Impossible always ends with possible..
Henry Ford rightly said: “If you think you can or if you think you can’t, You Are Right”.
What does it mean?? The result what we get out of any action would be precisely as what we think it would be. The only condition is that, you have to have a firm belief on what you think. Friends, as we are aware, one of our missions is customer delight and adding value to our product and services. How many of us ever thought how we can add a little extra value to our customer service?
How many times have you thought of going that extra mile?
We seldom do that because usually we focus on the expense of our time or the effort that has to be put in. We always have a tendency to live in our comfort zone and are reluctant to change. We long for more authority, power, comfort and money for ourselves. But look at those who depend on our services and invested their money and trust with us. Think for a while and find out what the little extra we can provide to our external as well as internal customers. Trust me friends if you do so, the reward will be beyond your wildest dreams.
I once read about a taxi driver of New York City, who always appeared in clean and tidy clothes, with his hair well trimmed and face clean shaved. He used to welcome his customers with a pleasant smile and warm greetings. His cab was always kept well cleaned from inside and out side, a good smelling perfume was sprayed to make them feel good, a couple of extra cushions were provided for added comfort and when the passenger is seated, he asks, “Sir, which News paper do you prefer to read? New York Times or New York Post”? The preferred one is available. The next question would be “Sir, the journey is too long. Would you like me to play a song for you, classic, rock, jazz….. as you like”? He even used to offer some good quality biscuits to the passenger. His fellow cab drivers called him mad and advised not to waste his hard earned money like that. But the fact is that the passengers used to be delighted with the hospitality and always tipped him heavily. He used to earn an extra 10,000 – 12,000 Dollars every month. That’s how one extra mile works.
Look at this Mahatma Gandhi's quote:
“A Customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption on our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider on our business. He is a part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so”.
Let us learn a lesson from the cab driver. I am sure when he started all these for the first time, he might never had an idea of earning something extra. He may not have even considered on what he would get in return. He might have done it just for pleasure and satisfaction and to make the day of someone else happier. This is exactly how the rule of “You reap what you sow” works. Just think, how often have you walked down to a stranger in your premise and asked “Hi, Good morning, how may I help you” or made a similar pleasing approach to some one who came to you? How many times you considered reading the Telephone Etiquette and makes use of it? Almost every day we feel unhappy about something or someone inside or outside of our office. Analyze and understand what was missing there, make a note of it and ensure that the similar never happens to anyone walking in to our premises. Similarly there could be several occasions when we were delighted. See what was good there and adopt and practice it so that you too can delight someone every day.
Some of you may be saying, “Who have time for all these? I always spent extra hours to complete the job in hand and I already have a lot of pending personal issues to solve. Hey folks, it is up to us. Look at the quote in the beginning. It purely depends on your thoughts. You can find a thousand reasons for not going that extra mile. But it if you can find just one reason to do it, you are there. If you strongly believe that you can do it, your mind and body will find a way to make it possible. This theory is applicable in whatever you do. Be positive. No pessimist did ever discover the secret of stars, or sail to an uncharted land, or open a new doorway for the human spirit.
Still in doubt? Try this out. Stand near a wall, facing it. Take a firm decision to touch the highest possible point on the wall, stretch you as high as possible and do it in one go. Mark the point and come back. Believing in yourself that you can touch even higher and you have the ability to go that extra mile, make a strong desire and do it again. Now look where did you reach this time? Congratulations!!! You made it. What you thought the highest point you could reach, was not the real one. You have gone at least an inch higher this time.
Now let us conclude: Believe that you can do it and make a sincere effort. The results will be in your favor. Do not think what the company can do for you. Think what you can do for the company and let us surround ourselves with extra strength, extra smile, extra happiness and better results. There could have been occasions in your life where your good efforts were not noticed or recognized. Also you might have felt sometime that somebody else walked away with the credit for your efforts. Trust me friend, there will be one wonderful occasion when you will be noticed and suitably rewarded by your superiors. Or, believe that there is someone whom we call God, is noticing everything. So don’t even think of what you may get or may not, just go that extra mile. When all of us do that, our organization and we all would take a giant leap of many thousand extra miles.
All the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!
C. Reghunath Nair
