March 2010:
Heart of the Matter
Last March I told you an Irish joke about the O’Malley twins, this year I’m going to skip the joke and get right to the heart of the matter.
I have two stories this month, each with a lesson. The first story is about Ronnie in the Atlanta branch. We have a new client and Ronnie is the person handling their payroll needs. This client had a pretty rough on-boarding for various reasons and quite frankly they were not too happy with us. As it turns out there was one more problem the client would have to deal with and it regarded how we funded the payroll. Ronnie made a false assumption and… oops! So following is an excerpt from Ronnie’s email to the client and the client’s response:
“Hi Mary(the client Mary, not me) ~ I AM THE ONE ~ after talking with Lee it was my understanding it had been approved, so I sent the invoice to the accounting department to do the reverse wire, I understand now that you will be doing the wire from your end. Going forward after I send you the reports please get back to me with your approval, so I can print checks and the direct deposits can be processed.”
Best regards Ronnie
“Ronnie…..you are the nicest person I have met in a long time. And just for admitting you goofed (heck I do it EVERY DAY), I want to tell you how much more I respect you NOW than I did before. And I respected you a LOT before!! If everyone would just own up to a GOOF, life would be so much more pleasant. And because of YOU…..it will be a long time until we leave ERM!”
Thank you, Mary
This is such a beautiful example of how we do things here and why. When we make a mistake, we own it. It’s as simple as that. We apologize and offer to make it right. The response is usually positive and cements a relationship. Thank you Ronnie for showing us the way.
My next story is about a question I have been asking a lot lately. “Who’s your favorite client?” I have loved reading each and every story and have learned so much about our clients and have loved seeing your care and respect for them shine through. Dallas branch put all their responses to my question together and when they did so they came to the conclusion… well, let me allow Mike Watters to tell you “…..it is very hard for my team to pick a favorite client. The same goes for me. They like them all! Yes….some probably more than others. But the fact is and as I have heard you say, the client they are supporting at the time would be their favorite client. I hear and see proof of that each and every day.” That is also the Employers Resource way. The starfish story is all about “the one we are serving right now”.
Have a wonderful month, own your mistakes, and take care of your “favorites”.
Mary