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I have a warm place in my heart for K-Mart. As a

teenager, I worked in the jewelry department at the K-mart off

Clairmont Road in Atlanta, Ga. I got my first public

speaking experience running "blue light specials." I was

good at it too. People came running to my announcements

and they bought lots of merchandise. My favorite

special was on Timex watches. Well, people aren’t

running to the blue light specials anymore. Even with

Martha Stewart’s help they couldn’t avoid bankruptcy.

When I was in high school, department stores didn’t

face much competition. Life was much slower and

cable television did not exist. The only competition

I remember was Zayres which was located on Druid Hills

road where I bought my first calculator in 1970

for $19.95. That was a lot of money for a machine

that only could only add, subtract, multiply and divide.

Today, competition is fierce—Wal-Mart, Target,

Sears etc all fighting for the consumer’s buck.

Thirty years ago, K-Mart had door greeters who

always gave a friendly, "Welcome to K-Mart." All

of us wore pocket protectors with "K-Mart" emblazoned

in bold, red letters. I remember every Friday morning

before the store opened the staff met together in the

K-Mart coffee shop for a class on customer service

and an update on company business. We had free

coffee, soft drinks and doughnuts. I was well-liked

and was popular with the managers because I was

good at those blue-light specials. The store manager

was a Vietnam vet and he would tell me stories

about the war during my breaks. It felt good working

for K-Mart and I liked my job.

While everything else in the world has changed, it

seems that most K-Mart’s I have visited have not

kept up with the times. Some of them are clean and

new while others are dark and dirty and hard to

find someone to ask a question. My pharmacist,

who still works for K-mart says, "It’s no wonder

K-Mart has filed for bankruptcy knowing the way

K-mart treats its employees." I don’t specifically

know what is killing K-mart, maybe just a loss of

focus . . .a lack of focus on customers and a lack

of focus on their employees could be part of the problem.

If K-Mart called me for advice I am not sure what

to tell them do you? We can’t return to the simpler

days when I was a teenager. However, I think what

was important then is still important today. Have a

clear focus on your strengths, take care of your

employees and the employees will take good care

of your customers. Oh yes, don’t forget those

blue light specials.

On January 7, Southwest Airlines released its

sales numbers and profits for 2001

29th straight year of $511.1 million vs. $625.2

million in 2000. No other airline in the world can

match this. For 2001, American Airlines lost $1.76

billion and Continental $95 million.

Presently, 144 cities in the U.S. are petitioning

Southwest to fly into their cities because they

know the airfares will drop by 50 to 70 percent and

they have great service. How many of you would

like to have every three months the top 144 markets

in the U.S. begging you to come to their city?

Southwest’s market capitalization is greater than

all of the major competitors combined. They know

they are in the service business. Its competitors

believe they are in the airline or transportation

business.

No competitor of Southwest’s will look at its

financial performance and decide to copy their

speed, technology, and price strategy built around

service. Its competitors have handed them the U.S.

market on a silver platter in regards to competing

in these four areas.

Imagine what could happen to your organization if

you decide to replicate Southwest’s service

strategy for your market or industry.

Copyright, John Tschohl For FREE newsletter, or

to review previous English

For more information on SW Airlines, read the book,

Nuts by Kevin and Jackie Freiberg

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The Service First Video Library is a training system

that can be used over and over again to teach employees

from different departments how to exceptionally

serve customers and co-workers. They will learn

how to positively interact with customers and

staff so they feel good about the relationship.

Videos can be passed from department to

department, offering manager’s total flexibility

in scheduling their training sessions. You can use

the videotapes as stand alone training for new

employees. You can even send a video home with

an employee for self-study which saves you

training time and labor costs on the job.

Each department manager can use them for training

whenever it fits their busy schedule. New hires can

be mandated to review a new video each day

during the first 12 days on the job. Employees

appreciate not seeing the same videos over and

over. Video number #6 Exceeding Customer

Expectations is the best selling single video of the

12-video series. It Identifies the need for employees to

EXCEED customer expectations to elevate their level of

customer service above the competition. Teaches how to

apply the "Golden Rule" to customer interaction, how to put

forth extra effort, and how to treat co-workers as internal

customers. For more information please visit: http://chartcourse.com/servicevideo.htm

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Tell Us What You Think

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Our most popular book is now available in three formats:

Softcover, CD-Rom and E-Book. All can be ordered off

our shopping cart system. Lower prices available for

each format.

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National Pavement Association-Nashville-Jan 30

PizzaExpo-Las Vegas-Feb 11-13

Lifeway Christian Resources-Nashville-Feb 22

33^rd Employment Management Association Annual Conference-

San Francisco-April 17-19

Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce-Grand Rapids-May 7

National Restaurant Association-Chicago-May 20

Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM) Annual

Meeting-Philadelphia-June 23

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Public Seminar in Atlanta

I am planning a public seminar in Atlanta in the spring. If

interested in attending please sign up at this link. (There

is a link at the bottom of the webpage.)

http://chartcourse.com/workshops.html

Links

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