<strong>Published in The Daily Journal Oct. 5, 2011</strong>
As a marketing professor I have shared many ideas in this column about the importance of great customer service, reliable products and first-rate service. Both Ed and I have referred to numerous companies that do it right such as Southwest Airlines and the Hyatt Hotels. But we have also written about customer service encounters that leave a lot to be desired. It has always been our policy not to name the guilty but give the names of those who provide excellent products and service.
It seems so easy to find bad examples, but in this column I want to step back a bit and employ an overused, yet so true, cliché -- "the glass is half full, not half empty." According to our good friends at Wikipedia, "a cliché is an expression, idea or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel." Despite this, please give me license to use this particular cliché one time. For those of us living in the United States, most things we encounter are not half full. They are actually 90 to 95 percent full. While living standards are improving around the world, the United States remains overall the richest, cleanest and most reliable society in the world. People from all over the world still want to come here. One only needs travel outside of this country to fully appreciate what we have.
So this column is devoted to talking about what is right with our services and products, while at the same time encouraging us to make things even better. I will briefly feature three industries to illustrate the 95 percent- full argument. First think about air travel. Oh, I know we hear stories about canceled flights, lost baggage and an occasional rude service person. But here is the reality -- the cost of airfare has fallen dramatically. Once the exclusive domain of the wealthy, air travel is now within reach for most all Americans. Way back in the 1960s a ticket from coast to coast would cost more than $300 -- which in the present economy equals more than a $1,000. Today, with some flexibility, you can fly coast to coast for less than $290. The safety record is an even a greater marvel. Every year there are approximately 800,000 takeoffs and landings from O'Hare International Airport alone. The last major accident in Chicago was in 1979. Add that number to all the airports in the United Sates, and the track record of safety is striking. With the advent of information technology, we as customers can research flights, make our own reservations and even print our boarding passes. While not a perfect system, air travel has never been less expensive, safer or more convenient.
All of us live and work in the "information society." Whether we work in education, insurance, construction, manufacturing or are a student or retired person doing research, the ease and availability of information is stunning. The year 1995 does not seem long ago, at least to me. That was the year I joined Olivet Nazarene University. I started to hear about this new technology called email and the Internet. Within a month I was using this remarkable technology and teaching it to others. Dating myself, I cringe a bit when I think about using those ugly green Guides to Periodical Literature when doing a research paper back in high school and college. Discouragingly, after writing down 15 to 20 possible references, a trip to the journal stacks in the local library revealed only four or five of those articles actually being available. Today as a faculty member, I can search a thousand or more electronic journals through the Benner Library at Olivet, and use ABI Inform and get full-text articles from around the world in a few seconds. Despite the popularity of and easy access to Google, many of you Internet users may not be aware of one of the really powerful tabs called Google Scholar. It allows you and me to gain access to hundreds of thousands of reliable sources on virtually any topic.
Without resorting to hyperbole, the growth of information and more importantly instant access to that information is nothing short of astounding. It is like that classic 1977 Super Bowl Xerox ad (some of you more than 40-years old will actually remember this one) where a monk remarks as he looks toward the sky, "It's a miracle." For a good view check it out on Youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IgH2M02xek
By the way, I verified the year of the ad using, what else -- Google. It took me about 30 seconds to find and verify the information from three different sources; simply finding the date would have been a five-second job. We have access to great history, art, political documents and information about most every problem and challenge we might face. In this vast sea of information one of the great ironies, however, is how many people can tell you who is on American Idol this week, but cannot identify most of the countries of the world on a map. The immense information available is a feast waiting to be had, and yet far too many people are starving from a lack of knowledge.
The final example of a 95 percent-full glass is the simple automobiles we drive. Well, maybe not so simple. Full of more computer power than was used to launch some early moon shots, our cars are unbelievably reliable. Many of our readers will not only remember tires that had to be replaced every 20,000 miles, but tubes that had to be removed and patched. Cars that achieved a 100,000 miles were the rare exception. Today cars have spark plugs that last a hundred thousand miles. Radial tires can run 60 or 70 thousand miles or more. You can drive down the highway at 70 miles an hours (or if on the European Autobahn at 150 mph) and listen to anything from heavy metal to Mozart in full symphonic stereo being broadcast from a satellite thousands of miles above the Earth. Even with relatively high gas prices, we in the United States enjoy comparatively low fuel prices, especially when you consider the vehicles in the 1960s got about 12-15 mpg whereas today you can buy a midsize car that routinely gets 30-plus mpg.
To no small degree we have to thank the millions of workers who go into their R&D labs, factories and offices every day. Their cumulative work and dedication has given us a world of marvel, a world where the glass is not only 90 to 95 percent full, but running over with innovation, service and products unimaginable even 30 years ago. So when you are tempted to grouse about services or experiences that are less than perfect (which we all do and have a right to do) put it into perspective and drink up.
Don Daake, holds a B.S. from Kansas State University; an MBA from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. from the Florida State University. Contact him at ddaake@olivet.edu.
Edward Piatt holds a B. S. from Purdue University, an MBA from Governors State University, and Ed.D. from Olivet Nazarene University. Contact him at epiatt@olivet.edu.