Customer Service With a “Zing”: Maximizing the Effectiveness of One of the Most Important Elements of Your Business

Pop quiz:

1.  What was the worst customer service you have ever received, be it retail, restaurant, online, or wherever?

2.  What did that company do to make it right?     .

3.  What could that company have done to avoid the poor service in the first place?

Unfortunately, these are questions any of us can answer, and for many of us, we have to choose between multiple “horror stories”.

Fact is, customer service is one of the most critical elements of ANY company, and one that, sadly, is often taken for granted.   Many companies presume good customer service to be something that just….happens, But all it can take is an ordered product or service to be processed incorrectly, or the customer catching your representative on a bad day, and it may take a LONG time to get that customer back through your doors, if ever!

(And in an age where social media rules the day, that customer can make his or her feelings known on Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp, just to name a few outlets, turning a bad situation exponentially worse,  Your company can only hope for a best-case scenario of the customer keeping his or her mouth SHUT!)

But while some of the “don’ts” of customer service may be painfully obvious, the question remains: how do you ensure that good customer service is a must for your company from the top-down?  An entrepreneur may know the value of every individual customer for your business, but how does that entrepreneur convey that importance to the company’s employees effectively, so that’s it’s second nature at all times?

When it comes to establishing top shelf customer service in a business, few, if any, entrepreneurs in America, have done it as well as Ari Weinzweig.

Not even the most optimistic of entrepreneurs could have envisioned the business success that Ari would go on to enjoy since starting his business, Zingerman’s Deli, in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1982.    Starting with a humble sandwich shop and a concise, simple menu, Ari grew that business into a thriving Ann Arbor institution that serves well over 500,000 customers a year.   While most entrepreneurs would consider such an enterprise to be an all-encompassing success, Ari decided to take his venture to the next level.   A bakery followed in 1992, followed soon after by a mail-order catalog, hailed by many as one of the premier food-based mail order catalogs in the U.S. Then came the catering business, the training business, the creamery, the American-style restaurant, and the coffee company.

Under Ari’s watchful eye, each of these businesses is its own thriving enterprise, and collectively, they represent Ari’s forward-thinking vision of establishing a true business community.  Zingerman’s has been hailed by no less than Inc. Magazine as “The Coolest Small Company in America”.

But none of that success or acclaim would have been possible without Ari’s hyper-focus on customer service.  Having multiple businesses with disparate customer streams can pose quite the challenge for ANY entrepreneur.  But thanks to Ari’s intensive customer service training program, the aforementioned “ZingTrain”, each of his employees are instilled with the same eye for service as his own.  It is that singularity of vision that has positioned Ari as one of the premier customer service authorities in the U.S., and one who practices what he preaches, to boot!

On this edition of The Raja Show, Ari checks into the show to talk with Raja about his story, as well as what HE does to instill the vision of top flight customer service in each of his people.   And he’ll offer tips from the consumer standpoint  on how you can be a better customer, to hold up your end of the customer service equation.  He’ll also give his take on some of Raja’s recent customer service horror stories, and how these scenarios can easily and effectively be avoided going forward.

From Barriers Broken to “Characters Welcome”: How USA Network Founder Kay Koplovitz Raised the Bar For Cable Television

Next time you turn on the TV (or your laptop or mobile device) to watch your favorite cable TV show, think about one person whose vision who made it all possible…..

Arthur C. Clarke

The iconic science fiction writer’s musings on satellite technology have captivated countless readers over the years, including a University of Wisconsin college student who had her own vision, that satellite technology could be used to change governments and cultures from around the world.

So with those teachings under her belt, Kay Koplovitz set out to see her vision through, starting in one arena which truly had global appeal: sports.  Springboarding off the initial success of the satellite-based presentation of the legendary third installment of the Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier  boxing trilogy (a.k.a. the “Thrilla in Manila”), Koplovitz led a team that worked with the management of Madison Square Garden in New York City to transmit 125 annual live sporting events from the famed venue, encompassing basketball, hockey, boxing, professional wrestling, and more, to the rest of the country.  (It had previously been available only on a regional basis.)

More than just bringing the Knicks and Rangers into living rooms throughout the country, the national MSG Network presented two consequences of greater significance: first,  it flipped the revenue model for cable television, as cable providers were now paying the network for the right to carry the station, rather than the other way around, which had been the norm up until that point.

Second, it enabled Kay Koplovitz to become the first woman president of a national cable network in the history of television.

And she was just getting started.  Sensing the appeal for New York-centric programming was limited in pretty much every other state in the country, Koplovitz struck licensing deals with Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League to carry their games every night, filling the daytime programming with children’s shows and talk shows.

With the expansion came a name change, to the USA Network, and with the name change came the evolution of the network to become cable television’s catch-all for all things entertainment,  Soon, live coverage of major tennis and golf tournaments followed, along with syndicated episodes of popular television shows, and original, made-for-TV movies.  Eventually, USA Network launched a spinoff channel that has also enjoyed a degree of success on its own: The Sci-Fi Channel.

All under the leadership of Kay Koplovitz.

Since stepping down in 1998,  after 21 years of the helm of USA Network, Koplovitz has emerged as a driving force for entrepreneurship for both men AND women. In addition to serving on the boards of companies such as Nabisco and Oracle, Kay has launched Springboard Enterprises, a multi-billion dollar venture fund geared to supporting women-owned, technology-driven companies, fostering the next wave of Kay Koplovitzes, in a sense.  And she continues to motivate entrepreneurs of both genders through her exhaustive speaking and presentation schedule all the while.

On this edition of The Raja Show, Kay checks into the show to talk with Raja about her remarkable story, and the lessons she has learned about entrepreneurship and managing growth and success along the way.

Going Toe-to-Toe With Starbucks?  Inside the “Crazy” Idea that Ken Zeff Has Followed For Fifteen Years….And Counting!

For many successful entrepreneurs, the path to their success lies in the fundamental idea that that entrepreneur started with a passion, and followed that passion all the way through to fruition, and beyond.

So it would stand to reason that Ken Zeff, the founder of Crazy Mocha, the burgeoning Western Pennsylvania coffee chain that boasts over 30 locations (and growing), opened his first location as a way for others to share his deep-rooted passion for a good ol’ cup of joe…..right?

It would…..if Ken had ever had a cup of coffee in his life.

The fact that a person who has never had a cup of coffee is, in fact, the founder and CEO of a wildly successful coffee shop chain is just one of the many (pardon the pun) crazy elements of the Ken Zeff story.   Another would be why someone who had a successful career as a corporate buyer for JC Penney decide to not only leave that job behind, but do so in favor of opening a business that is directly in the path of industry giants such as Starbucks, Panera Bread, Dunkin Donuts, and others.

But Ken has made it work, beyond anybody’s wildest expectations.  And in an industry you would think would be very competitive, Ken has done so while appreciating the bigger coffee companies for fostering and heightening the love for coffee among the general population, and while remaining respectful of the ability of fellow independent coffee shops to succeed, by not opening any Crazy Mocha locations near any established independent shops,

On this edition of The Raja Show, Raja welcomes Ken into the studio to discuss how the idea for Crazy Mocha came to be, the pressure he feels in competition with the “big cup” coffee shops, and what lies ahead for the Crazy Mocha company.

Finding Growth in Your Business, and Yourself: Previewing The Premier Annual Event For Western Pennsylvania Entrepreneurs

For the entrepreneurs behind businesses of any size, be it a one-person sole proprietorship or Fortune 500 company, the success of that business lies in one word: growth.

Whether it’s “facilitating growth”, “experiencing growth”, “managing growth”, or “curtailing growth”, no business can truly succeed without dealing with growth of some kind.  And for many entrepreneurially-driven companies, that growth often lies within the entrepreneur him- or herself.

So where does an entrepreneur go to grow?

(….aside from listening to “The Raja Show” on a weekly basis, of course)

For many in the Western Pennsylvania area, one place people go to grow their businesses, and themselves, has long been the Small Business Development Center at Duquesne University.

Under the leadership of Dr. Mary McKinney, the SBDC has been a place for entrepreneurs to go in order to find the resources, the guidance, and the mentorship necessary to not only start their companies, but also to grow and develop them into something sustainable that will remain long after the entrepreneur’s influence has subsided.

On Friday, May 15, the SBDC will produce its signature event, the 17th Annual Entrepreneur’s Growth Conference.   This day-long event,held on the campus of Duquesne University, gives attendees unprecedented access to the area’s leading entrepreneurs and business professionals, through a series of workshops, one-on-one mentoring sessions, and keynote presentations geared towards giving entrepreneurs the edge they need in all facets of business growth and development, from knowing where to find money to start a business, to maximizing your sales and cash flow, to using the latest technologies to market your company to the public.

It’s an annual tradition that is a must-do for Western Pennsylvania entrepreneurs, and wanna-be entrepreneurs, who are looking to climb that next step toward business success.    All of us at “The Raja Show” are proud to be affiliated with this program.  For more information on how you can attend the Entrepreneur’s Growth Conference, all you need to do is visit the event’s website, or give the SBDC a call at (412) 396-6233.

To that end, today’s edition of “The Raja Show” will feature an exclusive preview of this year’s Entrepreneur’s Growth Conference.  First, Raja talks with Dr. Mary McKinney, the Director of the SBDC, who discusses what attendees can expect at this year’s event, and for those who aren’t (yet) going, why they should invest the time and money to make this happen.

Raja also spends some time with John Tubridy, the Principal and Franchise Consultant for FranNet of Pittsburgh, who will discuss his presentation topic at the Entrepreneur’s Growth Conference.   He’ll talk about whether or not starting a business is right for you.   Given the myriad of options that you have for the rest of your life, why devote your professional life (and, in many cases to a large extent, your personal life ) to entrepreneurship?  It’s an important topic over which many hopeful entrepreneurs should spend a long time pondering.  John will also preview “EntrepreneuRevolution”, an exclusive, exciting virtual presentation featuring entrepreneur Daymond John (of FUBU and “Shark Tank” fame), that will debut at the Entrepreneur’s Growth Conference.

The Entrepreneur’s Growth Conference is an event you don’t want to miss, and this edition of “The Raja Show”, dedicated to the EGC, is a radio show you don’t want to miss!    All you need to do is join us terrestrially in the Western Pennsylvania area on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA.  And if you’re not in the area, you can also pick us up through our website, www.TheRajaShow.com, as well as via interactive podcast on TalkShoe.com.