Listen Now
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 who 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 Harvey a laminated card that read: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’
Surprised, Harvey read the card. It read, “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 Mr. Mackay 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.” Harvey 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 his passenger another laminated card that read, “If you’d like to listen to the radio, these are the stations I get and the music they play.”
As if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable.
Then he told Harvey 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,” the impressed passenger 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. Then I heard the personal growth guy on the radio one day.
“He said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Be different from your competition and above the crowd. 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. “He 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. No one was winning. 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 make probably four times as much. 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 let them take a piece of the action.”
Wally was awesome. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. Wally’s story has been shared with more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and yet only a couple of drivers were inspired enough to try it for themselves. Too bad. They could have found themselves happy and doing quite well.
The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and rattled off all the reasons they couldn’t do that. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like a duck and start soaring like eagle.
Hmmm. Something to think about.
Things really can change and it begins with a ‘tude’ change.
The Bible says, “A [wo]man reaps what [s]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
‘Just saying. . .
Wisdom from Dad —
You can always be #1 in whatever you do!
Pastor Wilbur H. Wacker
