Download Loyal for Life – Part 2

So in addition to ZingTools, in this OnTrack we are also including “ZingDots” (“dots” being a term we learned from Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group, that means bits of information that can be used to provide better service, including connecting customers with each other — Check out his book, Setting the Table). Each of these ZingDots will link you to a webpage that provides additional information about that ZCoB business.

• When Zingerman’s Bakehouse opened in 1992, it had only one customer — Zingerman’s Delicatessen. But now the Bakehouse has many wholesale customers. Most of these customers are in SE Michigan and get daily deliveries of bread and/or pastries. But with the introduction of the Zzang Bar, the Bakehouse’s line of full-flavored, hand-made chocolate candy bars, it is possible for retailers around the country to carry a bit of Zing! on their shelves.
  Bakehouse ZingDot: Zzang Bars (and BAKE! is really good
  for corporate group activities.)
• The artisan cheeses and Italian-style gelato from Zingerman’s Creamery are also available wholesale, directly from the Creamery and through selected distributors around the country. If you have a full-service cheese department, have staff who love to talk with customers about new products and are looking for cheeses that set you apart from the competition, give the Creamery a call. (Ask about their hand-ladled, fresh cream cheese!)
  Creamery ZingDot: Wholesale information (Ask about special mozzarella making classes for corporate groups.)
• Zingerman’s Coffee Company roasts small batches of estate-grown beans and sells to retailers and restaurateurs alike. Their Roadhouse Joe blend was developed for Zingerman’s Roadhouse and is my personal favorite.
  Coffee Company ZingDot: Wholesale information
• Looking for a present to send to a big client? Want to recognize a colleague for a job well done? Celebrating an organizational success? The friendly folks at Zingerman’s Mail Order’s Professional Presents department would love to help you create a one-of-a-kind gift.
  Mail Order ZingDot: Professional Presents

NEWS FLASH! ZingTrain seminars are on the move. After 12 years of holding seminars upstairs in the Deli, ZingTrain will be inaugurating a new training space across town (near the Bakehouse and Creamery). Round tables! Comfortable chairs! Room to move! Stay tuned for details.

NEWS FLASH #2! Watch for the release of our latest training video coming soon — Zingerman’s 5 Steps to Effectively Handling a Complaint is really close to its final cut. Watch for the latest DVD news on this website.

Happy New Year!

P.S. For those in the Ann Arbor area, don’t forget Zingerman’s Catering! Meetings are SO much more productive when people are well fed! Also, Zingerman’s Roadhouse books private rooms and can send the Roadshow to your site.

Zingerman’s internal “Art of Giving Great Service” (AGGS) class is required for all staff during their initial orientation, and we do not currently require anyone to take it again after a certain length of time. On an ad hoc basis, some managers will include re-taking the class as part of someone’s annual performance expectations and re-taking it is part of the certification process for anyone who wants to become certified to teach the class.

At a recent Great Service Group meeting (this is our ZCoB-wide service committee), we were talking about how to get more people to take our newly developed, more advanced service class, “Turning Greens into Evergreens.” Which also got us talking about whether we should have a requirement to re-take the basic AGGS class after a couple of years. The conversation then turned to the importance of getting everyone’s customer service “tuned up” for the upcoming holiday season – when we (like most retailers) will be serving more customers than at any other time of the year. And we realized that getting people into those classes was the best way to ensure that their service was at its best during the holidays.

So we decided to run a game to get people to the service classes. In order to tune up us old-timers, we are targeting people who have worked here at least 3 years, and the game runs for the months of November and December. It’s a time of year when managers are often reluctant to send staff to classes because they’re needed on the floor – but we also know that it’s exactly when it’s so busy that people can use a service pick-me-up. In addition to focusing on how to provide great service, these classes give us the opportunity to provide great service to the staff who attend. In addition, attending a class gives them the opportunity to connect with co-workers, enjoy some great food (we always provide something to eat), and sit down for a couple of hours.

We’re offering $25ZingDollars (our internal gift certificate) for attending one of the classes, $60ZingDollars for attending both. Everyone who attends at least one class and submits their entry form also has a chance for additional prizes that will be awarded through a random drawing. Our target is to have at least 50 people participate in the game, and we are budgeting $3,000 in prizes.

The game is just kicking off on November 1, so I don’t have any results to report, but the initial buzz is very positive. And, of course, we’ve been sure to schedule lots of Art of Giving Great Service and Turning Greens to Evergreens classes in November and December. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, let me know if you have a requirement for people in your organization to retake classes after a certain length of time. If so, which classes and after how long? And/or do you have other ways that you help people re-learn or get re-energized about the basics? We’d love to know so that we can learn and share.

Thanks in advance and happy holidays!

We learned about this new (to us) measurement tool when Ari read a book called The Ultimate Question by Fred Reichheld. The book explains how to use a customer loyalty measure called “Net Promoter Score” or NPS for short. Of course, we can never just “adopt” someone else’s idea, so we’ve “adapted” NPS to make it a bit more “zing-y” – thus the new name that reaffirms our mission, which is to bring the Zingerman’s Experience to as many people as we can.

You really do need to read the book to get the details, but here is a bit of background about this approach. A company’s NPS is derived by asking the “ultimate” question, which is some variation of, “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” Responses are on a zero-to-ten scale, where ten is “extremely likely” to recommend and zero is “not at all likely.” Customers who answer 9 or 10 are considered “promoters.” Those who answer 7 or 8 are “passives.” Anyone who answers 6 or below is considered a “detractor.” The percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors equals a company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Research has shown that increased sales and profitability are correlated both with increasing an organization’s number of promoters and with decreasing the number of detractors. I’ll share some of the ways we’re doing both of these over the next few OnTracks. In the meantime, I’m interested in finding out if any of you are using the NPS approach and, if so, what your learnings have been – so that I can include those as well. Thanks in advance for sharing via email zingtrain@zingermans.com!

Hope you all had a wonderful summer!

Based on interviews with over 80,000 managers, it was determined that the core elements needed to attract, focus and keep the most talented employees could be simplified down to the following 12 questions:

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?
12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow? ]]> http://www.zingtrain.com/2010/01/keeping-your-talented-people/feed/ 0