Cowboy Safety has a starting point.
Everything else in Cowboy Safety is the simplest way to achieve this goal.
Everything else in Cowboy Safety is the simplest way to achieve this goal.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Cooperation
The following is part of the charter of the National Safety Council from 1953 when it was chartered by the Congress of the United States.
"to cooperate with, enlist, and develop the cooperation of and between all persons and organizations, both public and private, engaged or interested in any or all of the foregoing purposes."
Cooperation is an essential aspect of getting Cowboy Safety, or whatever other names it may be given, to be a part of every small business. It is a part of what will make the coming years to be the best and most profitable ever.
I can remember when there was complete secrecy within a business. Secrecy was a part of every contract and agreement. No more. Today we can go anonymously to the internet and find anything we want about our competitors or would-be competitors. Prices are readily available. Competitive advantage, strategy, whatever you want. Cooperation is the name of the game today. Making knowledge available on the internet is one of the tactics.
From the Bible Jesus said "Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give mint your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. " Luke 6:38
David Sneed
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Hazards of Customer Service
I visited a small flower shop for the first time while on a walk with one of my granddaughters. There were no other customers and just the owner. I did mention that we were out for a walk. We certainly were not there for the day from LA. We must be community residents.
When we entered the store I had mentioned that this was our first time in. There was no effort on the part of the owner to grab hold of the event. A brand new prospect had walked in the door without a coupon or as the result of any advertising. This was an event that every business dreams about.
The owner heard me ask my granddaughter if we should get something for grandma. No effort was made to help make a selection.
We did purchase one flower with some added leaves and paper. It was noticeable that even though it was a small purchase I did not ask the price in advance. And I paid in cash. Clues of a potential good customer.
After the sale was complete and I had gotten my change I asked the owner why I should shop there and not at other florists. Her immediate answer was "customer service." I told her that everyone says that. She then outlined various features that are true for any florist. She did say that I could save money in sending flowers to another state to buy from her. That really set me to thinking. If I was sending flowers to another state why would I not just call a florist in that city and give my credit card number and ask them to deliver? Why involve a florist in my city?
There was no definition of customer service. The Cowboy Safety approach is to define what is meant by customer service and have a way to measure it. For sure it is not the same for every customer. She should have struck up a conversation. When I left, most likely never to return, she did not know my name, what I did, the size and location of my family members, whether or not my Mother was still alive or how often I bought flowers. She did not know that I had been pleased that at a grocery store florist a few months back that it was suggested that I set a budget and that I could trust them to design something great. For my first time out I tried $100. They did a great job.
A hazard in any business is that a prospect or customer will not come back.
David Sneed
When we entered the store I had mentioned that this was our first time in. There was no effort on the part of the owner to grab hold of the event. A brand new prospect had walked in the door without a coupon or as the result of any advertising. This was an event that every business dreams about.
The owner heard me ask my granddaughter if we should get something for grandma. No effort was made to help make a selection.
We did purchase one flower with some added leaves and paper. It was noticeable that even though it was a small purchase I did not ask the price in advance. And I paid in cash. Clues of a potential good customer.
After the sale was complete and I had gotten my change I asked the owner why I should shop there and not at other florists. Her immediate answer was "customer service." I told her that everyone says that. She then outlined various features that are true for any florist. She did say that I could save money in sending flowers to another state to buy from her. That really set me to thinking. If I was sending flowers to another state why would I not just call a florist in that city and give my credit card number and ask them to deliver? Why involve a florist in my city?
There was no definition of customer service. The Cowboy Safety approach is to define what is meant by customer service and have a way to measure it. For sure it is not the same for every customer. She should have struck up a conversation. When I left, most likely never to return, she did not know my name, what I did, the size and location of my family members, whether or not my Mother was still alive or how often I bought flowers. She did not know that I had been pleased that at a grocery store florist a few months back that it was suggested that I set a budget and that I could trust them to design something great. For my first time out I tried $100. They did a great job.
A hazard in any business is that a prospect or customer will not come back.
David Sneed
Monday, September 5, 2011
Should I Adopt Best Practices?
A great deal of lip service is given to best practices. Who could object to it? When we go to conferences we are often challenged to take home a set number of ideas and implement them. Often it is a complete waste of time.
Best practices are by definition something already being done by competitors. That does not bode well for having a competitive advantage. A practitioner of Cowboy Safety does not do something just because someone else does it. Why do something the best when it may not be needed?
Often too a best practice from one location will not be adapted properly to meet the need of another location or a best practice will in fact not be adopted at a new location.
There are many legacy practices that can be eliminated. Most of them can be found in the overhead functions of a business. Rather than try to analyze your needs without any information let's look at something that Henry Ford did. I'll use the words best practices where appropriate.
At one point when bids were requested for engine blocks Ford personally wrote the packaging specifications for the engine block crates. Ford's purchasing people said that the crates were not based on best practices. The casting firms said that no one would need that much of a crate. It did not meet best practices. Ford insisted even though the cost was higher than the best practices approach. A contract was signed.
Ford then wrote the procedures for opening the cases. Again he was in violation of best practices for opening crates. Ford insisted.
Then Ford directed how the crate sections would be the floor boards for the Model T.
While his furniture works might be seeking an award for best practices in making floor board Ford closed the furniture works.
Best practices is actually the status quo.
David Sneed
Best practices are by definition something already being done by competitors. That does not bode well for having a competitive advantage. A practitioner of Cowboy Safety does not do something just because someone else does it. Why do something the best when it may not be needed?
Often too a best practice from one location will not be adapted properly to meet the need of another location or a best practice will in fact not be adopted at a new location.
There are many legacy practices that can be eliminated. Most of them can be found in the overhead functions of a business. Rather than try to analyze your needs without any information let's look at something that Henry Ford did. I'll use the words best practices where appropriate.
At one point when bids were requested for engine blocks Ford personally wrote the packaging specifications for the engine block crates. Ford's purchasing people said that the crates were not based on best practices. The casting firms said that no one would need that much of a crate. It did not meet best practices. Ford insisted even though the cost was higher than the best practices approach. A contract was signed.
Ford then wrote the procedures for opening the cases. Again he was in violation of best practices for opening crates. Ford insisted.
Then Ford directed how the crate sections would be the floor boards for the Model T.
While his furniture works might be seeking an award for best practices in making floor board Ford closed the furniture works.
Best practices is actually the status quo.
David Sneed
The Waitress and the Drink Refill
I was at a pizza restaurant in Denver with two of my daughters and a son in law, the husband of one of them.
I'm going to tell you what happened. The issue is not what it may appear to be at first.
One of my daughters asked for a refill of her soft drink. Picture this. The glass contained ice and a small amount of the soft drink. Simple to see.
The waitress brought a glass that was the same size as the one to be refilled. The glass she brought had no ice and was full to the brim. The waitress poured from her glass into the one needing a refill. Remember that the glass to be refilled contained ice and a small quantity of the soft drink.
There was some soft drink left over after completing the refill. That glass was about 1/3 full. The waitress seemed to be unsure what to do with the remainder. I think she considered leaving it on the table. She took it back with her. Did she pour it out or, like sourdough starter, would this be the beginning of the next refill? At her station does she have partial glasses of each type of soft drink?
I will admit that my first thought as the customer was that she must be the stupidest waitress ever. I have nothing against waitresses. They are some of the finest hardest working people anywhere. When I owned a restaurant I could not keep up with it even at the few times that I waited on tables. Yet I wondered. Had this waitress never done a refill? Why did she not just bring a whole new drink with ice? Is what she did company policy? In any event what she did affected the customer experience. Quite possibly not for everyone but for me and possibly others.
Let's look at another event. One that did not end well.
A few years ago in Alabama a company had its annual fall protection training. It was a boring repeat for the employees. Thirty minutes after the class a supervisor was dead from a fall. He was on an elevated surface and was not using his harness. Dare we call him stupid? Was something wrong with the training?
There is something common with the drink refill and with the fall. In both cases the people were not thinking about the possible outcomes of their actions yet they did base their actions on some aspect of their training.
With the drink refill there was actually nothing wrong with what she did to provide the refill except maybe waste a little of the soft drink. At this restaurant the usual procedure is to use a pitcher. That way several refills can be done with one trip. The customer has no problem with a pitcher not becoming empty. By doing it with one glass there is the appearance that her plan was to transfer all of the drink to the refilled glass. In fact it was good that she brought a glass with more than was needed. I suspect that she did consider that the others in that party all had water and because it was not a busy time there were no other refills needed in her section. Because her training was related to using a refill container she did not stop to think how what she did would look. It would have been better for her to simply bring a new glass with ice and place it on the table though it would not have fit the training.
With the supervisor, and the key word is supervisor, he felt that there was no need for him to use a harness because he was not doing the work and his risk exposure was limited. Safety is often viewed as being done for compliance purposes only. Scheduled training is the most visible feature and employees view it as a waste of time to hear what they already know. While it might not suit OSHA, a better solution might be to emphasize the fall hazard and make the actual harness training optional.
There can be time savings and better results by applying Cowboy Safety principles. What is the result to be achieved rather than the means?
David Sneed
I'm going to tell you what happened. The issue is not what it may appear to be at first.
One of my daughters asked for a refill of her soft drink. Picture this. The glass contained ice and a small amount of the soft drink. Simple to see.
The waitress brought a glass that was the same size as the one to be refilled. The glass she brought had no ice and was full to the brim. The waitress poured from her glass into the one needing a refill. Remember that the glass to be refilled contained ice and a small quantity of the soft drink.
There was some soft drink left over after completing the refill. That glass was about 1/3 full. The waitress seemed to be unsure what to do with the remainder. I think she considered leaving it on the table. She took it back with her. Did she pour it out or, like sourdough starter, would this be the beginning of the next refill? At her station does she have partial glasses of each type of soft drink?
I will admit that my first thought as the customer was that she must be the stupidest waitress ever. I have nothing against waitresses. They are some of the finest hardest working people anywhere. When I owned a restaurant I could not keep up with it even at the few times that I waited on tables. Yet I wondered. Had this waitress never done a refill? Why did she not just bring a whole new drink with ice? Is what she did company policy? In any event what she did affected the customer experience. Quite possibly not for everyone but for me and possibly others.
Let's look at another event. One that did not end well.
A few years ago in Alabama a company had its annual fall protection training. It was a boring repeat for the employees. Thirty minutes after the class a supervisor was dead from a fall. He was on an elevated surface and was not using his harness. Dare we call him stupid? Was something wrong with the training?
There is something common with the drink refill and with the fall. In both cases the people were not thinking about the possible outcomes of their actions yet they did base their actions on some aspect of their training.
With the drink refill there was actually nothing wrong with what she did to provide the refill except maybe waste a little of the soft drink. At this restaurant the usual procedure is to use a pitcher. That way several refills can be done with one trip. The customer has no problem with a pitcher not becoming empty. By doing it with one glass there is the appearance that her plan was to transfer all of the drink to the refilled glass. In fact it was good that she brought a glass with more than was needed. I suspect that she did consider that the others in that party all had water and because it was not a busy time there were no other refills needed in her section. Because her training was related to using a refill container she did not stop to think how what she did would look. It would have been better for her to simply bring a new glass with ice and place it on the table though it would not have fit the training.
With the supervisor, and the key word is supervisor, he felt that there was no need for him to use a harness because he was not doing the work and his risk exposure was limited. Safety is often viewed as being done for compliance purposes only. Scheduled training is the most visible feature and employees view it as a waste of time to hear what they already know. While it might not suit OSHA, a better solution might be to emphasize the fall hazard and make the actual harness training optional.
There can be time savings and better results by applying Cowboy Safety principles. What is the result to be achieved rather than the means?
David Sneed
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