Touching Your Clients Brilliantly

I spent the last week under the influence of nature.

After 3 days in the US at a Planning Meeting for the coming Worldwide ERC Relocation Conference, my plans to travel to Europe were struck down by that Volcano in Iceland. After changing my flights 3 times, I simply gave up and came back to Japan!

Well, everything is an opportunity, and this gave me an opportunity to think about somthing....
Our groups lofty goal is to become the most reputable relocation company in Japan to Japanese and Foreigners. I have mentioned this before, but I use "Singapore Airlines" repuation in the Airline Industry as an example of who we want to be in our "Relocation" Industry. When I fly back home to NZ, I always use Singapore Airlines as they are just so great to travel with. I would rather fly 20 hours with Singapore Airlines than 11 hours with poor service.

For this reason, I am always comparing other airlines to Singapore. On my recent trip I flew with ANA, US Airways and United. United were particularly unmemorable. Not bad, but nothing jumped out as being fantastic. US Airways were similarly ordinary. I didn't get to fly with them to Europe, but as a domestic airline they were average. ANA, however, I thought were great. Good service that probably gets close to Singapore, nice friendly staff, and they seem to get it; the little things like coming back to pick up your empty coffee cup that they left with you when they took away your dinner tray (simple, but US carriers don't do it unless the cup falls out in the aisle). The meals were tasty for economy class and the aircraft was new with the TV built in. This is ANA that is not funded by Japanese tax payers, but a company that has worked out how to provide a top quality service in their industry in a competitive fashion (unlike JAL who has to rely on 3 government cash infusions and then still can't get it right).

However, what did catch me is somthing else. I spent alot of time on the phone in the US; calling US Airlines and ANA to change my flights. Their customer service over the phone, both companies, was fantastic. They listened to your needs, gave you the options and executed things really well; no being hung up on and it was generally a good experience. Then there was the time I spent at the check in counter. My US Airlines experience is mentioned in my previous blog entry, basically the front line staff were great, but the experience I had from the front lines's superiors was less than memorable. ANA check in staff were friendly and I had a good experience there.

What did this teach me? Well, taking the flight is just one part of the service. The experience you have on the phone and at the check in counter happens before you get on the flight. ie. Your impressions of the airline are set before you even experience flying with them.

For us in the service industry, this is really important. Every point of our service that touches our clients, even before we meet them to assist with their relocation sets the scene for how our clients will judge our service. One bad piece of communication, one poor phone call and we have already set the parameters for how our clients will judge our service.

To be the most reputable company in relocation in Japan for foreigners and Japanese, we need to be brilliant at every touch point with our clients! Impressions are everything!

My impression of US Airways is forever marked by a bad experience at the check in counter. However, my experience with ANA at the check in counter, on the phone and on the flight was all great. At every touch point, they were brilliant. Impressions count!!

Super Duper Service

The big lofty goal of our organization at H&R group is to become the relocation company that has the number one reputation with Foreigners and Japanese. To our staff the example I use to explain who we want to be is "Singapore Airlines" that have a record unheld by anybody else as the most "awarded" airline in the world. Singapore Airlines signifies service greatness; they have been selected as the best airline in the world for something like 20 of the last 21 years. That is who I want H&R Group to be in relocation.

It was in great contrast to this that I experienced US Airways in the last few days. Unfortunately, I am still experiencing them, as I am stuck in Philidelphia due to the ash created by the volcano in Iceland. I must admit that US Airways on the phone have been great. They even rescheduled all my flights this morning, so that I can hopefully fly out of here tomorrow. Their customer service on every occasion has been wonderful everytime I called customers services.

It is a pity therefore, that I came across John F in Washington DC yesterday. Due to John F, I will never choose to fly US Airways again. This is much like Northwest Airlines that did the same dis-service to me in Japan a few years ago. I swear I will never use them again, and I will tell the John F story until I am blue.


I arrived in Washington DC two days ago oblivious to the fact that some volcano in Iceland was spitting ash. I swiped my passport in the machine, which immediately told me "See an attendant, your flight has been cancelled". The lady that attended to me was really nice. It was not her problem that a natural disaster prevented me from flying and I accepted that. She kindly looked into all the options and booked me into the nearest available flight, about 4 days away. Not over the moon at the 4 day part of things, I asked her what other options I had, and she suggested that "standby" was the only other option, and that to do that I needed to be in Philidelphia where my international flight departed. I took this advice on board and asked for the next flight to Philly, so that the next day I could be at the airport.


She kindly re-arranged my flights and then asked me to place my luggage on the scales. As per the flight into the US, my suitcase was 30kgs due to the company brochures and other work material I was carrying. However, now that my flight was just a domestic one to Philly, and not the International linked flight an alarm comes up about my suitcase being over weight.


So here I am. I have been standing at the counter for about 60 mins now getting everything re-done. Granted; it is a natural disaster over which nobody has control, but my departure date has been put back by 4-days. US Airways offers no compensation, no hotel stays, no meals, abosolutely zip, which is accepted; not US Airways fault. In order to get out of the US and get to the business meetings scheduled, I need to be in Philly to see if I can get an earlier flight on stand by. My choice yes, but I have paid for that flight and I have just chosen to take it without the international piece until it can be confirmed. My suitcase is no different to when I arrived in the US and took a domestic flight to Washington DC from Chicago.


So, up rolls John F and looks at my over weight suitcase. Sorry sir, you are overweight, and this will be a $75.00 charge he says. But please, I said, this is the same suitcase for which I came to DC with. I was not charged in coming here, and so why should I be charged on the way out? Sir, you choose to change your flights, he says. So what?, I replied. I changed my flight because my international flight has been delayed 4 days, and I need to be in Philly to try and get an earlier flight. Oh, you may have a very valid reason sir, but our system can't just over ride this, as you have chosen to change your flights. You're joking I say. No, I have made my decision he says. Hold on a minute John F I say; you have made your decision or your system cannot allow the change, which one is it? Oh, well um..... it is both, but that's it, you can pay the 75.00 dollars and take your bag or leave without it.


What fantastic customer service. Do you think this is how Singapore Airlines became number one? This was an opportunity to win me over. It would have cost US Airways nothing, and I would have been a fan. Result; I was so pissed off that not only did I take John's name to report to customer service, but I will never take US Airways again, and I will not ever recommend them to anyone else.


So, John F. I hope you enjoyed your power play yesterday. Maybe one day you will wake up and realize what the role is you have in building your companies reputation. Let's face it, it doesn't matter how good the people on the front line are, and it doesn't matter how good the US Airways executive team is, if middle management of your airline is all like you, your airline doesn't stand a chance. It is a pity that you can't see it, because one day it is also likely to be the reason that someone takes your job. Happy future fella, the writing is on the wall.

The Relocation Industry Club; Worldwide ERC

Much to the surprise of many "Relocation" has an industry of its own and there are a couple of organizations around the world that are set up to facilitate dialogue and mutual business opportunties in relocation related areas.

The largest of these organizations is the Employee Relocation Council (ERC) or what is known today as the "Worldwide ERC"; www.worldwideerc.org

The ERC is the relocation organization for both domestic US relocations and for international relocation and holds conferences in USA, Asia and Europe, and is the organization that everyone turns to for information, benchmarking and networking on relocation topics.

The H&R Group, and in particular our relocation brand "ReloJapan" has been a member of Worldwide ERC for over 10 years, and is proud to be associated with our industries most prominent organization.

I am also proud to have been nominated onto the ERC Planning Committee of the "Global Workforce Summit" to be held in Seattle towards the end of October 2010. The planning committee consists of about 25 relocation professionals who are tasked with the organization of the summit and the preparation of some 20 different seminars / sessions on a variety of relocaton topics.

In particular interest to me is a session that I have been allocated to facilitate on "360 Degree Communication in International Relocation". While I have very few ideas on how to move this session forward right now, I am particularly motivated by the topic, as I see the worst of it being a "Destination Service Provider" in Japan.

There is definately no 360 degree communication in terms of the work we receive through Relocation Management Companies as per my entry of February 9th; http://real-o-cating-japan.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-is-client-in-relocation.html, whereby nobody appears to have the same "client" and therefore the focus goes on different people in the process depending on who you are; resulting in communication to about 45 degrees and not 360.

It will be a welcoming concept to invite some speakers on 360 degree communication to my session, and I really hope that all the Relocation Management Companies attend it!

The Cult of Done..... "Just Do It"

I have always been a great fan of Nike's "Just Do It" slogan. In fact, I think these are the 3 words I like most in the world after the word "Balance".

I am currently reading "Linchpin" (http://www.sethgodin.com/) and he quotes Bre Pettis in his book to have quoted this about "The Cult of Done" or what I would call the art of "Just Do It";

1. There are 3 states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage
4. Pretending you know what you are doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so accept that you know what you're doing, even if you don't, and do it
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish, but is to get other things done.
7. Once you're done, you can throw it away
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the Internet, that counts as a ghost of done
13. Done is the engine of more

I really like this. Especially 8 and 9, as they are so right and I often get caught on them myself. Increasingly, I believe life and what you learn from it, is all about implementation or what you "do". They more you implement, or the more you "do", the more you learn and the more you succeed.

If you lead a life of "balance" and have an attitude to "Just Do It" all the time, I think you will live a pretty rewarding life!

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Serviced Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!
http://www.morethanrelo.com/

Meetings and Conflict

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! http://www.morethanrelo.com/

I have been doing a lot of reading recently on topics such as "Death by Meeting" and how to hold meetings that are both productive and enjoyable.

There are two things that have really stuck with me that are really simple, but things that we often neglect and don't sit down and discuss.

1. UNDERTSTAND FIRST, THEN AGREE
I was priveleged to be part of a mission building exercise at Nagoya International School (NIS) a few weeks ago. The school was smart, and employed a very experienced facilitator to help them build their mission, and subsequent strategic objectives and strategies.

What was really interesting amongst a very long 2 day session, was that 1.5 days were spent understanding each other, before things were decided. 30 people in a room with different views on the way the school should go, and we spent just half a day actually deciding on the missions and other details. The rest of the time was spent thoroughly trying to understand everyone's positions and opinions. If you had something to say, you had to explain why and get everyone's understanding.

From there, getting agreement on the best direction to go was amazingly easy amongst a group of 30 people. How tough do you find it getting agreement between 5 people in a meeting?

LESSON 1: You must get everyone to understand each other. Most people just want to be understood. They are not necessarily inflexible to doing things differently from the way they would do them; if they are understood. This makes incredible sense, but someone in a meeting needs to facilitate getting everyone to put out their feelings and opinions and explain "why". If there is no "why", it is not an opinion, but simply a blocker tactic. You can easily get rid of blockers by putting them on the spot and asking "why". No reason; the opinion gets thrown out.

2. CONFLICT IS A GREAT THING
The book I was reading talked about a meeting being like a movie. Movie's are exciting, but meetings generally aren't. Why? Well movies are made by smart people who know how to build conflict. Conflict creates tense situations and engages people in the story.

Meetings on the other hand, often don't have conflict at all. People generally try to end a meeting without conflict, so they can get out of there quick! So, in order to have meaningful meetings, ones that engage people, you need to have conflict!

LESSON 2: You must have disagreement in meetings to make them enjoyable. This means you must have people challenging each other, or as per above, you must have people initially not understanding each other. This means creating an environment where people can share their actual opinions on things and allow others to ask questions about those opinions. Once again, sounds really simple, but it is amazing how often it doesn't happen.

These two simple things, if better understood by all members of your organization, are invaluable to creating a environment whereby both opinions are shared and decisions are made. The ground rules need to be explained, and people need to be "adult enough" with each other to know that sharing a different opinion and not likeing a person are completely different. If you can have your staff understand that others are entitled to their own opinions and that understanding them is a great thing, you have won half the battle, and can have really engaging and exciting meetings rather than death.

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

http://www.morethanrelo.com/

The Origin of Hanami

I am not sure if anyone out there has heard of the origins of "Hanami" or "Cherry Blossom Viewing" as it is known in English, but here is the version I heard.

The "Hanami" of "Sakura" (cherry blossoms) is said to originate from farmers, who used to judge how their crops were going to be in that year based on the way the "blossoms" had come out, their color, configuration, length of bloom, etc. In ancient Japan, obviously alot depended on crops, nothing more than that seasons rice harvest. It is said that in the old times, experienced farmers could "read" what their rice harvest would look like based on a viewing of sakura (the literal meaning of Hanami).

From there, there were obviously some farmers who were looking for a good excuse to get the beers out, and before you know it, we have the "Hanami" we know today; basically a good excuse to have a picnic in the park with your basket full of beers and good company.

If you are looking for a fun "Hanami Event" to attend, here is one this coming Saturday.

Pot Luck Hanami in Tsuruma Park

A chance to meet up with new and old friends under the picturesque Cherry Blossoms.

Saturday 3rd April
12:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Tsuruma(i) Park

Please feel free to come anytime. The food will be arriving at 12pm
Access: Tsurumai Station; Tsurumai subway and JR Chuo lines.

Price: Adults 1,500 yen, Kids 500 yen
(includes food & 1 free drink)
Drinks will be sold at very reasonable prices.
We ask that everyone bring 1 dish to share!

LOOK FOR THE ACCJ, ANZCCJ & TCJS signs!
Or call Will Keating on 080-3619-6774, Jeff Genet on 080-3066-3263, or Steve Burson on 090-9942-8292.

Reservations can now be accepted by contacting the following people;
ACCJ Noriko Kato: nkato@accj.or.jp
ANZCCJ Steve Burson: steve_burson@morethanrelo.com
TCJS Jeff Genet: events@tjcs.jp

No drinking and driving, please, but enjoying eating and drinking!!

!! Happy Hanami !!

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

Rest in Peace

There have been two occasions recently when I have been reminded of the importance of life and how those of us here are so lucky to be living it.

In our busy real estate and relocation industry, it is so easy to lose sight of the important things in life; our families and our friendships.

The first occasion was a few weeks ago, when cruelly the life of a 4-year old son of our clients was taken suddenly by influenza or a related kind of virus. What a tragedy for a family during their assignment in Japan. My heart goes out to them and how much they are missing Robin.

The second occasion was last Friday when the life of my host mother was taken at the age of 56 (she is pictured below with her husband at our wedding). She collapsed at her elementary school, after a hard day doing what she loved; teaching and looking after children. Even she was not to know about the massive brain hemorrhage that struck her down at around 5:30pm in her classroom, while she was alone, only to be found 3-hours later when someone noticed her bag was still in the staff room.



Michiyo Ozawa never recovered from the surgery, and after 10 days in hospital with little consciousness, she passed away on Friday 26th February at 2:30pm.

The Ozawa's were my first introduction to Japan. Michiyo, my host mother, taught and looked after me like all the other students in her life. All of the Japanese I speak, the culture I understand and the customs I now behave, furthermore the job I have, the house I live in and the family I have can truly be associated to this great person and her husband. There is no questionning that if it was not for Michiyo Ozawa I simply would not be here in Japan today. Like we are reminded each time someone passes before us, we never say thank you enough. I didn't thank her enough, and I regret it so much.

Thank you my Japanese Mum. You will live me with forever, and the only way I can probably thank you enough is to make Japan a better and more international place. I owe it to you for what you have given me and will not give up. Thank you so much again. Please rest quietly.