective customer service means that you bend the rules,
does not…