The 20th Annual Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob Chamber of Commerce is now a point in history.  We exceeded every single expectation we had this year.  Without moving further, I must first thank the seven individuals who danced — Village of Maryville Mayor Larry Gulledge and the wonderful Millie Belobraydic; Village of St. Jacob Mayor Ray Muniz and the BEST ASSISTANT IN THE WORLD Diana Stogsdill; Troy Lions Club Member Tim Greenfield and Miss Bank of Edwardsville herself Carol Porter; and of course my partner, Troy Mayor Tom Caraker.  All of them were amazing that evening.  (Note — if you would like to see the videos from the evening, visit www.troymaryvillecoc.com and click on the video of your choice.  Trust me — it is worth your time.)

An event of this magnitude does not come off easily, without the help of some very dedicated volunteers.  Thank you to the Chamber Board of Directors and Ambassadors and the Chamber members who purchased tickets, purchased ads, donated items and also purchased items at the event. 

The big question has been “how will you top it next year”.  Just trust me on this — we will!  Hope you enjoy the pictures and videos on the site.

I had someone say how offended they were when a waiter came to their table with a piercing in his tongue.  They said they would never go back, no matter how good the service, no matter how good the food, no matter how good the restaurant. 

So, what offends you?  If you owned a restaurant, what type of piercing rules would you have?  Tattoo rules?  Cursing rules?  What is it that you want your customers to remember?  No matter what type of business you have, be sure to do a check at the door of your staff and also set those expectations high and in the intial interview and every single day!

I had a very interesting conversation with a lady who has been looking for a job for a while.  She has sent in countless resumes and has actually acquired four interviews from four different companies.  In all four cases, she never heard back from any of them.  No rejection letter.  No thank you for interviewing letter.  Nothing.  She said to me “I realize that I must not have been the best choice for the job but the least they could have done is told me that I did not get the job”.  She had waited for weeks to hear from all of them and nothing.

Her next like was priceless … “You know, if they can’t even take a moment to tell me that I didn’t get the job, then I don’t think they deserve me as a customer in any way”.  Wow.  When she left, I realized that companies have to watch every aspect.  They can lose a potential customer in so many ways.  She said “You know, some day, I hope the HR person and the person who interviewed me are looking for a job and no one gets back with them.  Then they will know how it feels.” 

 Interesting.  What are your thoughts? 

The Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob Chamber of Commerce 20th Annual Auction is set for Friday, April 16.  The event will be held at Gateway Center in Collinsville.  There will be over 200 Auction items and we anticipate over 500 ticket sold.  There are some incredible items and in addition, all three mayors from the communities, along with Tim Greenfield, will be providing entertainment in the form of a dance contest.  Now, I have seen the dancers and trust me, all attendees are in for a real treat.

The dress for the evening — very casual.  Bring out your jeans, bobby socks, poodle skirts — whatever you see fit!  Also, we have Elvis (Steve Brandes) performing that evening as well. 

For more information, be sure to visit the Chamber’s website at www.troymaryvillecoc.com.  Ticket are available through April 5.  We hope to see you there.  

In my training sessions I talk about the importance of building relationships.  What does that really mean?  How will you know when you have started to build a relationship?  Well, have you learned one unique thing about the customer?  Are you able to refer to that unique item at another time when the customer returns?  Did you make eye contact with them?  (Okay, then what color were their eyes?)  Did you follow up with them when they made a purchase and thank them?  (That is a WOW!) 

Do me a favor — concentrate today to build one relationship with one customer (internal or external).  Let me know how it goes.

One of my favorite things to do is to provide a keynote speaking for groups.  I truly believe the trick to a good keynote speech is to provide stories that everyone can relate to.  If you have ever heard me speak, there is no doubt you have heard the grocery store story, the Barry Manilow story, the Bailey story and all of the others that I have told for many years.  The other night I was asked to speak to a group.  I knew the person who contacted me but had no idea what others would be in attendance.  When I arrived, I noticed that probably half of the 100 people had already heard me speak so I had no doubt they had heard

Many of you know that I am not a television watcher.  I DVR a couple of shows and that is it.  But, when I saw the new show “Undercover Boss” advertised, I decided to try it.  I am hooked!  I love seeing CEO’s of companies go on the front line to see how things are going.  Not only that, but take the information they have and make attempts to improve those things not working and reward those individuals who are doing an outstanding job.

I have always believed in “management by walking around” and this is the best example I can think of.  If you supervise individuals, I encourage you to get out there in the trenches.  Do what they do for a day.  I think you will be very surprised!

It was a true honor to be asked to appear on WBGZ (thanks Jeff and Mark).  We actually did two segments and even had live call ins!  (You can hear the entire interview by clicking on www.customerserviceandbeyond.com and clicking on the link).  The interview went great, discussing basic customer service skills.

When I left the interview, I remembered this place that was pretty close that had these amazing brownies and decided to stop and pick up one.  I entered the store and there were four people at the table next to the cash register, eating and talking among themselves.  I stood by the cash register and finally one of them said “whatcha need?”  I said “I worked up here ten years ago and remember these really good brownies.  Do you still have them?”  She said “yeah, how many you want?”.  I said “I would like one.”  I handed her a twenty, she gave me the change and there was no conversation whatsoever.  And you know me, I had to look around to see if there was a radio, because obviously they had not heard the interview on customer service. 

And by the way, as much as I absolutely LOVED the brownie, I will never return to the store and well now, I have another story for book two!

I have had several people ask me if I could provide a weekly customer service tip.  I would be more than happy to do that.  Although I have several in mind, it would be great to hear from you.  Do you have things that you would like customer service providers to do more often?  Or maybe an idea you may have?  Please e-mail me at dawn@customerserviceandbeyond.com. 

I look forward to hearing from you.  Have a great customer service day!

Well, the planning has started for our 20th Annual Chamber Auction.  The event will take place on Friday, April 16, at Gateway Center.  Since it is our 20th, we thought we would add a couple of additional elements.  The first being, our three mayors, along with Tim Greenfield, will be in a dance contest.  It is going to be great!  We will also have a picture opportunity with Elvis and he will be singing a song as well.  In the backdrop with be two 1950’s cars. 

Our Auction is always fun but this year looks better than ever.  We will have over 200 Auction items and will have both silent, silent/oral and oral items.  If you like to be part of a bidding process, you will not want to miss the evening.

Tickets will go on sale on February 11 so if you are interested, we encourage you to visit the Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob Chamber of Commerce website at www.troymaryvillecoc.com.  We have the poster already posted.  You can see our mayors in a completely different light!  LOL.