"Do not give people a taste of your greatness, only to recede back into mediocrity." IttyBiz
photo by Flipper
Mediocre - of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance : ordinary, so-so
Ricardo Bueno, AR California Mortgage posted a blog on how great the Apple company is on service is & how we should do likewise.
I then went to the IttyBiz blog which is by Naomi Dunford and about Tiger Woods and paint - not really, but it is humorous, especially for home stagers.
- The above quote he posted got me thinking about service and how I depend on others to deliver. When the repairman is coming and I have to spend the morning at home waiting for him and explaining the problem (i.e. I opened the washer door and my laundry room flooded). It would be good if he shows up in the morning. It is noon now and I don't see his smiling face. He is very nice and very good, when he comes. He is never on time!!!! At least, he is consistent.
- Do we do some jobs well and then not deliver on others? Are some clients given special service because their homes are worth more and therefore there may be a greater pay off for my company? Some clients are certainly easier to work with than others and may become our "favs". Is this to the detriment of our more difficult clients?
- Do we return phone calls quickly and respond to questions with grace and tact? How do we tell people that their taste is just not what the public wants? "Your collection of human skulls will only appeal to a limited market and probably not to many of the young families that may have an interest in this area -but is certainly interesting. Would you consider donating it to a museum?"
- If I am over booked - do I just quickly move by rote through a home moving furniture and fluffing (ok, not fluffing, maybe re-arranging)? We work within the limits that we are given -but do we deliver within those limits? Do we always WOW or do we sometimes just do?
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Kathleen..... excellent post..... you make some awesome points and I will admit, I have done a few of these before. I would love to hear from those that are very successful, if they have done this before. I consider myself to be great at customer service... but there are those times though. So, am I great?
Kathleen- You sure do have a simple understated way about your blog posts and your staging - nothing mediocre there. I can't imagine you give anything less in any other area. Thanks for yet another reflective causing post.
Jackie
mediocre and Kathleen Lordbock just do not fit with in the same sentence.
I am all fpr leaving the mediocrity to others and we (you and I) will just keep doing what we already do!
Kathleen.... yes, I could always be greater... better. And I strive for that. Again, great post.
Yeah, and "the doll collection, madam, well, it's just spooky."
"Spooky? I've had more offers on the dolls than the house!"
"Quite. They're preventing people from looking at the house... and they made me thing of 'Bride of Chucky'."
"ohhhhh"
and the realtor told me to behave or go wait in the car! For real. I was in the middle of my yard sale and hadn't wanted to go see this house in the first place.
Kathleen, You are so right about consistency. When I was in college I took an archery class with a wonderful instructor. One of the things he talked to me about was an original problem I had with inconsistency. My arrows would be all over the target and a few other places too. He was very pleased when the vast majority of my arrows were striking in the upper right hand corner of the target -- far from the bullseye. I was much less than pleased! Once I had made the stride to consistently in the wrong place it was a very easy "fix" to be much more consistent with hitting in and near the bullseye. I went on to compete in a small league for a while and did well.
The trick is to know that being consistent is not the final goal but being consistently on target is. Thanks for another great post!
Juliet - Bad girl, go to the car.
I always like the huge RV for sale parked in front of the house for sale. Can't see the house, but, oh well at least they will sell something.
Hope she gets a good price for the dolls!!!!
Karen - Sorry to point out that you just fit both in the same sentence - maybe it didn't count because you didn't capitalize the M in mediocre!
Thanks.
Yvonne - I shot bare bow archery on my college team with a sweet little Browning bow.
I should have put on Target somewhere in my title, but most stagers would then think it was about shopping.