No one can make you serve customers well…that’s because great service is a
choice.
Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this
point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the
first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine.
Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black
slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back
passenger door for Harvey.
He handed my friend a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver.
While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission
statement.’
Taken aback, Harvey read the card.
It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination
in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly
environment…
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab
matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I
have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’
My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’
Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular
and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’
Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I ‘ll take a Diet Coke.’
Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have
The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today..’
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card,
‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to
listen to the radio.’
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air
conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.
Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of
day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some
of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts…
‘Tell me, Wally,’ my amazed friend asked the driver, ‘have you always served
customers like this?’
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only
been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my
time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the
personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.
He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer
said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll
rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate
yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack
and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’
‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking
about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my
attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their
drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers
were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time.
When my customers responded well, I did more.’
‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.
‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my
income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You
were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers
call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab.
I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years,
and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I
give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all
the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking
like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
How about us?
Smile, and the whole world smiles with you…. The ball is in our hands!
A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the
proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up… let us do good to
all people.
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar
Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.
Author Unknown
The point of the story is, “Differentiate yourself from others. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and whine. Eagles soar above the crowd.” Each of us have choices to make, and in this case there are two. We can either be a duck or an eagle. Ducks are small and noisy, and travel in flocks. Their quacking sounds very much like complaining or whining. Eagles, on the other hand, are large birds, regal in bearing, and quiet. They are most often seen in solitude. Even when they are gathered together, they roost in regal quietude.
Symbolically, the eagle is the symbol of our nation, chosen by our forefathers for its supremacy and always shwon in the stance of flight, with wings extended. The duck is belittled in many languages for its silliness, and can be seen in our own culture compared to the infamous Daffy Duck!
“The is an even more abstract difference between the two – one that is inherent in the characteristics between the two birds and even in the characteristics between people. Ducks represent a widespread approach to life, where a person chooses to flock to others and to quack and complain about their problems or misfortunes -solving very little.
“Eagles however, are resolute in their endeavors. Like people with the unique combination of patience and voracity, they ensure that they achieve their objectives – even if it is just to scoop prey off the ground without the slightest pause in flight! Eagles have an innate responsibility to soar and protect the sky. Just like “eagle people” have an instinctive obligation to lift themselves and others.
“Without even realizing it, we are given many opportunities to become eagles. It is through our community, our churches, and our schools.” (from the In Slide Share Webpage)
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