The Two Percent Extremes
September 29th, 2006 by Chief NutThe “extreme two percent” occurs in almost everything we do. For me, this realization affects much of my decision making. Let me give you an example.
At a restaurant 96% of the time the wait-person is, for the most part, courteous, honest, helpful, etc. BUT, 2% of the time they’re sooooo awesome, I feel compelled to give them a huge tip, tell their immediate boss before I leave and then write a letter to the owner of the restaurant letting them know that their entire staff could take lessons from this gem. Hang on, you say, “what about the BOTTOM 2%”? Yep, you guessed it, they get an equal share of my attention … but not in the good way. Sure I know that people have bad days and just don’t feel up to giving that extra little ooomph, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about the service being so bad that it qualifies as being in the bottom two percent of ANYthing. If we’re in a service industry, even on our worst days, we should be able to give mediocre service despite our own personal situation. How often should service people TRY to be in the top 2%?….. I say 100% of the time but expect to only get there (surprise) 98% of the time!
Want to hear an example of what constitutes as “the bottoom 2%”? Check out Michael Ports post about Trumba.
