This piece was originally published in June of 2004.
For too many years, I wasted time driving to the dry cleaners to drop off my clothes. Always looking for ways to save time, I had noticed a home delivery dry cleaning service in our neighborhood. I asked my neighbor Steve about the service. He gushed with praise about the service and said, “You’ll love Larry!” He was right; I would love Larry.
Larry is someone all of us could learn from and a person who understands the value of great service and, even more importantly, a GREAT attitude.
For the past 25 years Larry has driven the delivery truck for Gough Lamb Cleaners in Middletown, Ohio. But driving the delivery truck is not the only thing Larry does well.
As a very satisfied customer of Larry, let me share with you what he does. For starters, he is very dependable. On every Tuesday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Larry knocks on our door to drop off clean clothes and pick up the dirty ones. In comparison, I’m still waiting for the cable guy who was supposed to be at my house three years ago. (Seriously, this is true. They never showed up and I never called. I just fixed the cable myself and, to the surprise of my whole family, my repair worked.)
In the few years we have worked with Larry, he has never made a mistake. No wrong clothes, no damage done to our clothes and no lost clothes. In comparison, a few years ago a repair shop lost a lawn mower of ours; they gave it to someone else.
Larry knows all my kids’ names, my name and my wife’s name. In comparison, the gate agent at the Dayton International Airport who has taken my boarding pass and assisted me literally hundreds of times has no idea what my name is.
On several occasions Larry brings us small tokens of appreciation. Again, for comparison purposes, a vendor we have at our landscaping company that we spend thousands of dollars with annually has never so much as uttered a “Thank you” to me, even though I see him in church every Sunday. (Granted, their service is good, but a thank you would be nice.)
Finally, Larry’s truck is always spotless. And, needless to say, Larry is always nicely dressed. He also smiles, is extremely pleasant and always thanks us for our business and wishes us a good day. Look around today as you drive; chances are you’ll find more companies with dirty trucks than with clean ones.
What can we learn from this? Frankly, a whole lot. For starters, little things make a big difference. Nothing that I have told you that Larry does costs a lot of money. He’s on time, he’s dependable, he’s conscientious, he pays attention, he cares, he smiles, he is clean, he is polite, he is enthusiastic and, most importantly, he loves his job.
And that leads to the message of this month’s column – a great attitude is the best asset your company can have. Not only is it contagious, but it sells your services like crazy. Because of Larry doing all the little things so well, many, if not all, of my neighbors have decided to use his services. Think about what your company could do with a whole stable full of employees with great attitudes serving your clients. Spend some time hiring the right people – the ones with great attitudes – and then train them how to take care of your clients. While training, remember, the way you treat your team will clearly show them how to treat your clients. If you do, you’ll have what Lovable Larry has – clients who love him and his service and are happy to find other clients for him.