12 Responses to “Sweat the Small Stuff”

• Tom Riddle June 14th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

  

  Your points are well taken. The details do make a difference, and I have been one who has given business elsewhere over the small stuff as mentioned. As I see it, the saying, “don’t sweat the small stuff” refers to worrying over things that we have little control over or things our minds have blown up to be more important than they really are. People do excessively worry, and it can affect your attitude. So the issue depends on using good judgement in the pursuit of excellence.

• Dedra June 14th, 2009 at 8:42 pm

  

  Hi Gary,

  I agree 110%! This is something I have been saying for so long, that customer service is key to long term repeat business and a happy customer, rather than a one time sale based on a name. People need to get back to basics where companies felt like they needed to earn your business instead of that they were doing you a favor by allowing you to partake of thier product. Customer satisfaction can make or break a business. I am tired of hearing people say it is a sign of the times that people talk on the phone, or listen to Ipods while waiting on customers. Worse, that they carry on a conversation with a fellow co worker or on the phone while having the customer wait. Thanks for bringing it back to what counts.

• Debra June 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

  

  I agree with you 100% …the bible says that it’s the small foxes that spoil the vine… I go to a different restaurant right now to get my tea now because it’s cleaner and they use a fork to handle my lemon they don’t pick it up with their hands. It’s not about worrying it’s about doing what you should already know to do.

• Gary Ryan Blair June 15th, 2009 at 2:45 pm

  

  Hi Dedra,

  Thanks for your generous comment. I believe that every element and every detail in each company’s communications portfolio is waiting to receive a touch of consistent branding: the language and tone used in letters, the standby music on the phone system, fax cover-sheets, download time from internet sites, the presentation of invoices…. The list goes on and on.

• Gary Ryan Blair June 15th, 2009 at 2:52 pm

  

  Hey Tom,
  I believe that people have within themselves the power to raise the bar of their own performance any time they wish by dumping “don’t sweat” complacency and embracing an “Everything Counts!” attitude.

• Jay June 15th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

  

  Hello Gary,

  I certainly agree with your points, as it is most often in the subtle details where customer service becomes “great” or “average.” Reminding each other of this fundamental truth is always valuable.

  It is unfortunate that the point of the article is made at the expense of the “Don’t sweat the small stuff” philosophy. The concepts and context of the book of the same name are entirely different than what you are talking about. It would have been better to clarify that while this philosophy may apply in self-help study or psychology, it does not equally apply in a business setting or customer service.

• Gary Ryan Blair June 18th, 2009 at 2:50 pm

  

  Hi Jay – thanks for your comments and I appreciate your viewpoint.

  The reality is that the vast majority of decisions, actions and behaviors are indeed small stuff. It is important for people to wake up and realize that by paying attention to small details in all areas of their life that they will enjoy a much more productive and fruitful life.

• Life Coaching Online July 4th, 2009 at 2:55 am

  

  Hi Gary,

  I have always been a great believer in the small stuff. I think this is more important than the big stuff. There is a saying – “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care!” and I think that this small stuff is the stuff that builds excellent relationship.s

  Keep up the great articles and love your site.

  Tim

• Family Matters July 14th, 2009 at 2:18 am

  

  I’ve read the book, thinking it would help me reduce my stress levels, but I only got annoyed by it, despite its promising outlook.

  Still, the concept of doing the big stuff FIRST is not bad, because it leaves more “bandwidth” to pay attention to the rest.

  Also, who says you should do the big stuff in a sloppy way? Once you identify your core business, delegate the non-essential things to others and do a brilliant job at the center. This way, you practice excellence on the big stuff.

  Too often in business, people don’t let go and take on too much. By making their small stuff somebody else’s big stuff, things can still work well without sweating.

  Finally, we teach parents and couples 5 or 6 simple skills (big items), while at the same time change their focus towards excellence in parenting, relationships or marriage and their definition of what constitutes excellence. The process involves some sweating, but the results are … excellent.

• John Duffield August 10th, 2009 at 7:52 am

  

  Hi Gary from an isolated island off the coast of America. We call it “Canada”. Anyhow, this series of comments on “not sweating the small stuff” caught my attention. I’ve heard this “gem of wisdom” many times before, but never actually read the book. Apparently I’ve completely misunderstood it. Here’s what I’m getting at. I never imagined it meant “don’t pay attention to details”. I assumed it was saying….”most things in life aren’t worth big worry, losing sleep over or becoming angst-ridden about”. One’s health might be, or the welfare of loved ones. But not bad haircuts, arrving late for something, or wearing the wrong shoes. These latter would qualify as “small stuff”. From my own experience as well, I’d agree with the famous “extension” of this proud saying. Namely…”and it’s all small stuff”. Peace of mind is what we get when able to take everything (big and small) that befalls us in stride…..learning from it all….and seeking out silver linings. Anyhow…I absolutely agree with everybody here that “small stuff” can be very important and that working hard (sweating) to attend to it makes sense. (Very small straws can break camels’ backs after all). But I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Ciao. JBD

• Chuck Mulberg September 7th, 2009 at 1:58 am

  

  Excellent article on customer service. As I read your article, the story of Paddi Lund, a dentist in Australia came to mind.

  Dentists work long hours, make little profit and the job is seen as a necessary evil (do you like going to the dentist?).

  Paddi decided he did not want to travel this path, and set about building a ‘different’ dental practice.

  He differentiates his practice from others by offering extraordinary (or awesome) service to his patients. Little things like a personal waiting room, tea served ceremoniously in fine bone china, sunglasses to protect patients’ eyes from the glare of the dental lights, headphones and music of their choice, ‘happy gas’ bathrooms fully stocked with quality cosmetics, and so on.

  He also understood the importance of categorizing his client base, so he devised a system of sorting all his patients into “A, B, C and D’ categories, based on their payment history, their disposition, their dental hygiene etc.

  Once done, he set about referring his D, C and B clients to another Dentist so that he could only work with patients who were a pleasure to deal with, who showed up for their appointments, who paid on time and who showed good dental hygiene.

  Doing this meant he had fewer patients, so he was able to provide the little extras listed above. He also increased his prices, and removed his practice name/number from the telephone book.

  He began operating only by referral, and one condition of being a patient of his was that you would refer at least 2 more patients to him. He provides his clients with special referral cards, and the entire experience is so ‘exclusive’ that his clients are very keen to refer their friends to the practice.

  He also improved productivity by working several chairs simultaneously and empowered his dental nurses to do all elements of procedures that did not legally require his involvement.

  He also uses micro-surgery techniques that do not require the use of anesthetics—AND he guarantees that you will feel no pain. In fact he gives his patients a ‘pain notification control’ that they can activate if they feel pain and he stops immediately. By putting control back in their hands he finds that they feel comfortable.

  The result of his various strategies is much greater productivity than average, higher value services and therefore higher prices (and hourly yield), strong customer referrals of the type he wants, and empowered, happy and loyal team members.

  This is the solution for any professional service firm irrespective of industry.

  Quite a difference considering the importance of the small stuff.

• colen stubs November 29th, 2009 at 9:28 pm

  

  People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care, and I think that the small stuff is stuff that builds excellent relationships.