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A powerful “Broken Windows” complaint about the Walgreens in Tyler, Texas from Buddy Logan:

I quit using Walgreens in Tyler, TX, years ago. Even before COVID I couldn’t devote the amount of time necessary it took to get questions answered over the phone, or to the long lines required to pick up a prescription. It was just too frustrating.

And I point out pre-COVID because this problem, while I’m sure has been compounded thanks to the worldwide pandemic, has been an issue for so much longer. I’d say around 2016, after years of just dealing with it, I finally switched to another pharmacy here in Tyler, and I’ve had zero issues since. ZERO.

Hotel Greene, a restaurant, bar, and mini-golf space in Virginia, is decorated with non-functional vintage telephones, but the co-owners, Jim Gottier and Andrea Ball, are among many restaurateurs around the country who are choosing to eliminate their business’s public phone number.

Bah-duh-bah-bah-Nah! — Fast-foodies are not lovin’ this. 

Frozen bricks of presumed pork, reheated store-bought cookies and grease-caked griddles are just a few of the antiheroes features in the “nauseating,” yet trending TikTok series “How McDonald’s food works.”

“I got diarrhea just from watching this,” a repulsed commenter confessed in response to McDonald’s kitchen staffer Isaiah Gilley’s viral video on how the behemoth burger brand prepares its seasonal McRib sandwich. 

The clip, which has stockpiled a staggering 5.7 million views, follows Gilley as he grabs two iced, rectangular patties out of a deep freezer and tosses them into a meat-press cooking device labeled “McRib Clam,” which is set to a 146-second timer.

Gilley then plops a pair of oval buns into a conveyer belt toaster for warming. Once toasted, he reaches into tubs of pre-sliced topping and dumps small handfuls of onions and pickles onto the bread that’s been placed inside a McRib to-go box. 

Pivoting back to the meat, Gilley yanks two cooked patties out of a warming drawer (it’s unclear whether these are the same patties he initially pressed in the “Clam” at the top of the video), pulls open an adjacent warming drawer filled with barbecue sauce and drowns the meat in the condiment vat.

He then drops the slathered chow onto the bun, closes and flips the box — causing the bottom bun to fall into its rightful place on the sandwich without Gilley having to touch the food with his hands — and gives his creation a cheeky thumbs-up as TikTok’s voiceover feature sarcastically says “Your favorite food.”

I can’t stress strongly enough how important it is to have a driving, obsessive fixation on your business, and a compulsion to see everything done in the right way every single time. Repairing what mistakes are made along the way can’t be an optional thing; it has to be an absolute, unquestioned necessity that would literally cause you to lose sleep were it not taken care of immediately and completely.

Obsession

Obsession is the fixation on one idea, subject, or concept.  It allows virtually no other thoughts and becomes an all-consuming, all-important idea in the mind.  It would not be an exaggeration to say that in order to prevent and repair all broken windows, you must be – not should be, not may be, but must be – obsessed with your business.

You have to feel personally affronted if something goes wrong with your business.  And that “something” can be anything. The idea that a trash can hasn’t been emptied, that a counter hasn’t been cleaned, needs to be a personal insult, an abomination.  You have to feel physically ill if you find a problem in your business, no matter how small and (here’s a word I use with great caution) insignificant it might seem.

Nothing is small, and absolutely nothing is insignificant.

It’s not enough to be concerned about your business; it’s not enough to be interested in its success.  You have to be obsessed, or you are inviting disaster.  If you’re not lying in bed at night trying to think of ways to improve business, to serve your customers better, and to fix the broken windows you have or will have soon, you are not doing your job properly.  And that fervor must be communicated to every single employee you have. It’s not enough for you to be obsessed – everyone who works for the company be equally single-minded.

The proceeding was an excerpt from Broken Windows Broken Business.

It is your customer’s perception of your business that will dictate his or her level of loyalty to your business.  Make one mistake, and you can damage that perception.

Little things mean a lot. If you notice that the carpet on the floor at your dentist’s office is a little worn, you might find yourself wondering whether the dental instruments have been replaced recently.

Broken windows are best repaired before they break.

It’s the cover-up that gets you – don’t make excuses for broken windows or deny that they’re broken.  Take your hit, own up to the problem, and fix it.

Obsession to detail is essential.  There is no substitute.

It should be made clear that you expect all your employees to go above and beyond, that this is a company policy, not an individual initiative.  Set standards and then ask the employees suggestions on how to exceed them.

Ask yourself these questions about expectations and reality:

1. What does my customer have the right to expect when he or she contacts my business?
2. Am I currently providing what my customer should logically expect?
3. Is it being provided by every employee, even the ones who don’t come into contact with the public?
4. Are there ways I can exceed my customers’ expectations for my business?
5. How can I implement these “above and beyond” provisions and remain profitable?
6. Are my employees motivated to find ways to exceed our customers’ expectations? Am I encouraging them to do so?
7. What should I do to go beyond the norm and make my business stand out in the customer service area?

Once you have have asked those questions, the answers should tell you a good deal about your dedication, commitment, and procedure. Consider these answers:

1) What does my customer have a right to expect when he or she contacts my business?

Obviously, this varies from business to business, but there are some constants in all aspects of a customer-oriented business plan. Everyone who contacts any business deserves to be treated with respect and courtesy, to be spoken to as an intelligent human being, to be served as promptly as physically possible, and to be sure that the person serving his or her needs is dedicated to the same goal as the customer. If the customer has a problem, the employee serving that customer must consider it his problem until it is successfully solved.

2) Am I currently providing what my customer should logically expect?

This can be answered best with the implementation of a mystery shopper.  A person who walks into the business unrecognized, presents himself or herself as a customer, goes through every aspect of customer service, and then reports in detail on the experience can be invaluable to the successful business.  It’s no good if the employees know that someone will be judging them and reporting back – they will only engage in atypical behavior that will not give you an accurate picture of your operation.  Once you know what you business is providing, you can fix broken windows and work on what you should be providing.

3) Is it being provided by every employee, even the ones who don’t come into contact with the public?

Often the worst broken windows are people.  Employees who do not get the idea of what you’re trying to accomplish, who won’t “get with the program,” who can’t push themselves beyond the abysmal standard we have set for ourselves in this society, have no place in a progressive, aggressive business. They need, quite frankly, to shape up or ship out. Get them out before they sink the business.

4) Are there ways I can exceed my customers’ expectation for my business?

There had better be. If you’re not doing everything you possibly can to make the customer’s experience as satisfying and rewarding as it can be, you’re not doing all you should do. And there are very few businesses indeed that are doing all they can do.  It’s a whisker shy of impossible.  So think outside the box and consider what you can do that your competitors and others in related industries are not doing, and if it has a benefit to the customers you serve, try it. In most cases, you’ll find that customers will react favorably.

5) How can I implement these “above and beyond” provisions and remain profitable?

In most cases, there is very little or no cost in doing things the right way and getting noticed for it.  How much does it cost for each employee to smile? How much does it cost for an employee to take a sense of responsibility for each problem he or she is presented? If an employee can’t smile, even for minimum wage, you have the wrong employee, period.

6) Are my employees motivated to find ways to exceed our customers’ expectations?

The mystery shopper can tell you if your employees are doing what you hope they will do – going above and beyond the call.  Motivation is another story. Do the employees see a reward in doing things the right way? Are they being recognized for their extra effort (and I don’t just mean an Employee of the Month plaque on the wall)?

Am I encouraging them to do so?

Make yourself visible to the employees. Make sure they know that this is a company plan, something that comes from the top and stops at every level down to the person who empties the wastebaskets. It’s imperative that your employees understand the benefits of exceeding expectations, and why you expect it to work.

7) What should I do to go beyond the norm and make my business stand out in the customer service area?

You, as the employer, set the example. If you own a small business, you probably have some contact with customers yourself.  You must go above and beyond in order for your employees to understand the importance of the concept.  If you are an executive in a larger company,you might not have the kind of contact you once did with the end user.  You have to use mystery shoppers and occasionally go to the sales floor or the customer service area yourself. See what’s going on and formulate strategies.

Ask your employees for suggestions, but don’t rely on them to the exclusion of your own ideas.  Be innovative, creative, and open to ideas.  only then can you exceed the expectations that anyone walking into your business might logically have.

The proceeding is an excerpt from Broken Windows Broken Business.