Announcements:

Dick introduced John Nickerson and Joanie Avery – they announced that they need support of Measure A. The schools depend on state money and there will be another 5-10% cuts in schools this year. Class size has already increased from 20 to 30 students per teacher. Next year it will devastate schools. The budget will be cut by $8 million over the course of 3 years when the students are only down by 1%. The special election tax is $112 and the election will be held on May 4th. There is a rally on March 27th with choral, drum line, etc in the downtown plaza of Lafayette.

Geoff Zimmerman was happy to be back after 3 weeks away. He also wanted to thank all those that participated in making the poster. He announced that this year Rotary International is in Montreal and wanted to now how many were planning on attending – so far, no one is attending. He asked for a volunteer for a club contact for the District Conference – John Sherry stepped up to the plate. Also need a volunteer for Dictionary for Life.

Dick Holt announced the Easter Candy Hunt on April 3rd. Meet at Bank of the West at 9:30.

Sandi announced she needs volunteers for the Smoke Alarm Project on April 24th. See Sandi.

John Sherry announced the Stage Committee was meeting right after the meeting at the Oakwood Athletic Club.

Dick Holt announced a reminder that the Diablo Country Club event with Bud MacKenzie’s Schools for Afghanastan was March 25th. $3,000 from our club has been donated and will be announced at that event.

Chuck Vogel announced that we need to sell more raffle tickets for the Concert at the Reservoir. All members of the Lafayette club have been tasked with approaching local businesses for raffle prizes.

Jay Lifson announced the 8th annual Taste of Lafayette will be May 18th from 5:30 to 9:00. A tour of Lafayette’s dining establishments will benefit the Lafayette Community Foundation.

Fines
John Sherry turned himself in for sending out an email to everyone without an attachment.
Jay Lifson said his daughter Kaitlin turns 25.
Jess Wellen was away for 10 days in Puerto Vallarta to get away from the rain (and braved the sport of ziplining)
Pete Barbounis paid a fine in case he missed a few people as greeter
Sandi fined Ed Stokes for Diablo Foods being in the newspaper

Happy Dollars
Ed Stokes was happy for St. Mary’s – only 3 games to go
Dick Holt was happy watching St. Mary’s and happy for Ed Stokes
Bud was happy that Cal got far – and an additional $1 for Ed
Mo Levich was happy that Larry Blodgett arrived early
Geoff is happy to be back with the group and that he had fun at Bob Shusta’s cabin skiing (he was the highest bidder and won the cabin for a weekend)

Ron Wake, as the Club Foundation Chairman presented the Outstanding Person Award to Bob Shusta for his dedication to the membership committee. He received a pin.

Larry Blodgett introduced our speaker, Jeff Rubin.

Jeff Rubin is a newsletter guy – and produced about 1700 clients’ newsletters. He founded National Punctuation Day. He talked to us about customer service and importance of retaining customers and providing great service. He has visited about 30 different Rotary Clubs and this is his 29th year in business.

He introduced Buzzword Bingo and wants us to laugh while improving on our customer service. He gave personal examples of lousy and great customer service. The dentist who provides IV conscious sedation to make him feel very comfortable in contrast to the doctor who reschedules the appointment and then makes you wait an additional hour and a half to receive care – he asked for copay back and will never see that doctor again. If you want lousy service, just continue to frequent Big Box retail stores. You can always count on that type of service before going inside.

He also asked how many times we have heard “it’s not my department” or “sorry, I am on my break”; a sure way to lose a customer.

There was the story about the woman who was 2 weeks late on her car payment. A man hired from the dealership followed her, jumped in her car (with her baby in it) and drove away – bad customer service.

When we have had poor service, we tell 10 friends / family and they tell 20 more people and by the end of the year, you can only hope that company is out of business.

Research has found that for every complaint, there are 26 other things wrong with your business.

You can win back 50-70% of your business by resolving complaints. 95% of those people will become very loyal customers. We can all make mistakes, but it’s what you do about them that counts.

Great service - Jeff Rubin lost 40 pounds and the Mens Wearhouse tailored his pants for free; even the jeans he did not purchase at their store. At Mike Heller’s business, if they don’t have a loaner car for you to use, he will loan you his personal car.

Terrible service – Jeff had a computer problem and paid $135 per hour for 8 hours to get it resolved. As a result, the computer repairperson did something to the computer that caused Jeff the inability to do his job. He called and asked for help. The person was going to not only charge him for the consultation and the new repair, but also for the mileage to drive to his house. He sent her an invoice for his lost time in work for 3 days. (He wasn’t really serious, but was proving a point.) She is no longer in business today.

Parting thoughts:
1. Think of ways to please your customers and do it.
2. Next time you are not delighted with service, see how it applies to your business
3. Ask customers what would be a better service to them.
4. Add something to your customer services that is not $$ or time, but sincerity and integrity.

Greeter: Pete Barbounis