Comments on: Tuned In – A Tale of Two Companies

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:20:25 +0000

Craig, Our Einstein’s folded before getting that far, but your story proves technology isn’t always the answer. Thanks for visiting Word Sell, and congratulations on your fabulous book.

By: Craig Stull

Craig Stull — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:19:55 +0000

I HAVE been to both restaurants and agree 100%. What gets me about my local Einstein’s is the fact that they tried to address the bottleneck by installing a very high tech solution including wireless terminals and LCD displays in front of each food prep person.

Ironically, the line got longer because the the bottleneck, the order taker, was still single threaded. Lots of food prep people but only one order taker and he has trouble figuring how to enter my order because I want it MY way. After all of that, the majority of the time they have my order wrong. Wrong type bagel, wrong cheese, forgot the ham, etc, etc.

I gave up and went to a little local bagel shop nearby. There are always three food prep people waiting for me to walk in. Each takes orders directly and, after taking the order, prepares the food and rings me up. The complete supply chain is handled by one person and they don’t need an expensive computer system to handle it.

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:30:04 +0000

Paul, let’s hope every company realizes the importance of customer service.
Mark, Caring customer service does seem rare, but then again, I’ll bet we’ve all had positive experiences but we just don’t talk about them as often. You’ve inspired me. I’m going to try to put as much effort into reporting good news as bad.

By: Mark Goodyear

Mark Goodyear — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:39:33 +0000

That story about the Olive Garden is great. Thanks for the heads up on David Scott’s new book. (I really enjoyed the New Rules of Marketing.)

I think you hit it on the head when you talked about what really surprised you.

Hector cared.

Maybe that was always a rare thing for one person to care about another. It certainly seems rare today.

By: paul merrill

paul merrill — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:18:30 +0000

Great story about customer service. That’s becoming even more important in today’s biz climate.

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:15:57 +0000

Zane, me too. Off to Starbucks.

By: Zane Safrit

Zane Safrit — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:24:06 +0000

Whoops.

The author should be Brad Shorr.

Need…more…caffeine…

By: Zane Safrit

Zane Safrit — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:22:26 +0000

It was the best of [companies];
It was the worst of [companies].
– A Tale of Two Companies, David Meerman Scott.

Thanks! Excellent post.

By: David Meerman Scott

David Meerman Scott — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:49:42 +0000

Hey Brad,

Thanks for writing about Tuned In. I love your examples! I’ve never been to either place, but you paint an interesting picture of both. Remarkable how well a Tuned In approach works.

Take care and thanks again.

David