P.O’d at the P.O!
Monday of this week I sent an audio CD on managing your energy via the U.S. Post Office to one of my clients. Tuesday, I found the same envelope that had I dropped off at the post office the previous day in my mail box with a stamp on it that read “Returned For 43 Cents Additional Postage.” This, on top of the $1.28 cents I had already paid.
Why? Because they couldn’t bend the 9 1/2″ by 11 1/2″ padded envelope that was stuffed to the brim with one small 5″ by 5″ audio CD. And why would you need to bend it I thought to myself?
Well let’s just say at that particular moment in time, the envelope wasn’t the only thing that was a little bent!
Walking back to my office, I envisioned going down to the Post Office. And then I remembered my last visit. There I was standing in line behind 25 people watching multiple post office workers walking around or sorting mail while just one worker waited on customers.
When it was my turn to be waited on, I brought up the issue of poor service to the person behind the counter. What I heard next shocked me. She told me that Postmaster at this location does not allow more than one line open regardless of how many people are waiting. Then she added, “It’s only going to get worse!”
There must be a better way!
Once I was back in my office and after a little research, I compressed the audio file from iTunes and uploaded it to a free service called You Send It. Next, I typed in the appropriate email addresses and hit the send button. Within 2 minutes I received a confirmation of delivery. I called the client to let him know that he had an email with an attachment waiting for him in his inbox.
It was then I realized that this process took less than 5 minutes and my client could learn how to start increasing his effectiveness while he was driving home … TODAY!
Meanwhile … back at the Post Office a Postmaster and her colleagues are on their way to extinction because they do not understand two basic business principles … take care of your customers and stay ahead of the competition. So that got me thinking …
3 Questions To Ask Yourself:
- Are you holding onto to people, processes, or policies, that prevent you from providing an extraordinary customer experience?
- Has technology left you and your business behind your competition … because you’ re afraid to embrace change or the unknown?
- Are your customers being inconvenienced because some of your employee’s have a personal agenda or a misaligned belief?
Here’s a few resources to help:
- Send large files via email: You Send It
- Interesting read: U.S. Postal Service Nears Collapse
- Need some help: A Little Coaching
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