(Note from Mark: I am always delighted to learn of companies and organizations using The Fred Factor philosophy and principles. Cherry Crest Adventure Farm is an example. I asked Brian Waltman, Director of Education, to share with you how they used The Fred Factor.)

“E-I-E-I-O” is the popular refrain from an old kid’s melody about Old MacDonald and his farm.  A new twist of the song has Cherry Crest Adventure Farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania spelling customer service “F. R. E. D.”

Cherry Crest Adventure Farm is a Agritainment (combining agriculture with entertainment) facility with over 100,000 visitors annually.  Centered around a corn maze, Cherry Crest features over 50 authentic farm fun natural attractions that keep families busy for hours.  While Cherry Crest knows first-rate attractions are a key to a successful operation, superior customer service is also an essential ingredient for attracting returning customers.  This is where Fred enters the farm scene.

Two years ago as the Director of Education, I introduced Fred to the staff as a practical way of fleshing out our customer service culture.  Cherry Crest refers to their training process as “Fredification.”  The Fred concepts are clearly spelled out in the employee handbook, routinely visited  in morning staff meetings, reviewed in email updates and Fred often shows up in daily conversations among staff.  This past year CCAF went one step further by incorporating Fred in each staff’s annual performance review.  Their revamped employee evaluation had all the typical elements such as “meets job performance standards” and “follow company policies.”  But a new element was added to include “Demonstrating Fredness.”   Each employee was rated on a 4 point scales in regards to their Fred-like qualities of making a positive difference, building relationships, adding value and reinventing themselves.  CCAF even designed and created a lapel pin to award to employees who scored a 4 in each of the four categories.

CCAF intentionally seeks to hire, develop and reward Fred’s.  The return on this investment has been huge.  CCAF continually receives volumes of positive feedback from customers raving about their farm experience and in particular their hugely positive interactions with CCAF staff.    Thanks Mark, for putting Fred’s story in writing.  Fred continues to make a positive difference – even down on the farm.

If you are interested in more information or discussion about Cherry Crest’s “Fredification program,” please contact Brian Waltman  at BWaltman@cherrycrestfarm.com.

Since writing The Fred Factor about an extraordinary postal carrier named Fred Shea, I’ve encountered and learned about many other “Freds” who embrace the same spirit of service. I came across one such Fred while researching my latest book, Up, Down, or Sideways. It so happens, this one is literally, as well as figuratively, a Fred.

Fred Johnson had lived in New Orleans for nearly six decades, and he wasn’t the type to sit around and do nothing when people throughout his city were suffering. So in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the levee system that protected much of New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico’s waters, Johnson made his way to the Superdome, where thousands of people had gathered in search of shelter from the storm.

The Superdome lacked the security, clean water, food, and bedding needed for a crisis of this magnitude. Nearly all the people there had lost their homes. Chaos, confusion, and uncertainty filled the air as the multitudes struggled to find information about where to go and how to get there, not to mention about who among their friends and family had survived and who had not.

The suffering overwhelmed Johnson. In fact, he later told Scientific American magazine that he “lost it” for a brief period when he first arrived on the scene. Then, he said, his “governor” kicked in.

“When I become overwhelmed,” he said, “I think my process is this: I’m going to cry about it, I’m going to dry my eyes, and then I’m going back to work, but I’m not going to keep crying, crying, crying. I think that’s my governor. That’s how I keep my sanity.”

Johnson, you see, is an optimist. That doesn’t mean he saw happy opportunity and niceness in the midst of one of America’s worst natural disasters. It means he had the ability to quickly re-orient his view of the situation so that he could help himself and help others.

Real optimism like Johnson’s isn’t blind faith; it is far-sighted faith. Rather than deny the problems of the present, it focuses on the solutions for the future. It doesn’t look at the world through rose-tinted glasses; it uses trifocals — accepting the good, the bad, and the in-between, but choosing to focus on the good.

The negative person focuses only on the downside. The realist sees the downsides and the upsides but is uncertain about where to focus. The intelligent optimist doesn’t ignore the downside or reality, but simply focuses on the upside and expects the best.

This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or click here to order it from Amazon.com.

The best organizations differentiate themselves through extraordinary customer service.

Extraordinary service adds value to every transaction, and the best don’t just try to be good–the best are truly service leaders.

Mark Sanborn, author of the international bestseller The Fred Factor: How Passion in  Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary has been speaking about and teaching customer service to some of the most successful companies in the world including Costco, Morton’s of Chicago, Toyota Financial Services, Harley Davidson, Chick Fil A, ServiceMaster, FedEx, Enterprise Rent A Car, New York Life, Time Warner and ESPN.

Mark has presented over 2400 speeches and seminars in every state and 12 countries.  He has been featured on Inc. Magazine conferences and is a nationally recognized customer service strategist.

Mark is known for using stories, humor and unique insights to teach:

How anyone can make his or her work extraordinary

How to make teamwork work in delivering superior service

How to create value for customers and colleagues

The power of empathy

Why service ethic is more powerful than customer service

Creating and maintaining customer loyalty.

As Mark says, “One of the things that differentiates my work is that it stems from experience as a business owner, association leader and board member. And I’m still studying, researching and applying what I learn about leadership today, both with my clients and in the organizations in which I’m privileged to have a leadership role.”

Mark is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame and is much in demand as a customer service speaker for his keynote presentations which include The Fred Factor, The 10 Commandments of Customer Service and Service Leadership.

His other books include:

Up, Down or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad or In Between

You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference

The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do

Please click here for a list of free resources that can help you lead and serve better.

Click here for free videos about customer service, leadership, motivation and remarkable performance.

My long time friend Anthony Braswell shared the following Fred-sighting with me:

One of my all-time favorite restaurants to visit each week is our local Jason’s Deli.  It’s convenient, but that’s not why I go.

It’s really good, but that’s not the only reason why I go.  They also have free ice cream!

And I go because of the Fred Factor!

I wish I could introduce you to my friend, House Mouse.  That’s what her Jason’s Deli employee nametag says.  She is the reason I keep going back!  She might not be the “typical” customer service employee. She’s got tattoos.  You don’t have to wonder what her favorite sports team is because she has Tarheels tattooed on her arm!  God help you if you are wearing a Duke shirt! But she does possess the spirit of Fred. She does an ordinary job in an extraordinary way!

She greets every person with a handshake and if you are a frequent guest like I am. Sometimes she even gives you a hug!  She remembers my name, what I want and if I try to order something that isn’t their specialty, she playfully refuses to let me order it.  “The best for my friends!” she says!  I often bring friends with me and she’ll tell them, “Wow!  You keep great company!  This is a great guy that you are hanging out with today!” She understands how to make people feel special and create value for every customer.

I took time recently to share how awesome House Mouse is with her boss.  I let him know that she was the reason that I ate there so often and used their restaurant as a place for meetings. The manager let me know after that meeting that she was getting a raise.

Her words to me were, “Thanks so for making that happen!”

My response to her was, “I just reminded your boss of what he already knew!”

Thanks, Anthony, for sharing your Fred sighting.

(Note from Mark: David Hoare is the Retail Director for Hall & Woodhouse. We first communicated by email when he contacted me about their use of The Fred Factor. Several weeks ago while I was in England, David hosted me at the Jolly Sailor in South Hampton for an afternoon of great food, beer and hospitality.

Hall & Woodhouse has a rich history in the hospitality business and I’m gratified by the use of The Fred Factor throughout their organization. I asked David to contribute the following guest blog. It demonstrates that business philosophy and service principles are truly universal. Thanks, David, and cheers to my friends at Hall & Woodhouse!)

I defer to few in my admiration of Amazon (the on-line 21^st Century Sears, Roebuck) but there is great profit and joy in simply browsing the shelves and recesses of a second hand bookstore. If I hadn’t been passing an idle hour doing just this, I would never have met Fred.   I was shuffling through a tower of unsorted books when I came across a well-thumbed copy of “the Fred Factor”.   The words above the title – “how passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary” – seemed to be exactly the message I was trying to bring to the 1,400 team members who work in our 60 bar-restaurants.

For ten years I had been preaching a truth I had learned in my brief, and spectacularly unsuccessful, career as an actor – that you find the role from the outside in; that if you choose a positive attitude to your life and work you will become positive about your life and work.  This ancient truth is reflected in the biblical sounding saw “act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you”.  Or more prosaically “you get out of life, what you put in to it”.   “The Fred Factor” – in a beautifully succinct 111 pages – seemed to provide me with an example and a roadmap of how to bring this message to my Team.  Fred was a living, breathing example of how, by choosing to be exceptional in a routine job, you could make the routine exceptional.   Mark Sanborn had distilled the lessons of his life and provided the roadmap for developing other Freds.

Hall & Woodhouse is a 234 year old family-owned brewer and bar-restaurant operator with the ambition to lead the British market in brewing and hospitality.  From pot-wash to president, we have identified everyone in the company’s common purpose as being to “Make People’s Day”. We believe that this common purpose embodies Mark Sanborn’s Fred principles:

1. Everyone makes a DIFFERENCE
2. Success is built on relationships
3. Continually create value for others and it doesn’t have to cost a penny
4. You can reinvent yourself regularly

To deliver our ambition and common purpose we need every member of our Team to be a Fred.   To do this we have set down in “The Ways of Woodhouse”, a small pocket sized Green Book, our History, Vision, Values, Common Purpose, Language and Sacred Texts (4 essential books – including “The Fred Factor”). Sent by Mark Woodhouse (our chairman) to every Team member within a week of joining, this book defines what our Company is.  It provides frameworks that set out Hall & Woodhouse’s principles and the way we want to operate.

On Page 91 of “The Fred Factor” Mark Sanborn quotes Oliver Goldsmith: “You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips”.  We are acutely aware that we judge ourselves by our intentions; others judge us by our behaviours.  We are now in the process of turning the intention in “The Ways of Woodhouse” into action.  This is where the Fred Factor comes in – we are designing our Team Management philosophy and processes around the book’s principles.

We have decided to call our whole Team Management process simply “Fred”.  We are in the process of explaining to our Team Members that “Fred” is a Symbol, a Process and A Person.

“Fred”, the mailman described in Mark Sanborn’s book, is our SYMBOL of perfect hospitality.  His existence is evidence of what is possible in even the most repetitive and humdrum jobs and gives us a standard to which we should hold ourselves.

“Fred” is also the name we give to the PROCESS of selecting, training (“Fred-ucation”), caring for and communicating with our Team Members.  Heavily drawing upon the guidance in Part 3 of the Fred Factor we are designing the four elements of the Fred process that help us develop Freds:

Finally Fred is the PERSON who serves our Guests.  He/she Makes People’s Day, every day, living the four Fred principles.

It is as simple and as complicated as that.  We have no magic wand to convert a medium sized company, with a widely dispersed Team, instantly into a united collection of Freds.  Overnight success takes a long time.   But we have set down our intentions in “the Ways of Woodhouse”, we have given all our managers a copy of “The Fred Factor”, we are now designing our Fred processes and training courses and we will vigorously and systematically find, educate, care for and reward Freds from November 2011 onwards.   All based on the principles set out in Mark Sanborn’s book.

In business and in life, universal truths are essential handholds in a turbulent world.   When and wherever you find them grasp them with both hands to help you on your journey…even if it is in the basement of a second-hand bookstore.   Why someone ever gave up their copy of “the Fred Factor” is beyond me but, as Psalm goes: “the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone”.

Every day we interact with dozens of people. Often those interactions are fleeting and unmemorable. Freds, however, don’t use people as a means to an end; they use relationships to build a foundation for success. They understand that all outcomes are created by and through interactions with others. So they become students of social psychology. They understand that strong relationships create loyalty and are the basis of partnerships and teamwork. The best Freds build networks to develop distribution channels for their talents, and they strive to work well with others, whether one-on-one with a customer or in a team with colleagues.

Remember that the quality of a relationship is related directly to the amount of time invested in it. Make sure you give some of your best time to your relationships.

The Seven Bs of Relationship Building

In today’s technology-driven world, relationship building might be considered a lost art form. Most of us have never been taught how to go about building relationships with others. Whatever we’ve learned, we’ve picked up through observation of role models rather than from conscious learning.

We were lucky if we had good role models when we were growing up and not so lucky if we didn’t.

Do you want to improve your relationships at home and at work? The following principles will definitely help.

1. Be real. Besides his extraordinary customer focus, Fred the Postman was so inspiring because of his uniqueness. He was who he was. I never got the sense Fred was trying to impress me by being anybody but himself.

This is the direct opposite of the prevailing wisdom in our culture today, which is “fake it until you make it.” The intent is to become who you want to be by acting as if you are already that person. The only problem with that strategy is that you’re a fake!

Try this alternative: Always do your best at being yourself. Sure, you should aim to improve, try new things, and add value. But let these actions come out of who you really are, what you truly believe in, and the things you are committed to.

The prerequisite for relationship building is trust. At its most basic level, trust is built on believing that someone is who he represents himself to be.

2. Be interested (not just interesting). It may be true that interesting people attract attention, but I believe interested people attract appreciation.

When I first met Fred, he quickly introduced himself, but the focus was on how he could best help me meet my needs. I instantly liked Fred because he showed a genuine interest in me, not because he was interesting (although I’ve learned over time that he certainly is). If Fred had spent time telling me what a great mailman he was, the outcome would have been different.

People are flattered when you express an interest in getting to know them better, not out of morbid curiosity, but in an effort to help or serve them more effectively. Appreciating the people we serve, I believe, increases the value of our service to them.

3. Be a better listener. When you take an interest in and listen to people, they provide important practical information you can use to create value. For instance, listen carefully to your boss, and you might learn that he or she hates to read long memos. You now know that you can improve your working relationship by providing a brief summary. Or at lunch ask a client about her family. You may learn that her fourteen-year-old son has a hobby that one of your children enjoys. Offering to exchange information about that shared interest will add both value and depth to this relationship.

People are flattered when you make an effort to get to know them and seek information on how to serve them better. Understanding and appreciating what they want increases the value of what you can provide for them.

4. Be empathic. If you’re interested in others and make the effort to truly know them by listening, you’ll better understand how they feel. This is empathy. The need to be understood is one of the highest human needs, but too often people who know us either don’t care or don’t make the effort to understand how we really feel.

Two thousand years ago a wise man named Philo Judaeus said, “Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a tough battle.” Not much has changed since. His counsel is the essence of practical empathy.

5. Be honest. I summarize all business strategy into this simple idea: Say what you’ll do, and do what you say. In other words, make no promises you can’t keep. Don’t create expectations you can’t fulfill. Avoid overrepresenting and overpromising. Be a man, woman, or organization of your word. That’s integrity.

6. Be helpful. Little things make a big difference. Lots of small things cumulatively make a huge difference.

Years ago my friend Ken taught me a neat way to be of service to strangers. If I see one person in a group taking a picture of all the others, I offer to snap the picture so everybody can be included.

Even holding a door open is an indication of Fred-like behavior. So remember your manners, and people will remember you.

7. Be prompt. Time is the one thing many people have far less of than money. Helping them save time by being prompt and efficient is a gift of great value.

Beyond Interactions

Here’s a test: What percentage of your interactions with others is transactional as opposed to relational?

Transactional interactions focus primarily on results, sometimes even at the cost of relationships. People who value results over relationships are often called “direct.” That means they go directly for the outcome, making others feel devalued and even used.

Relational interactions recognize the importance of how people are treated in the process of achieving results. This type of interaction doesn’t ignore the outcome, but it does recognize that the means are an important part of the end. Fred the postman was living proof that how you deliver the mail affects how people feel about the outcome.

Not every interaction needs to be relational. Sometimes a lack of time or the situation just doesn’t allow it. For example, in an emergency or crisis, getting people to safely evacuate a burning building may require harsh, direct instructions.

Jimmy Buffett once said (and I paraphrase): It takes just about the same amount of time to be a nice guy as it does to be a jerk.

More often than not, you and I can be more Fred-like by taking time to focus on the relational aspect of our interactions. It doesn’t take much extra time or effort to be interested and demonstrate the value we have for others, especially those on whom we depend for mutual success.

And that is the essence of building relationships, whether business or personal.

For more information and resources, go to www.fredfactor.com

Reader Nancy Wright submitted the following story after reading the January issue of my ezine.

“I just read your latest ezine and the article “Live like Fred” has spurred me to share this experience with you. I was standing in the back of my church during a service several weeks ago and noticed one of our ushers “living like Fred” (although she would have no idea what that meant). Our ushers hand out programs to people who enter the service. Included in the program is an outline that people can fill in during the sermon. This particular usher would fill out the outlines as far as the pastor had gotten so that anyone entering the service late would know where they were in the service and would not have missed any of the teaching points. This woman only has sight in one eye, and it is somewhat limited at that.  So for her to hurry to fill in those programs for late arrivers is truly a remarkable thing.

I was inspired (and told her so). The notion of “living like Fred” is very powerful and I will endeavor to live that way myself!”

Thanks for sharing, Nancy!

We go through a lot of windshields here in Colorado. The windshield on my Audio had a 12 inch crack that was threatening to become disasterous so I scheduled a replacement with Elite/Safelite Auto Glass.

The technician who came to the office was Jimmy. His attitude and professionalism were reassuring and, as a car guy, I appreciated that he not only seemed to know what he was doing but appreciated cars.  The install went smoothly and Jimmy educated me on what to do and not to do until the glass install was truly set. I thanked him and he was off to his next appointment.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door. It was Jimmy. I thought maybe he’d forgotten to finish some paperwork but that wasn’t the case.

When he got to the next appointment he realized he hadn’t reattached my transponder for the toll road I frequently drive. He came back and did so (frankly I hadn’t noticed as I’d planned to do so myself).

Little things make a big difference, and Jimmy’s willingness to go out of his way to make my installation perfect make him a Fred.