The RICH Story
(Excerpts from the book “Live R.I.C.H” by Dina Dwyer-Owens)
SMALL TALK AT 30,000 FEET
I was on a plane flying across the country when the gentleman seated next to me started a conversation. We made the usual small talk. “Where are you headed?” “What do you do?” Within seconds I was talking about my passion: The Dwyer Group®. Sometimes these encounters are quickly forgotten the minute the plane lands. Not this time. Well, not by me. I told him about the company, the franchise brands we represent, and the countless lives we’ve been fortunate to call part of our growing Dwyer Group family. I told him how I have one of the best jobs in the world, because our company helps people realize their dreams of owning their own business and approximately 1,300 of those businesses exist today. The man was genuinely interested in what I was saying. So much so, that he kept asking questions wanting to know more. “That sounds like a great company,” he said. “What is The Dwyer Group’s secret to success?”
There it was. The big question! I seem to get the big question a lot. And I love giving the answer. I told him about our Code of ValuesTM. I explained how the list of principles has helped guide The Dwyer Group and the entire franchise network for 24 years. I told him the original Code of Values was established by my father when he founded the company in 1981. The Original CODE OF VALUESTM
We believe . . .
. . . in superior service to our customers, our community and to each other as members of The Dwyer Group® family. . . . in counting our blessings every day in every way.
. . . success is the result of clear, cooperative, positive thinking.
. . . that loyalty adds meaning to our lives.
. . . management should seek out and recognize what people are doing right, and treat every associate with respect.
. . . challenges should be used as learning experiences.
. . . our Creator put us on this earth to succeed. We will accept our daily successes humbly, knowing that a higher power is guiding us.
. . . in the untapped potential of every human being. Every person we help achieve their potential fulfills our mission.
. . . we must re-earn our position every day in every way.
. . . in building our country through the free enterprise system. We demonstrate this belief by continually attracting strong people to The Dwyer Group®.
Keep in mind, this was long before the corporate and ethical controversies surrounding Enron, WorldCom, and countless other headliners from recent years. Yet my father always knew a successful company needed to be clear in its beliefs and promote a sense of ethics and values in the workplace. Then in 1996, two years after my father had passed away, we expanded our philosophical Code of ValuesTM to an operational set of standards that would help us to better measure our success.
We live our Code of Values by . . .
INTEGRITY
. . . making only agreements we are willing, able and intend to keep.
. . . communicating any potentially broken agreements at the first appropriate opportunity to all parties concerned.
. . . looking to the system for correction and proposing all possible solutions if something is not working.
. . . operating in a responsible manner; “above the line . . .”
. . . communicating honestly and with purpose.
. . . asking clarifying questions if we disagree or do not understand.
. . . never saying anything about anyone that we would not say to him or her.
RESPECT
. . . treating others as we would like to be treated.
. . . listening with the intent to understand what is being said and acknowledging that what is said is important to the speaker.
. . . responding in a timely fashion.
. . . speaking calmly and respectfully, without profanity or sarcasm.
. . . acknowledging everyone as right from their own perspective.
CUSTOMER FOCUS
. . . continuously striving to maximize internal and external customer loyalty.
. . . making our best effort to understand and appreciate the customer’s needs in every situation.
HAVING FUN IN THE PROCESS!
With the expanded Code of ValuesTM as our guide, I told the gentleman on the plane, we were successful because we try to do what’s right … for our business, for our customers, and for our lives. We talked some more and he was kind enough to ask me for my business card, so I took one out of my wallet and handed it to him. My business card is a fold-over layout that, when opened, features The Dwyer Group® Code of ValuesTM printed on the inside. The operational values are listed in a specific order under the themes: Integrity. Respect. Customer Focus. Having Fun in the Process. Not only did he open the card and read over the themes, he really studied them. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “Did you know that if you changed the order of these themes it spells R.I.C.H.? And that’s what your company sounds like. Rich. Not just rich in dollars, but in people and resources.” Presto! It was in front of me the whole time, and I just didn’t see it. Not only that, I took it one step further. We were teaching people to Live R.I.C.H. at The Dwyer Group®. Not just in a monetary way, but through a well-rounded and satisfying pursuit of life. It was so obvious, but I had missed the message that was right there all the time. I was so wound up with energy that my mind started racing thinking of all the ways to take this message to the company.
BOOTIES AND A DOORMAT
The Golden Rule. We all know it. We’ve all heard it. So why don’t more people just do it? The Better Business Bureau processed 773,042 complaints in 2003, a 23.5 percent increase over 2002. American society is surrounded by substandard customer service. We’ve become accustomed to average, even less than average, respect for the customer — the guy who actually pays for this treatment. The flip side, however, is that when good service comes along, wow! It’s unexpected, amazing, and much more appreciated. I guarantee it would happen more often if people would just treat the customer like they would want to be treated if the roles were reversed. It’s the simple Golden Rule idea.
At The Dwyer Group®, we communicate this idea with two booties and a doormat, and the results are amazing. In franchise training, technicians are taught to knock on the door and when the customer answers, they lay down a doormat with the company’s logo facing the doorstep of a customer’s home and put on surgical shoe covers (booties). The message is: We respect you and your home and we will treat both with care. It’s an instant ice-breaker. The minute a customer opens the door, he or she is amazed at the professional level of service our company is offering. And we haven’t even crossed the threshold!
What Tim Funke, a Missouri Aire Ser® franchise owner received when he rolled his business into an Aire Serv® franchise were systems down to the finest details. And the bootie and doormat technique, a soft skill, had as much impact as actual repairs. “When you go to a meeting with some of our manufacturers, it’s all about pushing, more selling, more work,” Tim said. “With The Dwyer Group®, it’s all about quality of life.” Quality of life for customers and franchisees! And what did Tim’s technicians think about the booties and doormat? “Mostly, technicians went along with it at first,” he said. “Then they started coming back in and telling about the housewife or especially the husband who said: ‘Oh, you don’t have to do that.’ But the technician said he has to as part of his job. Then he does, and the wife says, ‘George, why don’t you do that?’ “Or the technician sits at the kitchen table [going over the invoice], and a friend or neighbor walks in and it’s ‘Oh, Lucille, you have to come over here and see this,’ pointing at his booties. “One of our technicians was doing an installation, and he was finishing up for the day. And as he was sweeping up, the woman of the house said, ‘Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.’ He said, ‘No, this is company policy and we do it for everyone.’ The next thing you know, she’s on the phone to a friend bragging about how our tech was cleaning her house.”
Tim said that he currently has three technicians who left his shop and went to work for a competitor because they thought they would like it better over there. “The first thing I know, out at so-and-so’s place, they’re wearing booties,” he said. “At first I was miffed that our systems were being copied. Then I got over it and thought, if we raise the standard in our industry, the whole industry is better off.” But the technicians returned to Aire Serv® because they realized what a good thing they had at Tim’s company. “The next thing you know, they’re not wearing booties over there anymore because the whole staff rebelled,” Tim said. “My comment was: The vast majority of businesses are not going to have the discipline or the support like we get from Aire Serv® corporate to carry out these programs. So, it doesn’t matter if they know we’re doing this. If they try it, there’s a high probability they’re going to fail.”
Tim said the great Walt Disney had a saying: “Where values are clear, decisions are easy.” The value of treating others [his customers] as we would like to be treated continues to set Tim apart while competitors try to keep up.
Live R.I.C.H.
Respect, Integrity, Customer Focus, Having Fun