 7.01.05 In Search of Talented People...By Jeff Schlacks It is always a pleasure to roam the globe to hear praise heaped upon our people in a variety of different languages. My recent trip to Greece was no exception. In Athens, Nick Pope and I met with 25 different fleet owners and service companies. Our objective was simple: generate more volume for Mackay – be it Service jobs, OTC sales, Equipment Sales, or Airtime. I often face a dilemma during customer calls: Customers are reluctant to criticize Mackay when meeting with the Co-President, but the best source of ideas for improving our company come from Customers! For this series of calls, I walked customers through the 14-steps of a Service job, from the initial inquiry through payment of our invoice. By getting this granular, I hoped to avoid general comments like: “Mackay is good” or “Mackay is bad.” This step-by-step analysis garnered a surprising side benefit – many of these customers recited innumerable Mackay people by name . . . generally favorably I might add! The scope of compliments ranged all around our company including Depot Secretaries, Service Supervisors, MSEs, Inventory Managers, Account Managers, Sat Services reps, and even Collectors. (did I mention Executives??) The stream of flattery kept me floating on air during most of the trip, but the critiques were not always indulgent. A spartan few Mackay people were cited as “un-caring,” “unqualified”, or “poor communicators.” Disturbingly, the same names kept recurring. Such comments hearkened the humorous adage that “100 ‘Atta-boys’ are obliterated by one ‘aw-darn.’” But with each recrimination I suffered a jolt of pain, because I know first hand that most Mackayites are talented, incredibly hard-working people who love the satisfaction of winning and pleasing customers. We do not deserve to have our tremendous goodwill sabotaged by a random few. The opportunities for growth abound . . .growth in business, careers, and personal development. In order to ride this gratifying curve, we must fortify our culture of talented, caring, performance for customers and each other. The continuous search and development of talented people is not Greek to Mackay! |
