August 2008 | Vol. #7

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Melodie Beattie once said: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

I am grateful to all of you who have offered your prayers and support through my wife’s cancer. While I wish that I could offer a more positive health report, I will simply say that we are truly blessed in all aspects of our lives.

I am also grateful to all of you who have purchased, read, blogged, and reviewed my new book The New Gold Standard. Your support has caused McGraw-Hill to initiate a third printing only a month and a half into the book’s release.

Now to the content of this quarter’s newsletter….

Are you willing to offer a $1,000 leaving bonus?

I’ll pay you $1,000 to quit. No questions asked. Such is one of the innovative strategies offered at Zappos.com. After investing intense effort to attract, select, and train the best people (many of whom work in call centers), Zappos leadership gives employees a bonus to leave.

Granted Zappos, a Las Vegas based company, is known as an avant-garde business culture, but what can they possibly be thinking, as they deploy this cash for leaving program after the first week of a four week cultural immersion program for their new hires? Put simply – fit!

No employees can know, with certainty, what they are going to experience once they arrive at a job. Despite all the promises of job recruiters , painstaking selection strategies, and the enthusiasm of the orientation process, some new hires simply don’t fit the values and needs of the company. Or vice versa, some businesses don’t fit the talents and needs of the new hire. So Zappos gives people a face saving way to exit. When I first heard about the program, I cynically thought it was more gimmick than substance. Surely, no new hire actually takes Zappos up on the offer. In fact, 10 percent of the call center new hires collect the $1,000 check and leave.

If we are to deliver engaging customer service we need an engaged workforce. Zappos has found a way to help some people, destined to be disengaged employees, leave before they can negatively affect customer experiences. What are you doing in your business to help less than engaged employees catch fire or self-select their exit?

Resources

A New On-Line Businessweek Customer Experience Course
Businessweek did a terrific job producing 8 (approximately 3-minutes each) video segments on Customer Experience. I provided the content for the videos which can be found at:

http://businessweek.com/managing/joseph_michelli_customer_experience

The Podcast
The 3 to 5 minute weekly podcast The Starbucks Experience is available streaming online or available for download at:

http://www.josephmichelli.com/publications.podcasts.html

The Book
My newest book The New Gold Standard can be purchased by clicking on the link below:

The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles
for Creating A Legendary Customer Experience – Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

For those considering purchasing the book, I will leave you with an excerpt of an amazing review offered in John Maxwell’s Leadership Wired newsletter:

“Having written another stellar book, Joseph Michelli must be considered on the short list of today’s influential leadership authors. His intriguing look into the Ritz-Carlton abounds with insights and intellectual fodder for leaders aspiring to upgrade the quality of service offered by their organizations.”

While the review was TOO gracious, I hope you’ll consider picking-up a copy of The New Gold Standard.