Sausages, Sponsorship and Salad

Beyond Ourselves, the charity which was born out of Stephen James' desire to use its time, skill and money to help at home and abroad , launched its child sponsorship programme on Sunday.

There was a BBQ to mark the occasion and to celebrate making it this far on the charity's journey. The food is definitely worth a mention - it was superb!

This was the first phase of a sponsorship programme that will see over 1000 Zambian children receiving school uniforms, qualified teaching, one nutritious hot meal every school day and weekly medical care by the end of 2010.

The cost to the sponsor is only £12.50 a month - the benefit to the children is extremely significant.

If you are interested in knowing more or to sponsor a child, feel free to visit www.beyondourselves.co.uk

Posted on 19 May 2010 | 9:29 am — Read this on Blogger

Allowing to Germinate

Almost 3 months on from our Vision and Values week I am beginning to feel very uncomfortable. I am realising through listening to others wisdom, by my own experience and some extra reading that my role in this isn't what I thought I had signed up for.

You see I thought that forever and a day I would champion the values and deliver motivational talks on where they'll take us as a company. A sort of Superman meets Dale Winton type figure. For sure there will be some of that along the way. However the real successes happen if the people that are Stephen James really own the values for themselves. The values will come alive only if individuals put their own cut on the values and begin to create their own value centred stories.

So what do I do? I must provide space and the environment to see these ideas germinate. I must encourage individual expressions of our 5 values, not some corporate mantra that we chant in unison. I must ride the range and get round the dealerships and encourage the new values champions who will be emerging.

It is hard to consider giving away what has been 'my' idea for over 3 years and only in the public domain for 3 months. But to have any chance of success our values story needs to be played out with me as a peripheral figure, and that's hard to take!

Posted on 26 April 2010 | 10:06 am — Read this on Blogger

Wake Up and Smell The Service

A customer service culture is what many business leaders speak about but our experience as consumers suggests that many businesses have a long way to go.

Sometimes its the little things that can surprise us. Its the attention shown to the detail that counts. Its the small things, that are often big things at that moment to us, that make the difference. We just want people to go the extra mile and make life easy for us.

All too often we fall short of providing that level of care. But we are determined to make Stephen James a place where your individual needs are catered for.

Occasionally though there are certain times when you know you've got it right. For that moment you are in the sweet spot of customer service.

Recently I heard this from one of our parts advisors. Whilst speaking to one of our trade customers, he overheard in the background a conversation about not having any coffee left to make a mid morning drink.

Dave kept quiet, served the next customer and arranged the parts for delivery. However whilst doing so he popped upstairs and emptied some coffee into a bag and got it dropped down at the same time as the parts to the customer.

Needless to say the customer was stunned…….

Unrivalled Service? Absolutely

Cost? Negligible

Posted on 14 April 2010 | 4:07 pm — Read this on Blogger

Unrivalled Service

When my wife and I were away last month I was struck by the many examples of unrivalled service we encountered as we travelled. One that has really stuck in my mind is our encounter with Etenal.

We were on our way to the airport and were both extremely thirsty, the weather was approaching 40C and the vehicle not air conditioned. We asked the driver if it would be possible to stop for some water, explaining that it would be a real bonus if we were able to buy some fresh fruit as well, which we could eat at the airport. This would be preferable to the internal in flight offering.

The car was prepaid so the driver had nothing to gain in terms of an increased fare. Nonetheless he went out of his way to take us to an out of town supermarket saying that the quality of the fruit was higher. When we had parked, he jumped out of the car and ran off to find a trolley, whilst we laboured in the humidity towards the building.

By the time we arrived at the supermarket doors there was a smiling face and a trolley to greet us. He then gave us a guided tour of the aisles to save us time, and pointed out the best local goods.

To top off the service experience he then carried our bags back to the car before driving us to the airport.

I thanked Etenal for his efforts. He had done everything that he possibly could have done to enhance our experience. I think that is what unrivalled service is - doing whatever is within your grasp to astonish. Any company must aspire to have a team of Etenals - long term it makes economic sense.

Posted on 26 March 2010 | 12:20 pm — Read this on Blogger