Book Club Part One
We like to read books around here; our shelves are absolutely full of them. And because my mother always said “Books are for sharing”, in the next few blogs I thought I’d share what some of our favorites are, and why. Let’s start with one that every Wayne Homes teammate receives when they first join us; it’s an oldie-but-goodie called “Raving Fans.”
‘Raving Fans’ is a quick read; it can’t be more than a half-inch thick. Ken Blanchard of ‘One Minute Manager’ fame co-wrote the book with author Sheldon Bowles almost twenty years ago. In the good things come in small packages tradition, it’s chockfull of stand-the-test-of-time truths. Here’s a quick synopsis:
If you want to thrive in today’s economy, you can’t just satisfy your customers; you have to ‘wow’ them. Hasn’t most shopping become a chore instead of the memorable and fun experience it should be? Aren’t we getting numb to customer service that really doesn’t service us, but rather that company’s agenda? Charlie wants to change all that.
The star of ‘Raving Fans’ is an engaging male fairy godmother named Charlie. He is on a mission to teach the world how to look at customers differently (and treat us the way we want to be treated!). Charlie shares his three-part recipe: Decide, Discover, and Deliver. Follow these directions to cook up a Wow experience for teammates and customers alike!
- Decide. Solidify the vision of your perfect product being perfectly delivered. Don’t promise more than you know your company can consistently deliver.
- Discover what each customer wants and match their vision to your own. Most of the time both agendas will mesh; but if the two sets of expectation don’t, it’s better to say ‘No’ upfront than to experience a doubly-miserable transaction!
- Deliver what’s promised, plus one percent. Doing what you say ‘plus one’ creates lots of smiles and keeps costs within reason.
‘Raving Fans’ inspires. Through an engaging story, it sheds new light on how every business should interact with its customers. As a result, we learned that delivering outstanding experiences is every bit as important as the bricks and sticks that make up our homes.
‘Raving Fans’ helped us to design our unique ‘Value List’ so we can better discover your vision from your point of view. It’s what we use to understand why you want what you want, so that we can consistently deliver your custom home, on time, and on budget. We rarely have to say “We’re not the right fit for you”; the Value List makes it easy for you to hear “With Wayne Homes, almost anything is possible!”
Reading ‘Raving Fans’ continues to motivate us. We are proud to be the first homebuilder in Ohio to ever receive the National Housing Quality Award. And we’re most proud that our customers were the important voters who said they not only got a great home but also had more fun than they ever could imagine!
*We encourage you to visit our website to learn more about the mission of Wayne Homes!
