Fwd: Fw: [Branches] Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from yourcompetition - Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above thecrowd.'

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Sebeesh Sebastian

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Mar 14, 2011, 8:45:56 AM3/14/11

to prakin.p, rashigirly, Roshan Raju, alishamohmd, autocrats_macfast, hudsonv...@gmail.com, emilijsph1, chinju joseph, Sudeep Chandramana, sunilpaul1988, sebin sunny, SOJU IYPE 09067398137

Dear All,

This is a timeless story, I am always eager to share. Please read on ---

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

Consumers have so many options today. Great customer service is almost a prerequisite for any business yet most customers get truly amazed when they do receive truly excellent customer service. Excellent customer service can turn a commodity into a differentiated service.

Harvey MacKay, motivational speaker, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey 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,' 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.

Haley says that probably he told this story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, but only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever he goes to their cities, he give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told 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.

How about us?

Makes me wonder ~

What if we all decided to be our very best at whatever work we did?
What if we shifted our perspective in all areas of our life and decided to soar like an Eagle?
What wonders the World would see!

In every interaction you have with someone, you have the chance to greet them with cheerfulness and exuberance - which will almost always be returned in kind. You will never know how many lives you have touched - because most people will not share that information with you, but the next time you go out of your way to be nice to someone, whether it be through an enthusiastic phone greeting, or holding the door for someone, know that it is the little things that sometimes make the most difference in people's lives. If you avoid contact with others, they will avoid contact with you. If you seek out contact with others, and add to that contact a joyfulness in your interaction, you stand a chance at making that person's day.

Regards,

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