# 051 - Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

No one can make you serve customers well.
That's because great service is a choice.

Here is a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing  he noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed him a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

It said: Wally's Mission Statement:

To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

Harvey said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed Harvey another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' amazed Harvey asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I  spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It .Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.''

'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally.

'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it.

You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. Harvey probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever Harvey goes to their cities, He gives them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told him all the reasons they couldn't do any of what he was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you...

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

# 050 Customer Focus - Changing the mindset of the employees

This happened recently. 

The sales person of Bata showroom in Malleswaram informed the that the price is Rs. 500/= to my inquiry. I was a bit surprised since Bata’s popularity came through, at least in part, their habit of pricing any articles @xxx9. I didn’t think much of it at that time assuming that he is tired of repeating the exact price and rounded off the nine to the nearest zero. 

But more surprise was in store when he raised the bill also at Rs. 500/=. I again assumed that Bata, for once, has changed the pricing strategy. But it was  a real shocker to me to find that the price was indeed Rs.499/= ONLY when I reached home and opened the packing and by chance glanced at the price tag before throwing!!

Another unfriendly act also happened with the same purchase. When I opted to pay through Amex credit card the very same employee told that the company do not accept Amex. I was surprised since I had purchased a pair of shoes from the outlet of very same Bata in Phoenix Mall with Amex card just a week earlier. When I pointed out this he simply shrugged his shoulders and stood his ground.I am sure Bata can not have different policies between their outlets. 

Why did the Sales person behave as he did? Could it be he is trying to play smart or is lack of awareness on how such seemingly simple acts can put off customers. Either way it stems from his basic attitude; lack of Customer Focus – “couldn’t care less” attitude.

How do you change the attitude? That is the biggest challenge today - changing the attitude of employees. 2015 version of ISO 9001  therefore includes 'change management' as one of the requirements for QMS

# 048 Customer Focus: Policies & Core values - where are they ?

ISO 9001 talks about Customer focus as one of the principles, most important at that, on which a Quality Management System should be based in an organisation. It is sometimes easier to drive home principle simply by citing an example to the contrary. I thought following incident would make a good case study.

Just the other day I went to Bata to buy a shoe for walking. When the sales person informed me the price is Rs.500/=for the pair selected, I didn’t pay much attention to what he said and thought that he is simply rounding off the figure to make it easy to comprehend the amount correctly. Again when he raised the bill and I paid off using my credit card I didn’t care to look into the amount I signed for ! But I was certainly surprised when I came home and noticed that the amount was Rs.500/= when I had a cursory glance at the charge slip. Curious to know whether Bata has changed their culture of Rs.xx9/=, I checked the bill only to find indeed the price is Rs.500/=. However when I opened the bag and found the price tag carrying a price of Rs.499/=, I started reflecting on how a seemingly innocuous incident has much greater significance viz. a company’s culture, policy et al. 

It is one thing to indicate the price (orally) as Rs.500/= quite another to actually raise the bill for Rs.500/= when the official price is Rs.499/=. It is not the question of absolute amount but the fact that there is an inconsistency between the price tag and billed amount.

Is it okay if the amount involved is small but not correct when it is high? It is akin to people saying (I have heard it many times) “ Chi chi, he is a telling a lie for such a small amount.” Does it mean one can tell a lie if the amount involved is high? How much amount is high enough will next pop up! And who draws a line and decides the threshold limits?

This is where the organisation’s core values, policies and culture comes in along with the awareness of these on the part of the employees. It may be easier to define and document the policies etc. but very difficult to make the employees understand and assimilate the responsibilities that such policies impose on their day to day transactions and behavior.

The incident got further uglier with this particular outlet of Bata saying the company does not accept Amex card. But just a week before this incident  I purchased a shoe on Amex card at a different outlet of the very same Bata. How can there be a difference between the outlets? Even if it were to be a Franchise outlet such inconsistencies should be allowed to be happening.Is Bata listening?

This is an example of an organization having no customer focus, not having a consistent/uniform procedure and not being able to make employees aware of the policies & procedures, if any. It is okay as long as it is an exception. Otherwise this could impact seriously business results in the long run.

# 040 Quality is in converting customer complaints into customer delight

During the audit of an organisation in Bommasandra Bangalore on 3.6.2013 the client took us to A2B which had opened its outlet just the day before. The waiter informed that the curd is on the way when  asked for curd as part of the plate meals. The curd didn't come till we finished the lunch !

When complained, the Manager was profusely apologising but said that they are yet to settle down since the outlet is newly opened and this kind of teething problems are bound to occur. But he cut a sorry figure when we pointed out that he could have offered readily available "curd rice" in place of 'curd & rice'. Further we suggested that he could have offered discount on the bill which he said is NOT i his hands since bill has been prepared already. A classic example of a system which is not planned effectively and could not have provisions to reverse or change the bills once made ie take action to appropriately respond to complaints if not completely avoid complaints. A missed opportunity to convert complaining customer into a satisfied or even delighted customer by offering extra or alternative something.

# 038 Amrutanjan for head injury, some Quality this!!

What a day !

Never in my 800 and odd ISO audits has an incident like this happened.

Date: 26.12.2012        Place: Conference hall.                Time: Just after lunch

MD, Director, the Consultant and myself had just finished the lunch when there came a loud noise like that of a big bang. The next moment, for me, the whole world disappeared. When I came around, I found that I have fallen to the floor and the chair on which I was sitting was beside me in two halves – the source of the big bang. I tried to get up but I could not plant my hands on the ground. After a few more seconds I realized they have gone numb. People around me helped me get up and it took several more seconds for the blood circulation to be restored to my hands, after which I realized my head has hit the window sill or the projecting room air conditioner, not sure which one, enroute my descent from the chair. Fortunately no injuries except some swelling in the back of the head.

The client did not even bother to feel bad or say sorry, even for courtesies sake, though they ran around here and there looking for first aid. There was no first aid to be cited anywhere in the premises. Someone offered to go and buy Amrutanjan, no get Iodex, shouted another. Meanwhile the MD started analysing the reason for the mishap and triumphantly declared that it is because of poor quality material of the chair. Further he went on to say that it is an unbranded chair (he is the person who has authorized its purchase, due to low price, no doubt) and the supplier must have used recycled plastic and not virgin material. And this company is into manufacture of Dental Chairs!!

The Director said all the chairs are more than 10/15 years old and deserves to be replaced.

The Consultant commented that it is good there is swelling which remark I could not understand and let it pass.

I just massaged the area and told them to calm down, forget the incident and that I am glad I came out of all this unscathed mentally resolving not to come back to this organization and to check whether the chair is a branded one before using next time onward !!

Wonder whether the organisation really deserves to be certified to ISO 9001 - not only because of the poor quality of the chairs in the Conference Room but more importantly because of the attitudes as revealed form the comments/remarks from the top management.

# 036 Quality is owning mistakes and improving

Small incident, big concept

I was woken up this morning due to loud sound from the TV in the guest room of my house. When pointed out the guest immediately goes on the defense saying that some channels inherently have high levels of sound volume for a given speaker level set. Well this exactly is the issue I have come across whenever we point out a non conformance during the course of an audit of Quality Systems to ISO 9001 in any organization. I have noticed this to be the general pattern of reaction of people. Instead what is required is to first accept the existence of the problem, calmly analyse the root cause and try to take action so that it does not get repeated. This is what is called Corrective Action as per the definition in ISO 9000.

In the instance described, life will become a lot easier and comfortable for all concerned if only the Guest had paused a few seconds to reflect on the issue and responded. People somehow are reluctant to see the issue and admit to the mistake committed rather than reply in haste. Now, it is a well-known fact that base sound levels of different TV Channels ARE different and so is it not prudent to reduce the volume before changing the channels. Even if it is not known, is it not better to admit that one did not notice or know the fact that different channels’ base levels of audio are different? This will not only save unnecessary arguments but also enrich the person.

It is therefore important that for taking Corrective Action, first one needs to see the situation objectively. Next analyse the cause which gave rise to the undesirable situation. In many cases zeroing on the root cause is not easy. There could be more than one possible for scenarios. It could be people, material method, time, place, resource, equipment and environment. It is like finding out which bacteria or virus caused the “illness”. Even when the cause is known it may not be easy to find a solution that will work effectively in all situations. What worked in one organization may not work well in another company.  Or even within a company it could not produce desired results if it were in different geographical location. Even within the given location it may produce poor results with different persons. If finding out root cause is difficult arriving at the correct remedial action could be more difficult. Therefore for a complex problem an elaborate root cause analysis (RCA) based on an appropriate and sound Statistical Quality Control (SQC) technique need to be deployed. This presupposes a rudimentary, if not an expert, knowledge of SQC.

After the RCA is done a well-considered action needs to be taken so the issue is solved once for all and does not get repeated.

Often time action taken even after a thorough RCA may not have permanently solved the issue. So as a last step it is important to revisit the situation and review whether it has been effective. Otherwise the whole process needs to be gone through again starting from RCA.

# 035 Guest house or Star hotel?

Guest house or Star hotel?

I have been travelling for decades and have stayed in all types of accommodation. Mainly there are two types - guest houses and hotels of different grades. One striking feature that stands out between the two is “service” while infrastructure or facilities provided could almost be the same. Invariably the service level is considerably lower in the case of Guest House (GH) compared to even an average grade Hotel, with rare exceptions.

As I write this I am sitting in a room in a GH of CPWD. It is actually a suite, well designed with spacious drawing room with appropriate furniture, bed room of more than adequate size with double bed complete with AC & TV. The ambience & setting are good too, unmatched by any commercial Hotels of even 3 or 4 star categories.

But there ends the positive points. I had to walk to reception twice to talk to a person to get water, telephone in the room being not in working condition - unplugged from the socket and kept neatly wrapped with its own damaged connecting cable. Next comes in the towel after asking for it but no soap! I Switch on the geyser but indication lamp does not glow. Fearing it may be out of order I again seek the help of reception. The person assures me that it is in working condition and not to mind the indicator lamp. Wardrobe is so big whole family’s clothes can be accommodated but it is plain open with no doors. Water for drinking? Pl give your empty bottle, comes the reply. Seeing the my puzzled look  the boy quickly adds that they have only jugs without lids and so normally people prefer to have the water (from the filter) in “their” bottles.

When I pointed out flickering TL in the bath room, I get a prompt retort – “look this bulb over the wash basin is working”. This sealed the uselessness of any discussion on the leaking tap and mug without  the handle broken. But the greatest shock (literally, of thermal kind though!) was when I used the faucet – it is connected to only hot water line with no mixer or cold water line. A Gold medal for the designer.

After this I thought it is too much to expect a newspaper or a Wi-Fi and turned on the TV to find only one channel was okay with bad pic and loud noise for other channels.

It is time to get ready to go to the Dining hall & grab the breakfast otherwise it will not be available after the stipulated hours. I must however say that the aloo paratha was as good as you get in any classy restaurant.

Needless to add there is no feedback or suggestion form/book at the reception. Later I was informed  that there is a complaint book is provided at the reception but there was no display indicating its availability.

Quality is to determine and provide basic expectations which is generally lacking in GHs. Why? Because I think it is a support function and not a core one as in the case of a Hotel.

# 028 Quality is realising Birthdays are for taking stock of situations

Birthdays should be utilised for taking stock of situation  as to what one has achieved vis-à-vis his goals in life, instead of cutting cakes and merry making.  And this should be extended to the nation on its independence day.

Taking stock of India on its recent 65 th independence day, Kushwant Singh in his column “in perspective” in Deccan Herald dated 3.9.2011 says we did well as a Democracy,but we would have fared better in development”. We remained a Democracy but for a brief spell of Emergency. Kushwant however he is a known supporter of Emergency and that he shared Sanjay’s impatience and believed his motto “work more, talk less” would have speeded up our developments efforts.

Our leaders feel being a democracy we have done better than our neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka. But everyone agrees that communist China has done much better than us. The only explanation for their success is they work a lot harder than us. It is time we cut down on our holidays and increase our working hours. In other words “work more, talk less” minus the Emergency?!

Is is at all possible? Lets take stock of things on next Independence Day.

I agree with Khushwant. Do you ?

# 027 Quality is not what you are equipped with but what use you put your equipments to.

Part of an ABC radio interview between a female broadcaster and General Cosgrove of Australia.

Interviewer: So, General Cosgrove, what things are you going to teach these young boy scouts when they visit your base?
General Cosgrove: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery and shooting.

Interviewer: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?
General Cosgrove: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.

Interviewer: Don't you admit that this is a dangerous activity to be teaching children?
General Cosgrove: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.

Interviewer: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.
General Cosgrove: Well, Ma'am, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?

The radiocast went silent for 46 seconds.

# 026 Quality is not being pre judgemental

On 5.7.11 I went with family for a movie to Inox in Mantri Mall, Malleswaram, Bangalore. The ticket has been booked  on the Internet. We had not purchased the ticket for my grand daughter who had not completed her 3 years. But at the gates the Security stopped us saying she is too tall for her to be less than 3 years. His supervisor had to be called and even with him it took quite a bit of convincing to make him allow her. Now this kind of mind set is certainly does not go well with "customer focus" addressed as a fundamental principle in quality in ISO 9001. Customer focus is giving benefit of doubt to customers when your metrics are not clear enough.

If  "Free entry for child below 3 years" is  going to create a problem it is better to define the height as the limit rather than the age. In fact once when I was traveling in Tamil Nadu State Transport Corp. bus from Kumbakonam to Mayavaram exactly identical situation w.r.t my daughter cropped up but the bus conductor said criteria for ticketing is height and not the age which saved lots of unpleasantness. It is a different matter that I didn't not check up on the authenticity of the criteria touted out by the Conductor of the bus.

# 025 Quality is commitment

Commitment is an act, not words - Jean-Paul Sartre

There was leakage of water from the mains near my residence and so went to the BWSSB office to inform the same. I was not actually shocked when the operator there (sitting idle, whiling away time) very casually said that he knew about it and will attend to it next day

Doing what is do be done is quality. Some people see disciplined way of working as a chore. It is a kind of order that sets one free. This is quality

# 022 Quality is making sure that solution is not worse than the problem

I was staying for 5 days from 13 to 17 th Jun at Hotel Abad in Cochin. The room, restaurant and service were all quite good until the 4 th day when there occurred frequent tripping of power only for my room. Every time power went I only had to just dial when the electrician used to come in no time and restore power by resetting the MCB. But it was too frequent for my liking. Further it was it was a big task to to reach the phone to make the complaint as the room became pitch dark. So I requested for providing me with a candle or rechargeable battery which didn't happen. Therefore I requested for change of room next day. But this room proved to be more  problematic since the power never came on when access card was inserted. Again response was quick but this time I found the power was not switching off even after the access card is removed !! I dare not approach for rectification and invite new trouble.

I found we always rush to fix problems rather than find out the reasons and take action to eliminate them. This what ISO 9001 requires under clause 8.5.2 as corrective Action

# 019 Quality is making available conveyance in time for pick/drop off

It is a contractually required (besides being a normal practice and basic courtesy) to arrange local conveyance to ISO auditors by companies, small and big. It is not unusual for some of the smaller organisation to request the auditors to make necessary arrangements on their own and to reimburse the expenses incurred. For today's audit,though not small, the organisation I went to audit requested me to hire a taxi and reach their place. In the afternoon soon after meals I asked the company whether they will arrange for the taxi or I should phone up my regular taxi wallah for my drop off. The company said they will take care and that I need not worry. I reminded twice after that and I was assured the vehicle will be there at the appointed time. At the end of the audit, however, I was disappointed to be told that there no taxis available and that it will take 2 hours for a vehicle to be made available. Would I mind going by 3 wheeler ? Well I have really no choice.

If the company can't organise a vehicle in time for dropping home the auditor, how can one expect it to deliver the products in time and at right quality ?

# 017 Quality is setting the goals properly

Recently I was auditing an energy management consultants to ISO 9001. The agreement with ESCO stipulates that any power interruption be restored within 24 hours. This SLA in itself is quite way down expectations of any consumer. However the company was working on a goal of meeting this requirement only 90 % of the times. When queried how and why 90 % was chosen instead of 100 %, the answer was that it is not possible to restore power within 24 hours always.

Now the point is, even if the goal is set at 100 % the chances are that it may or may not be achieved. But if the goal itself is set at 90 % it will be definitely not achieved. In fact actual data indicated that it is lower than 90 %.

Therefore the first step in good quality management is to set the goal properly. Such mind sets as "100% is not achievable" is a flawed concept. This kind of perception flows out of ingrained attitude of individuals. having a right attitude therefore is very important to quality - both at personal and organisational levels

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# 016 Quality is Sending greeting cards at the right time

I have all the time believed that MNCs will have better planning and better adherence to system. However I was in for a rude shock when an ISO 9001 Certification Body of 100 years standing spanning operations in 60 Countries sent New Year greeting cards to their Branch offices for sending it to their customers on 12 th January !!

This certainly is not expected of an MNC company.

Quality is sending greetings at the right time, not even too much in advance.

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# 011 Quality is not producing lower grade products deliberately

I happened to have a conversation with a Senior Partner of a company which is into manufacture of Filaments for GLS lamps. I profusely congratulated him when he said that he has been able to save considerably in manufacturing cost by using Steel as the material for the mandrel in place of Platinum which is the industry standard. However my elation was short lived when I found out that the rejection rate of the filaments had increased to 30 % when steel is used instead of the usual Platinum. There was more in store. He nonchalantly told me that he is not worried since he had found customers who accepted the rejected materials at a little lesser rate as second grade products. This in fact, he said, is more profitable for him since the reduction in price of filaments offered by him much less compared to the savings due to differential cost between the platinum and the steel. The shock, however, was when he said there is further rejection from these second grade products which also are sold as third grade at further discounted rates.

I have come across people boasting about improving quality of products, reducing rejection rates and cutting down on costs by material substitution. But this was the first instance of the Top Management adopting substitution of materials to reduce cost and deliberately produce more of lower grade of final product!

But wait, the final blow was when he said he is certified to ISO 9001 !!  At last some original and innovative thinking (from India)

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# 009 Quality is paying attention to details

Today I carried out a “Surveillance” audit of an organization certified to ISO 9001.

During the “Closing meeting” coffee was served in a paper cup.  I found that the cup was leaking and so casually pointed out the same to the “Management Representative” I appreciated him when he promptly got it replaced. To my chagrin I found that the second cup was tea! I took a sip and lo! this cup also was leaking !! When this cup was replaced I dare not take a chance to test its quality and left it untouched.

Quality is paying attention to details like leaking paper cup for tea.

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# 007 Quality is having Customer Focus

At the end of the journey there was an announcement apologizing for some problems with the audio entertainment system. Further all the passengers were handed out an apology letter. This was followed by a issue of a voucher for USD 100 to all the business class passengers and a coupon for equivalent value as discount to all economy class passengers to be adjusted in their next purchase of an BA ticket. Further on arrival at the destination Airport passengers were further asked whether they have received the letter and the voucher/coupon.

How many airlines issue letters of apology leave alone vouchers/coupons? This is Quality. Not allowing customers to give room for complaint and seizing even such adverse situations to advantage by retaining customer loyalty. This truly qualifies to be called Customer Focus that is addressed in Clause 5.2 of ISO 9001

In closing it is also worth mentioning equally important response to my curious question as to how the airlines would have prepared the letter while airborne and take sufficient no of  print outs to be issued to all the passengers. I was told that they have pre-printed letters in standard format to be given in eventualities such as malfunctioning audio system etc.

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# 003 Quality is not allowing customer to remind you

This is about one of the Certification Bodies to ISO 9001.

Normally this organsiation collects payment fees for certification services on the day of audit. Some course, delay and pay a few days after the audit. But there was a customer who paid us in advance of the audit date. When they asked for an official receipt, this e Accounts dept. of the Certification Body (CB)  was asking for confirmation of receipt of payment. This was 3 months after receipt of payment!

ISO 9001 requires organisations to have Customer Focus policy, but here is the CB themselves lack the same as is clear from the instance cited above. How does one expect the certiifcate issued by such a CB to have credibility?

This is Not quality. This is not ISO                                                                          
                 




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