Opinion: Olympics teach businesses how to go for gold

I was taking a voiceover class with one of those women who are involved in everything. (Sadly, I seem to have become one of those women.) At the time, I was fancy free and ready to go when she said, “The Olympic committee is looking for people with good voices. Is anyone interested in commentating on the Tall Ships event?” Not having a clue what it entailed, my hand shot up.

A few days before the Olympics, my friend Carol and I trooped down to San Pedro (a rather smelly port) to board “The Star,” a fishing boat. I remember her hissing: “You owe me!” as we climbed on board. A flotilla of boats were setting out to follow the Tall Ships as they made their way to Long Beach harbor. It was my job to commentate from a script on the passing ships for the passengers who had bought tickets to this event.

I will never forget the beauty of those ships sailing along the California coast. That night, my friend and I had dinner at sunset right next to a Chinese junk. What a day! I still have my Olympic pin and my golden memories.

The Olympics always bring such moments of indescribable excitement and triumph and of horrible, humiliating defeat. The ups of winning the gold. The downs of skidding off course. The ups of the motivation. The downs of watching show offs, rivalries and moods.

The Olympics are a lot like business. The big show. The seeming ease of the presentation and performance. The backbreaking hard work behind the scenes. The pettiness. The organization. All the elements are there.

Unfortunately, there is no instant replay in real life. There is no do-over after false starts from the block. There are no hard and fast rules. Sometimes, there is no gold.

We can learn a lot from the Olympics, however, about customer service.

Presentation is everything

The show at the beginning of the games sets the tone for everything. There is a humbling, almost reverent attitude, which brings us to the lighting of the torch and “Let the games begin!”

Do you have a “Let the games begin” attitude in your business? Is everything in readiness before the customer even steps into your business? Is it clean? Is it professional? Does it present you well?

Recently, I went into a business that does fabulous work. I hadn’t been in there for some time, and I knew there had been a management change. It looked messy, and the samples were stacked against a wall rather than hung neatly.

If I didn’t know their work, I would have walked right out again. I am sure that they have lost customers and don’t even know it. Most people would be turned off by the lack of presentation. Who knows how much business might have been salvaged with a broom, a can of paint and a few hooks on the wall?

Seconds count

Seconds count at the Olympics and in customer service. Valentine’s Day was a little disappointing for me. My husband has always been very thoughtful and sent me flowers for the holiday. I waited all day, watching bouquets passing my office. At 4 p.m., I spoke to my husband and he asked if anything had arrived.

When I told him nothing had, he immediately hung up and called the very well-known florist to ask what had happened. They hadn’t even put my bouquet on the truck, and my office closes at 4:30 p.m. They ended up delivering the bouquet to my husband’s office and he brought it home. It was gorgeous, and I don’t fault my husband, but it didn’t arrive on time.

Now, there is a nice postscript to this story: The manager apologized to my husband and sent me a huge apology bouquet a few days later.

His quick thinking brought up another Olympic lesson:

If you slip, you can get right back up

In the snowboard cross a competitor named Lindsey Jacobellis did the unthinkable. She was so far ahead of her nearest competitor that she made a show-off move. Somehow, this threw her off balance and she fell to the side. Much was made of her error, and debate flared as to whether she was showing off or just instinctively made the move.

I think that more should be made of what happened afterward: She got back up and completed the run. Not only that, she did it fast, and she won the silver medal for the United States. What we need to remember about Lindsey Jacobellis is that she got back up!

You have to work harder than the competition

My father, husband and I went to a new restaurant a few weeks ago. The food was great, but there was a minor problem with their entrees. (They ordered the same thing.)

When the waitress asked if everything had been to our satisfaction, my husband told her about this problem. Out came the manager to find out what had happened. My dad and husband explained the issue, but assured him that the food was good.

When the bill came, we were astounded to find that the two entrees had been taken off! My dad told them that this was unnecessary and that they had eaten hearty meals. The manager was adamant: “We want you to be happy. We want you to come back.”

That last statement said it all. “We want you to come back.”

If you want your customers to come back, you’ll have to go for the gold!

Sinara Stull O’Donnell is a professional speaker and writer through Springfield-based SinaraSpeaks. She is the author of “Be The Star Of Your Life: Are You Ready For Your Close-Up?” She can be reached at sinaraspeaks@earthlink.com or www.sinaraspeaks.com.