Follow Up to My Bad Customer Servce Story

Photo by the Author taken at Milwaukee County Zoo

Several years ago I took my then infant son to what was known as the Timber Wolf Preservation Society.
It didn't go well as you can read here:
A great-example-of-bad-customer-service As an update I recently found out that the TWPS has gone out of business.
timber-wolf-preservation-society-quietly-goes-out-of-business

I believe that my experience wasn't unique among visitors.
Lack of proper customer service in today's instant information world can lead to a large decrease in business. There is an old adage that if a customer gets good customer service they will tell five people. 
IF they get bad customer service they will tell fifty people. Maybe if my son and I were simply allowed to pay our admission and walk around as was advertised by TWPS, my positive story could have helped a few other people to go. They would have told a few more and those would tell a few more and TWPS might have the volunteers and funds to continue. As it was I told everyone I knew about our terrible experience and even wrote about it for this blog. One person's review can't destroy a business, but it can contribute.
If enough people experience or believe the bad press, the business will fail.

In sales and recruitment the one thing you have control of is your reputation. Be a positive, stand up, honest salesperson or recruiter and you will be successful for years. Treat clients like they are nothing more than a, paycheck for you, and you will ultimately fail as people see who you really are. Once they start telling others how they were treated by you, your opportunities, prospects, and clients will start to disappear.
Remember that when you are tempted to say or do something stupid in the presence of a client (be it a company or candidate). 

Thanks!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

I Don't Want to Forget 9/11: The Images

Above image by Bill Biggart Bill Biggart's Final Pictures -9/11/2001 other images from New York Magazine online.


It;s the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We’re naturally hearing more and more about that day. In the time since 2001, not counting watching documentaries about 9/11,  think about how often you’ve seen photos of the planes hitting the towers on the TV news, in magazines, or in the paper. For all the arguments about the wars we're involved in. The leaders who got us involved. The soldiers and civilians who have died. The financial cost. How many times in these stories have you seen the pictures of the planes hitting the towers, an open field, or the Pentagon?


My guess is not very often.


I've heard media people say on different shows that the reason we don't see the footage very often is because it is either:
a. too terrible
or
b. we would become desensitized to it from seeing it so often.
First and Second planes hitting WTC

Ten years later I'll never forget the images of that day. I've seen the planes hit the towers and Pentagon on many occasions and they still shock me.

I'll never forget the montage of photos of people jumping off the buildings.

Firefighter Mike Kehoe climbing up the stairs

Father Mychal Judge

Running

There are hundreds of others. Whether the media believes we should see the images or not, I'll never forget.

Thanks to all the men and women who were heroes on that day and on the days ever since.
Ev