If you love customer service – books such as Alpha Dogs written by Donna Fenn, Collins, 2005 should be on your reading list. Hopefully you read it more than once because the book is about how to make a small business grow.

The examples in the book are something every day businesses can learn from the first example is Zane’s Cycles in Branford near New Haven, Connecticut.

Every entrepreneur must realize there is never just one solution to a problem. To go from start up to the next level, the equation had to be changed. There is an old Star Trek movie where Captain Kirk was asked how he solved something that all recruits were failing. He answered, to solve the problem he changed the rules. Similarly Zane knew he had to challenge the conventional wisdom or change the game as it applied to his business of bicycles. For example he started offering one year guarantee – eventually it went to 5 and then to life. In reality most people only keep their bicycles for 5 years, going to life meant a great deal to your customers but not to your bottom line. If you can raise customer expectations, they will talk about it and you will do more business. The trick is having raised the bar, keep it or go continually go higher.

One critical aspect is knowing how much are you willing to spend on each customer. If you can offer him something less, you are further ahead. It is also critical to let your staff know the same answers as you, for they will have to make judgements. Some things can be taught but guessing the answer is not going to be done. In addition to knowing the same answer, the staff have to be able to make the judgement, which means when you learn about it your response has to measured and showing support otherwise the staff will not do it again. You only have to look at the Peter Principle to discover many examples. If the boss says no, and you want to keep your job, the no is not a maybe. If the boss says yes, then possibilities open up.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if the company wishes to provide great customer service then all levels of the staff must be able to deliver great service. Judgements are and will be made, the supervisor’s attitude will determine the type of judgement. Paying close attention to what decisions can be made, will determine what type of competition is in the marketplace and that could affect the ability to pay dividends.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions