Don MacLennan’s Post

In a similar vein; can you work on LastPass to differentiate subdomains? State government websites have lots of subdomains, and LastPass still gets confused as to which one is being referred to. subdomains matter (especially for SaaS like Slack; and for government websites); but LastPass somehow believes only the main domain name matters for resolving which account to use.

I don't want to one-up this story but I am sort of compelled to go un-silent here. Costco has magic dust in its veins and it's what makes the company ungodly successful. This story below highlights it but I'll go one deeper: Bought my wife diamond earrings a few years ago. Long story short, and we never determined what happened, but one of them went missing after having had them for about a year or a year and a half or so. Sucks to have that happen. I went on a quest thinking, OK, I'll contact Costco to get the jewelry manufacturer info and see if I can get a single earring to replace it at my cost, rather than shell out for a whole new pair from scratch. I get the info from them, contact the jewelry manufacturer, and they're helpful but point me back to Costco. I call Costco again; they have to call me back. Their regional jewelry purchaser calls back me personally. He says, yep, no problem, asks what store I'll be going to and that I can buy just a single earring rather than the pair. By this point, I am relieved and blown away they're even wiling to do that. So about 2 weeks later, as planned, I go to my local store, let the customer service team know I'm there to pick up the earring replacement and I even have the one remaining one in my possession with me. And I was fully prepared to pay for the one earring (half the cost, basically, of a new pair). They take me to the checkout and say, ya know, we heard the whole thing and we were expecting you to come in, we have a brand new identical pair to exchange with you for the one sole earring I had left. He said they just normally don't do a singular earring kinda thing and that they were treating as a return/exchange. No cost to me. I was in absolute disbelief. It was our mistake that we lost one of these earrings and yet they replaced it with a new identical pair at no cost to me. Now, I realize this isn't their 'policy' to go this far the way they did. But they did it anyway. And I cannot tell you what kind of loyalty this endears in a way I have almost never experienced from a company before. It was over-the-moon levels of customer service to make that decision and be willing to do that. No questions asked other than confirming my original purchase and purchase date. If you want your company to be around for maybe forever and you want to retain your customers also maybe forever, you should go try your damndest to copy Costco's magic dust.

Costco pays $12 an hour to push carts. At least they did 13 years ago, and it was more than we paid.  One of my team members informed me of this after I showed him a picture of himself leaning back in a chair outside the tunnel, head laid back, baseball cap, sunglasses, and not a care in the world. Me = Not Happy How could anyone think this was okay? Who would give an idiot like this a job? It turns out I was the idiot, not for hiring him, but for not communicating my expectations and creating a culture where this wasn't tolerated. I expected my team to play the fun game of Guess What's in My Head. There is never a winner.  Your team can't guess your expectations. You must overcommunicate, document in an easy-to-access format, train, and then recommunicate them repeatedly until it is a part of your culture.  To learn more about how playing Guess What's in My Head keeps you from competing in a crowded market, click "Visit My Website" at the top of this post and schedule a chat! #carwashoperations  #carwash #carwashplaybook  #carwashtraining  #thegriggsview 

I suddenly found myself questioning my intelligence. Staring at the entrance of Costco which appeared to be about 1 mile from where I finally found a parking spot, I had to reconcile the fact that I chose to do my shopping on a weekend instead of during the week. I was here now, only thing to do is smile, face the crowds and hope for good samples. As confident as we might be in our dedication to personal quests of self improvement and in becoming smarter/wiser people, there is no avoiding the fact that we are human. Which means we will make dumb butt decisions for the rest of our lives. Now hopefully they will mostly reside in the trivial bucket, such as choosing to navigate a massive work Costco shopping trip on the busiest day of the week. But inevitably we will all make bad decisions that will carry more significant consequences than a long line at the checkout. Being human means making mistakes. It also means having the ability to learn from them and the opportunity to do things differently next time. Give yourself some grace as you head into the week to make mistakes, and have the confidence to be curious when they happen, to take accountability and own them without them owning you. #costco #nooneisperfect #mistakesarelessons #weareallhuman #mistakeshappen #baddecisions #learnfromfailure #leadershipinaction #mindfulleadership #giveyourselfgrace #accountability

“I have emphasized that the company’s fix needs to begin at home: U.S. operations are the primary reason for the company’s fall from grace,” he said. “The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience, through the eyes of a merchant. The answer does not lie in data but in the stores.” Howard Schultz Do you agree? Back to the basics and focus on coffee, operations, and #customerexperience? It's tough to argue with the man who bought Starbucks in 1987, built the brand to 39,000 locations, and still owns shares worth roughly $1.5B. Can you keep delivering exceptional customer experiences even with 39,000 locations? I think you can. There needs to be a focus on operations including hiring, training, technology, and overall customer experience. The reason Howard Schultz was so successful as CEO is relatively simple, he had a real passion for the brand, purpose, employees, and yes, the customers. Reminds me of Bob Iger and Disney. Are these two that smart or do they just have a ridiculous amount of passion for the brands they lead? https://lnkd.in/ebBt7wew

So how can you enhance the customer experience while at the same time increasing your own Velocity?   You may have read this week that Starbucks is investing billions of dollars to cut down customer wait times by 55 seconds. Their solution? The new syrup machine. With it, baristas can simply press a button to access milk and ice, eliminating the need to dig into separate containers. That in itself is going to help save 55 seconds per transaction. So, who wins? Well, the customers win, because now they spend less time waiting for their favorite drinks. But who also wins is Starbucks, because they just increased the Velocity of their operations. Imagine how many more orders they can process when they reduce the transaction time by 55 seconds. How many more lattes can they process in a day, in a week, or in a year? The key takeaway here is that technology plays a crucial role in enhancing the customer experience while at the same time boosting your own Velocity. Which technology or innovative solution has made a significant impact on your operations? #Starbucks #VelocityMindset #technology #leadership #sales

Make this make sense. Yesterday, I went to Walmart. And then, I went to Publix grocery store. I couldn't help but recognize the contrast. It was palatable. At Walmart, every single grocery cart was apparently outdoors, and the majority of them were not placed back in the designated receptacles. At Publix, every grocery cart was in its right place, and there was a worker rounding them up to bring them back into the store. At Walmart, I asked for a particular product, and the worker had no idea where it was—it was indeed there. But at Publix, I asked for a product, and they knew exactly where, what shelf, aisle, side, and where on the shelf. Of course, at Walmart, it was a do-it-yourself checkout situation only. Even though there was a similar checkout at Publix, the attendant was actively involved in your checkout experience. Both of these stores were completely full of customers. There was this sense of being overwhelmed at Walmart while I felt at ease as a customer at Publix. I looked it up. Walmart's market value is $406 billion, while Publix's market value is $46 billion. It's obvious that Walmart has a low-cost model, while Publix has a higher-cost model. Does this matter? But here's the thing—▶️ the managers at Publix were visible and involved. They were making decisions, giving direction, and adjusting to the customer movement. While at Walmart, I can't be certain that I saw a single manager while I was there. No surprises here. I'm sure you've had a similar Walmart experience when you were there, wherever you are in the world. ▶️ Where there is effective leadership, the team will take on a corresponding attitude. The workers will align with the values of the organization and its leader—it will be seen in their behaviors. ▶️ The act of laissez-faire leadership gives permission for workers to disengage from the values of the organization and team. ▶️ When leaders aren't obviously visible, workers will lose their sense of accountability. But also, ▶️ when there is a lack of leadership, even the customer will not respect the organization—leaving carts in parking spots and on the grass and not returning products to the shelf. ▶️ Leadership attracts a level of pride in both its workers and customers. #coreleadership

Did you know that Costco Wholesale, a retail giant, has a unique approach to employee well-being that has led to its remarkable success? Unlike many of its competitors, Costco pays its employees competitively, often more than others in the industry. They prioritize promoting from within, offering ample growth and development opportunities. This approach has only led to happier employees and more satisfied customers, resulting in higher loyalty and increased sales. Imagine working in an environment where you feel genuinely valued, with clear paths for advancement and your feedback is actively sought and implemented. This is the reality at Costco, and it's a strategy that any company can emulate to achieve similar success. How does your organization support and value its employees? #HappinessSquad #peoplefirstbusiness #happinessatwork #teamhappy #thriveatwork

Did you know that Costco Wholesale, a retail giant, has a unique approach to employee well-being that has led to its remarkable success? Unlike many of its competitors, Costco pays its employees competitively, often more than others in the industry. They prioritize promoting from within, offering ample growth and development opportunities. This approach has only led to happier employees and more satisfied customers, resulting in higher loyalty and increased sales. Imagine working in an environment where you feel genuinely valued, with clear paths for advancement and your feedback is actively sought and implemented. This is the reality at Costco, and it's a strategy that any company can emulate to achieve similar success. How does your organization support and value its employees? #HappinessSquad #peoplefirstbusiness #happinessatwork #teamhappy #thriveatwork

Mr Beast re-launched his Chocolate bar getting 40m views in the first 74 hours! But... Walmart didn't stock it. He spent 15 hours with local Walmart trying to even FIND his stock, even going to stores to personally put them on the checkout where they agreed with Walmart to put them. Mr Beast is clearly mentally available (thought of in purchase occasions), but the physical availability is lacking (easy to find and buy). The video promoting his Chocolate Bar takes aim at his main competitor, Hershey's chocolate. But in his same post, you can spot the difference between why one is purchased more often than the other... Hershey's is more prominent and present then Feastables! 2 key pillars of Physical Availability are: 📌 Presence is being present where buying is or could happen 🏆 Prominence is being easily found in any sales environment Mr Beast has chosen to stop the promotions until he can fix his stock problems in Walmart stores. A problem Hershey's doesn't have, because they clearly have sales reps who do their jobs properly. Building Mental Availability is difficult enough, but don't forget the other pillar of brand growth, being easy find and buy.