The Proven Entrepreneur

TPE 18 | Be Kind

 

If you want to be treated with kindness, you also have to be kind as a customer. In this episode, Don Williams shares a heartwarming true story about his experience with Uber and a young man of character. Tune in to learn how kindness comes back to you and why you should be kind to people who are serving you.

For information on how to work with Don visit Work With Don Williams

You can also reach out to Don Williams at https://donwilliamsglobal.com

Please join Don and his businesses in support of St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital in its Mission to cure Childhood Cancers. You can donate to St. Jude at stjude.org/donate

Listen to the podcast here


 

Be Kind To The People Who Are Serving You

Here is my one good thing. I get to New Orleans. I have a car reserved because New Orleans has been a hotbed of COVID. All those drunk people down on Bourbon Street are not practicing socially distancing. I’m not going to New Orleans. I’m only going to Metairie, which is not in the city. It’s a different parish or county. It’s pouring. I’m not picking up my car. I’m just taking an Uber. I’m supporting Uber. I get an Uber, and it’s Nicholas, a nice young man. He’s very Cajun.

If you have been to that area of the country, they have their language and dialect. It’s part French, part English and part swamp rat. It’s pouring. We get to the hotel. I get out of the car and go inside. I have left my phone in the Uber. I run back outside and then I’m like, “I will put it in my jacket pocket. I’m good.” I check-in and get up to the room. It was my subconscious telling me I had left my sports coat in the car. It’s not great. I get on Uber. How many Uber rides are there a day? There’s about a bazillion. How many do you think leave something in the car? There’s about a bunch.

There’s a thing that says, “You can contact your driver.” It’s a call center technology, and they are very bad at it. It’s horrible. You say, “Here’s my phone number. I want to talk to my driver.” Uber’s phone system calls you back. Ours would work. The phone system calls you back and says, “Press one to talk to the driver.” When you press one, it’s connecting the two calls. It’s a conference call because they don’t want to give you the driver’s phone number and give the driver your phone number. Every time I press one, it hangs up. I do it about 10 or 12 times.

TPE 18 | Be Kind
Be Kind: How many Uber rides are there a day? About a bazillion. And how many do you think leaves something in the car? A bunch.

 

If you want to call Uber, that’s hard. Nobody wants to talk. They don’t want to talk to you. There’s another part where you can send an email to Uber. I don’t know if it’s an Uber, an email or a chat but they say they will send it to the driver and tell you, “We charge you $15. We don’t guarantee you get your stuff back.” This sports coat I had custom-made for me in Thailand. It says, “Tailored for Don Williams.” This coat is only going to fit you if you look exactly like me. You are as round and tall as I am. Your arms are as long as mine. That’s the only way it’s going to fit.

I do the text and tell Nicholas because we had a great conversation. I have a nephew named Nicholas. I told Nicholas, “I have a $20 bill for you if you can bring it to the Marriott tonight.” I go to dinner with the client. That’s a 2 or 3-hour thing. I come back and check with the front desk, Janine, an awesome customer service romancing your customer at the front desk at the Marriott. She handed me my envelope back, where I put a $20 bill in and wrote his name on it. She said, “I didn’t hear from him.”

I’m like, “I practice gratitude. It’s not the end of the world. Somebody else needed my sports coat, and it’s going to go to a better home. I will show up tomorrow in shirtsleeves. It’s okay.” The next morning, I’m up early because I’m preparing for the day. As Jeff knows, many times, I’m writing the presentation an hour before I go give it or on the way because it keeps me fresh. That way, I’m not just saying the same things and doing the same stuff. My phone rings, and it’s a Louisiana phone number. I pick it up, and it’s Nicholas. He said, “Mr. Williams, I have your sports coat.” I was like, “That’s awesome.”

If you want to be romanced as a customer, it pays to be kind to the people who are serving you.

He’s like, “When can I bring it?” I’m like, “I’m leaving today at 4:50. I’m in client meetings all day starting at 8:00.” I went to the client’s office, set up the conference room for my kickoff meeting with them, went into a vacant office, and did my weekly call with that client every Wednesday. I did that call while I was in this client’s office, and they were cool about it. I told Nicholas. As I walked into the building, I took a picture of the building and the suite. I asked him if he could bring it up. About 9:30 that morning, Nicholas walks in with my sports coat, and I’m good.

That is my one good thing. That is my gratitude for having a young man of character who wanted to do great customer service because he didn’t have to do that. Uber gave him $15, and I gave him $20. Maybe that was worthwhile from a financial standpoint but in talking with him, he would have done it for nothing. I do also know this about romancing your customer. If you want to be romanced as a customer, it pays to be kind to the people that are serving you. I will save this next story because I have trains, planes, and automobiles that we will talk about on the same trip.

 

For information on how to work with Don visit Work With Don Williams

You can also reach out to Don Williams at https://donwilliamsglobal.com

Please join Don and his businesses in support of St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital in its Mission to cure Childhood Cancers. You can donate to St. Jude at stjude.org/donate

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TPE 18 | Be Kind