Thursday, June 10  

Saved a cat, kicked the winning goal, learnt a bit

Saved a cat, kicked the winning goal, learnt a bit

Howdy. Hope you are well and behaving. Did you check out the audio blog below. As someone said in an email, I have a drawl like a cowboy who is about to fall asleep! It's funny how you sound when you hear yourself.

Anyway, on with the shoe.......Mel always goes to fix the word 'shoe' when she reads the blog in the morning, not realising it's a joke. I'm not that funny, I know. Mel - leave the word alone ;-).

I've been a bit slow with the blogs this week. As I said on the audio, I've been a tad busy and not really had anything relevant to say. Another reason was that I've been focused on ensuring that whatever I say isn't seen as an ad. Someone mentioned in the comments that some stuff comes across as that, so I've been more aware of it.

The funny thing is that I never write to promote the business. I've no doubt it comes across like that sometimes due to the nature of what I write, but the motivation is always to try and impart some point or knowledge. And because I base that on real life stories, it can look like an ad.

Now I'm over my sensitive stage (!!) I'll get back into it.

In today's blog I save a cat's life, dominate a soccer game, and shut up and listen and learn something!

1. The cat. Our cat, Ash, was given to Jack as a kitten for his 11th birthday. The family love that cat. Just love it. I've no doubt that if it came down to a choice between me or the cat, I'd be left out in the cold.

Anyway, the cat was sick on Tuesday night. He was real crook. About to die sort of crook. So Mel went through the yellow Pages looking for an after hours Vet. This is at 11 pm on a Tuesday night.

Mel rang the local Vet and got the answering machine. The message gave her the number of their on-call Vet. Mel rang him and left a message. He called back 2 minutes later.

He couldn't help, but he did give Mel the number of another Vet that was open all night. So Mel rang there and arranged to take the cat in. Mel and I drove 15 km up the road to see this all night Vet. He took a good look at the cat. Stuck some needles in him, listened to various parts and finally declared that he was going to be okay.

So we paid the bill ($136. No wonder I'm not a big fan of cats! That would have bought me a night of beer and wine! Just kidding....................relax.) and left.

The cat stayed crook for a few days and is now just starting to come right.

That was on Tuesday at midnight. On Wednesday at 5.30 pm Mel took a phone call. It was from a Vet asking how the cat was and if there was anything he could do.

Now that's great follow up service. Especially when I tell you the next bit.

The Vet that rang wasn't our local Vet. Nor was he the Vet who ended up treating the cat. The Vet that rang was the on-call Vet who Mel rang. This was the guy who couldn't help when Mel rang at 11 p.m, but who gave Mel the number of the Vet we ended up going to.

That's pretty impressive. I'm sitting here trying to think how we match that sort of service. Except we don't treat cats!...................I'm just getting funnier and funnier!!

2. Okay, serious again. Sunday morning. 8 a.m. I'm in bed asleep after getting home at 2 a.m after going to watch the Brisbane Lions play AFL football. A few beers after meant we got home rather late and rather, shall I say, happy.

There are about 8 kids in the street who all play with the same soccer club. The kids are aged between about 8 and 12. They were having a kick on the street when one of the dad's came along and suggested the boys all go and get their dad's and we'd have a Dad versus Sons soccer game down at the club (about 1 km away).

Now here's where you find out my boys, Jack and Harry, are smart. Real smart. They didn't wake me up! They asked Mel to tell me about the game when I woke up. (Good on you boys - that's some nice sons I've got there!) All the other dads and the sons, including my 2, went off to play soccer.

At approximately 8.01 am I was woken not with a kiss and a cup of coffee, with a serving of toast on the side, but with a shriek from Mel of "Come on. Get up. Here are your shorts and sandshoes. You're playing soccer. Now get going!!"

That woman could learn a bit about niceness from her sons!

I stagger out of bed, toss some clothes on, clean my teeth and head out the door.

By the time I get to the game, the dads are getting a 3-1 flogging! These little kids are darting in and out and kicking goals at will. The dads are old, weary and out of shape.

Except, of course, until Super Bren comes onto the field. I slot through the next 2 goals. Dominate the midfield and then send through the winner about 3/4 hour later to make it 9-8 and a win for the dads.

(You don't think I'm going to tell you a story where I look bad, do you??! It ain't gonna happen.)

The point of this story, apart from bragging as usual, is that the dads loved the game. They were all thrilled to actually be out and about having fun with their kids. The kids absolutely loved it too - I guess it's about competing with the old man that gives them the fun.

You've got to have some fun. And even kick the winning goal!

3. Shut up and listen. Today I dropped in and said hello to a client. We've been doing his web site redevelopment and have just finished it. He's new in his industry (an industry we know a bit about) and we got to chatting about the industry.

We sat there for a bit over an hour and I learnt more from him in that time about the business, than I've learnt from knowing the industry for the past couple of years. That means we're going to be able to give him some great solutions for the problems he faces in business on a day to day basis.

I was actually sitting there when some of his customers came in and asked some questions. From those questions we've already formulated some additional ways we can assist in making his web site even better.

Sitting there and having a chat was about the best thing I could have done in helping his business.

This client's name is Ross. And Ross, if you're reading......I'm still going to thrash you tomorrow afternoon at tennis!

And I'll let everyone on this site know the score (but only if I win!).

Geez, looking at that - I don't write for a couple of days, then I write a novel. Have a good day. And remember:

1. Do 1 exceptional bit of customer service today (like that Vet)
2. Have some fun
3. Go and have a chat with your customers. Don't try and sell them anything. Just have a chat and see what you can learn about their business.

Cheers

Brendon

PS: "Sandshoes" are what us Aussies call sneakers.