I have, sitting on my desk, four pieces of unsolicited bulk mail. All of these are from the same company. All of them offer to reduce my mortgage payments by going through their quick refinance service. I’m quite dubious to their claims and will shred them as soon as I finish writing this.

What caught my eye was that even though all the offers are identical, almost down to the exact wording, they all took different forms and had different appearances when still in their envelopes:

• One looked like a bank statement
• One looked like a check
• One looked like an appointment notice from the VA Medical Center
• One looked like “junk mail.”

Of course, it’s very easy to tell without opening that these are all junk. I open them so I can shred the parts on which my personal information is printed. What prompted me to comment was that they all had the same web site address and toll-free number printed on them.

You’d think a company who went through the trouble of creating four different forms for the same offer would have split-tested them. They could have a unique toll-free number and URL for each of the four formats. Then they could quickly learn which one generated the most calls or web traffic and then use it more than the others.

You might hear this practice called “A/B Testing.” Many e-commerce companies employ such methods to find out which versions of banner ads and landing pages produce the desired result. It works quite well in helping get a message to the right audience.

What is old is new again. Well, off to the shredder.

photo credit: StarsApart

Are the prices too high or is the customer service just too bad?

Best Buy (and many other brick and mortars) often blame online stores like Amazon for their problems. The chief complaint centers on how online stores compete unfairly because they don’t have to collect sales tax.

But is that the real reason? I don’t think so, and neither do many of those I’ve spoken with on the topic this past week. Those conversations were prompted by an article on Forbes.com by Larry Downes, “Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually.” He puts some numbers with his poor experiences at Best Buy and comes to the conclusion that it’s customer service which really makes the difference – not price.

At the risk of “piling on,” I present two experiences I had with Best Buy this past year which I think prove Mr. Downes’ point quite well:

Experience The First – Buying Mom a New Computer
Whenever I head up to Michigan to visit Mom, I usually get hooked into doing pro forma tech support. I don’t mind, though, because her being online and tech savvy helps us to communicate better. When we were there this Summer, she said it was time replace her outdated desktop. So, we headed over to the local Best Buy to see what we could find.

Mom had a specific budget and certain things she needed her new machine to do. I wanted to get her a powerful enough computer to last a few years from a brand with decent tech support – in case I wasn’t available to help her over the phone.

We walked into the store and straight back to the computer section. Of course, we were immediately approached by a sales person. I explained that I would let him know when we’d made a selection, but that we really didn’t need any help. He hovered around (way too close, I might add) for several minutes.

In the meantime, I pulled out my iPhone and started looking at the models they had on display, checking details, specs and user ratings from various sites. Much the opposite of Best Buy’s complaint that people use them as a showroom then later go purchase from Amazon, I often go to Amazon for ratings because they usually have good ones. I also check NewEgg and search Google and Bing on the model numbers to catch any ratings I might miss. That was when the sales person disappeared.

Once we narrowed down our choices to two, I had a specific question about one of them. Once we hunted down the sales person, he had no idea what I was even asking. More googling came up with the answer and we had our choice. Then we had to hunt the guy down again to get the item so we could pay for it. Of course, we were asked a half-dozen times if we wanted to purchase the extended warranty. After declining the first time, I wished they’d quit asking.

This experience wasn’t too terrible, of course. Pretty typical for Best Buy and many other stores.

Experience The Second – The Missed Pickup
My wife and I recently decided to replace our malfunctioning home theatre unit.  She did most of the research, narrowing the myriad of selections down to two. We decided on one and checked prices online. We found that Best Buy had the best price, beating Amazon – even including the sales tax and $10 in-store pickup delivery charge. (Why is there a delivery charge to pick up an item already at the store? That really puzzled me.)

I ordered the item from Best Buy’s web site and opted for the in-store pickup.

The next day, we went to our local Best Buy to pick up the item and purchase a new HDMI cable. The pick up line is situated next to the returns line, with a shared POC terminal between them. The people working didn’t have my item immediately ready even though I got an email indicating it would be so. No big deal, though, since someone very quickly went to the shelf and grabbed one for us. But, I had to get into the returns line to pay for the HDMI cable. Again, no big deal since they put me ahead of others already in line (which probably didn’t make them happy).

We went home and set up our new sound system. It is very nice. My wife is playing Skyrim right now and the sound is excellent. We are quite happy with the purchase.

The day after I picked up our item, I got an email from Best Buy reminding me to pick up my purchase. I was a little puzzled, but just deleted the email. My initial thought was, “The in-store system hasn’t synced with the main system, yet.”

I got another email the next day, and the next. For ten days, each morning, I received an email reminding me that my purchase was ready for pickup. I remember even tweeting once something like, “@BestBuy, why are you spamming me to pick up an item I already picked up?” I though it rather humorous. The last email warned that if I didn’t pick my item up, they would cancel my order. Cancel? On an order for an item I already picked up? Nonsense!

Oh, but they were serious. The next day I received an email letting me know that my order had been cancelled and my card credited the amount of the purchase. A quick check of my bank account verified that they had, indeed, refunded my money. Now I laughed out loud.

I wanted to let Best Buy know about this so they could get their money; that was only fair. I called the number on my email receipt and hit zero until I got a real person. I explained to the lady I spoke with what happened in detail. She was surprised and said she’d transfer me to the correct department immediately.

I sat on hold for half an hour. After wasting enough of my monthly allotted cell minutes on this, I decided to try to email. After all, this was their error – why should I waste my minutes.

I pulled up my email receipt again and hit reply. I wrote a very detailed message describing what happened and asked them to respond so we could work out how to make this right. After all, I wanted to get them the money they were legitimately due for my purchase.

My message received an auto response:

This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email.

If you need assistance, please contact our Customer Care, http://www.bestbuy.com/ or call 1-800-BESTBUY.

I hate auto responses like that.

Companies Note: Never bounce an email from a customer telling them you don’t monitor a specific email address. MONITOR ALL EMAIL ADDRESSES you send email from. Don’t waste your customers’ time.

I clicked on the link in the response, which lead to Best Buy’s customer service contact form. I copied the text from my bounced email and pasted into the message box on the form and made sure to enter my order number in the appropriate place. At this point, I was starting to get a little perturbed, having wasted almost an hour trying to give them their money. In the message box I wrote that this was the third and final time I was going to try to contact them regarding this matter. If they wanted their money, they should email or call.

Another auto response was the last message I heard from them:

Best Buy Customer,
This message was automatically generated in an attempt to answer your question as quickly as possible. If you are contacting us to cancel, or modify your BestBuy.com order, please call us at 1-888-BEST BUY. (1-888-237-8289)
Thank You.
Best Buy Customer Care

I didn’t want to cancel or modify my order, and I certainly didn’t want to spend another 30-plus minutes on hold.

It’s been nearly a month since this transpired and I still haven’t heard anything. Those I have related this story to feel I did more than most people would have to get them their money and that I should consider the home theatre unit a Christmas gift. Perhaps they are right.

The Bottom Line
There have been many surveys done in the past several years where consumers have indicated they’d be willing to pay extra for better customer service (examples here, here and here), and many people willingly pay a little extra for more service than standard offerings. I’ve experienced exceptional customer service for which I probably payed a little more on several occasions. I didn’t mind a bit.

I’m really very surprised Best Buy didn’t beat a path to my door to collect their money. If they had at least acknowledged my efforts to contact them I would be telling quite a different story here. Instead, I’m commenting on an article which offers up what I think is an apt analysis of Best Buy’s self-inflicted woes based on my own experience with them.

I wonder if their leadership will take notice and try to change course. If they don’t I suspect it won’t be too long before they meet a similar fate as so many of their former competitors.

What say you? What do you think about Mr. Downes’ take on Best Buy’s situation? What do you think about my experiences with them? Do you think I did enough due diligence in trying to right their error? Please feel free to tell us what you think in the comments.

Oh, and Best Buy: If you do decide you want your money please give me a call or email me. You have my contact information.

Lastly: Just as I was finishing this up, I caught a response to the Forbes.com story by Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn on their blog. Check out the comments, too.

First Picture: photo credit: pat00139

Second Picture: photo credit: tsaarni

Be excellent to each other! – Fake Socrates in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”

I’m going on my soapbox here. I hope you will indulge me while I get something off my chest.

I wrote once before about how your attitude towards those who give you service you in buying situations can affect what kind of treatment you receive. Although their attitude is primarily their responsibility, how you act toward them can affect their attitude positively or negatively. I bring this up again because yesterday it hit rather close to home.

My wife works in the retail businesses. This close to Christmas, you can imagine she’s pretty harried. The stores are crowded with holiday shoppers who are in a hurry and in foul moods. Although most of those who work at her store try to deliver superior service, sometimes things outside their control adversely affect what kind of service they can give.

For example: long lines at the checkout can be caused by a flu bug going around and several key people calling in sick on the same day. That type of situation can adversely affect how long customers will wait in line to pay for their purchases. It’s also something outside the realm of an individual’s control.

My wife cried herself to sleep last night. As she was going about her duties she ended up on the cash register and had to deal with someone who lambasted her for having to wait too long in line. With little regard to her feelings or the fact that she had no control over people calling in sick, he insulted her and blamed her for all the problems with this particular retail outlet. She was so upset when she came home, she couldn’t even tell me what the man said, other than he cussed her out and called her terrible names.

I understand this person was probably having a bad day. He was likely tired and in a hurry to finish his holiday shopping so he could finish other tasks. Or, he could just be a total jerk. We’ll never know for sure. What we do know is he ruined the day of someone who was doing her best to help him along.

I say again that the Golden Rule applies: Treat others as you wish to be treated.

Advertising for liquor stores is fairly new in the Texas town in which I live. It’s only been a little over a year since citizens voted to allow sales of spirits within the city limits. Now that there is a bit of competition for the locals’ alcohol dollars, advertising is becoming more and more common.

On our local talk station, I caught a piece on the way to work which really hit me. I don’t remember the exact wording, but here’s the gist of it:

Are you tired of holiday shopping already? Are you sick of trying to find the right gift for the right person – especially that hard-to-buy-for person on you list? Are you fed up with the crowds and the sales and all that? Well, all you need is to stop by <local liquor store> and get what you need to get you through the holiday season.

At this point, I started laughing so hard I almost had to pull over to avoid running off the road. The instant implication to me was that if you’re tired of holiday shopping, you should stop by one of their three convenient locations and buy some booze and tie one on to forget the whole mess.

Of course, I don’t think that was the intended message. Through my laughter, I think I caught something about getting a bottle of wine for someone and that gift cards are always a great gift. I didn’t quite get the rest of the message because I was still laughing at the image of crowds of people running to their store to get items to help them forget their problems for a while.

This is why it’s important to have lots of people test your ad. This isn’t the first ad spot to convey a mixed message, and it certainly won’t be the last. While I’m sure the message I received was not the one intended, I wonder how many others heard it the same way. While the small business owner may not have the time or money to organize a focus group, perhaps recording the copy and passing it around to friends online would suffice to catch unintended messages.

What say you? Have you heard any funny, mixed-message advertisements this year? Do you have any suggestions how smaller business owners can “focus group” their advertising while not spending tons of cash to do it? Please feel free to share in the comments.

photo credit: swanksalot

Back when I was a mere lad of 16, the first job I got was as a Stockboy at a local Kresge store. Kresge was the “dime store” predecessor of Kmart, founded by S.S. Kresge in Detroit. I came in on evenings after school and on alternating weekends to clean up the store. It was a great learning experience.

Everyone was a “regular.” Most of the store’s employees worked there for many years. The customers came from the neighborhood. When describing the store, I even joke that the shoplifters were regular “customers.” It had a nice family atmosphere.

There was a elderly man who frequented the store. He would come in and walk around, looking at things and mutter to himself in Polish. He always wore a charcoal grey suit and a hat with a hat feather in it. Always quick with a wave and a greeting though, he would say the only two English phrases I think he knew: “Hey, how’s it going?” and “Don’t work too hard.” After I got to know his routine I would often cringe watching him cross the very busy street outside the store as he walked against the lights. There was more than once he came close to getting run over.

One Saturday when I first started working there, I was doing something on the sales floor when I saw him pick up a candy bar and put it in his pocket. I watched as he made his usual rounds through the store and then headed for the exit. I stopped my manager, “Mrs. L,” a wonderful lady who clearly understood the role of that small store in the grand scheme of things (she started with the company as secretary to the then-Chairman of the Board when he was a district manager). I told her what I saw and offered to stop him and bring him to her.

She told me not to do it, though. No doubt I had a puzzled expression on my face. She went on to explain that he suffered from dementia and really didn’t know what he was doing. When he came into the store, the employees were told to watch him and report the the service desk person on duty if he took anything so it could be tracked. On Friday afternoons, his daughter would come in and pay for whatever he took.

Now, that’s personalized service! Can you imagine a Walmart or a Target having employees who were empowered to do that kind of thing? I don’t know if such an arrangement is possible in today’s environment.

Still, if you own an small, local business, what kind of special service can you offer customers to set yourself apart from your competitors? Really, the sky’s the limit so long as it makes sense … and cents.

photo credit: TommyIS

Early in my military career I was put in for promotion to the rank of Sergeant by my boss (and, later, very good friend) John. At that time, to make that first rank in the Non-commissioned Officer Corps, one of the things a person had to go through was the promotion board. Promotion boards at that unit consisted of the Sergeant Major and the senior NCO from the units in the squadron asking questions of the soldier. Although it was more or less a formality, the amount of points award from the board members could have a direct bearing on how fast one was actually promoted. It was a big deal.

I was scheduled last out of the slate of 6 or so soldiers who were set to appear before that particular promotion board. John and I showed up a little early for our scheduled time, both in our Class A dress uniforms with everything shined and polished which could be shined or polished.

I formally reported to the board at my appointed time, while John took his seat at the back of the room. When I sat down, the Sergeant Major leaned over to look around me to look at John. He asked, “Sergeant, why are you dressed in your Class A uniform?” John replied as he pointed at me, “Well, Sergeant Major, because he is.”

The Sergeant Major stood up and said, rather loudly, “Come here! I want to shake your hand. You are the first supervisor to come with his soldier before the board dressed in the same uniform. Thank you for doing so.”

I thought, “So far, so good.”

Elmer at the National Training Center near Barstow, California

John gave his “spiel” about me to the board, telling them what a great soldier I was and what a great NCO I would be. The Sergeant Major looked over at me when John finished and asked, “Well, those are some very flattering words. What do you think about what he had to say about you.”

I have to admit, I was rather flattered. John wasn’t always one to puff someone up, but you certainly knew where you stood with him. I was happy most of all that he appreciated my efforts for our team. I said something contrite and humble* and we continued on.

The rest of the time in front of the board was spent answering questions about unit history, basic soldier tasks, leadership and current events. I answered most of the questions correctly. The ones I didn’t know the answers to I plainly admitted as much rather than try to tap-dance around the fact that I didn’t have an answer.

When the questions were wrapped up, I walked out. As John rose to leave after me, he got a “thumbs up” from our First Sergeant. That meant a lot, considering he was a fair man, but expected a lot out of his charges.

What Does This Have To Do With Business?
In short, part of the success John and I had that day was that we delighted the people on that board. We gave them more than they expected, and they reacted to it very positively.  This taught me a lesson I still remember today: deliver excellence and people will respond.

While you may never be in exactly the same position I was in that day, I’ll bet you regularly have similar experiences? For example, how many times are you placed before a potential client (or a room full of potential clients) and asked to put your best foot forward in an attempt to sell them your goods or services. Or, how many times have you given a presentation to your boss or senior staff over a very important topic?

In this situation, John and I were selling the idea that I would make a good Sergeant and we did a great job convincing that board of that fact. We went out of our way and spent a great deal of time preparing for the 20 minutes or so I would be sitting in front of that board. It paid off.

Think about it:

• Do you spend time preparing for those meetings when you have to deliver to potential clients? Or – do you just throw something together at the last minute?
• Do you learn about those you will be speaking to and attempt to learn what it is they might use your goods or services for? Or, do you use the same canned presentation for every meeting?
• Do you know what problems you might be able to solve for those you meet with?
• Do you spend time preparing your team members to deliver excellent customer service?

If you answered “no” to those questions, here’s your change to rethink how you do things. Instead of delivering schlock, delight those you come in contact with. You may very well be amazed at the results.

* John later told me my answer should have been: “Of course I agree with them, Sergeant Major, I wrote them. And, I paid Sergeant Smith a handsome sum to say them.” We laugh about that even today, but I don’t think it the humor would have gone over very well on that audience.

I’m in the Detroit area visiting family this week. On Monday, my  mom wanted to pick up some lunch meat and some fresh corn. We went to Trentwood Farm Market (3 locations in the Downriver area).

Trentwood Farm Market is a little gem of a store located in what was once (for decades) an A&P grocery. In these days of one-stop shopping where the Walmart Supercenters, Super Targets, Krogers and Meijers dominate, this is a nice, little store which focuses on fresh foods and superior service.

I was quite taken aback by the smells. Next what got me was the variety of local (and not so local) goods on the shelves. It’s not laid out in a grid like a traditional grocery store, but rather in a meandering of aisles with a surprise at every turn. It looked nothing like the A&P which used to occupy the space.

The service was excellent, too. All the people working behind the meat counter were friendly and efficient. They made sure the lunch meat and cheese were sliced exactly how the customers wanted it. The people at the checkouts were also very friendly and efficient. One could even opt for paper sacks instead of the plastic ones if reusable bags weren’t brought with.

We normally shop at Walmart because it’s easy and convenient. I can see, though, where this type of store could turn into a great option for the person tired of the harried and hurried shopping experience which is prevalent today. I very much enjoyed my visit there and I hope this type of store concept takes off.

The oddest thing, too: They don’t have a web site – or at least I couldn’t find one. They must get some great word of mouth coverage because the place was packed.

Update – August 29, 2011
I was quite surprised to see this article of mine is one of the top-read items in the past several weeks and that it scored high in the SERPs on Google. I decided to google “Trentwood Farms” to investigate further and found that Trentwood Farms now has a web site. Good for them and I wish them all success.

I’m on a road trip this week, driving from Texas to Michigan.

All was going smoothly until we got to Sidney, OH. That was where we got a flat. Talk about an inconvenience.

No problem. I was wise enough to make sure the donut spare had plenty of air before we left. We exited the highway and pulled into a gas station to change the tire.

What I didn’t count on was not having a jack or a lug wrench! When I bought this car used a few months ago, I took it to a mechanic to have it checked out before I bought it. He checked it over from top to bottom and front to back and declared the car in great shape. I didn’t think, however, to check for those items under the spare tire in the trunk. Momentary panic set in.

Then I remembered we had roadside assistance coverage though our auto insurance provider. A quick call to Progressive secured the required assistance and help was soon on the way.

Now, we didn’t relish the thought of driving the last 150 miles or so of our journey going 50 miles per hour on that donut spare. It would seem we had little choice, though, this happening in a small city on a Sunday evening at 5:45. My wife suggested we look for the nearest Walmart. After all, their Tire and Lube Centers (T&LC) were open on Sundays.

I googled for the nearest Walmart on my phone and found one was nearby, just one exit up the road. I called to make sure they were open – best to be prepared (especially since up to this point I was woefully unprepared). I spoke to the Co-Manager, who told me the T&LC closed at 6:00 PM.

Well, that wasn’t going to help. I told him the situation we faced; just as an aside, actually. When he heard we were passing though on a long drive, he offered to hold the T&LC guys late to help us out. That was great, and certainly unexpected.

The truck from Bushnell’s Collision and Restoration arrived at our location 1/2 an hour before the estimated arrival time and got us on our way within 15 minutes. Of course, with the proper tools, changing a tire doesn’t take very long. Once that was done, on to Walmart.

Once we arrived, we got a new tire mounted, balanced and installed on the car in short order. The Co-Manager even stopped by to check on us. Overall, it was a great experience.

Why Am I Telling You This?
I think we can all agree that Walmart does not have the best reputation when it comes to customer service. In the “Race To The Bottom,” they are generally regarded as the forerunner. Still, even in such a large organization there can be individuals who, by their actions, make an experience for a customer a joy. This was certainly the case for my experience with the great folks at the Walmart in Sidney, Ohio.

Oh, by the way: while I was there I made sure to purchase a jack and lug wrench. I won’t be caught without those again!

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I was not paid by Progressive, Bushnell’s or Walmart in any fashion.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Following up on my “A Tale Of Three Vendors” post from last week and “Why Do We Do This To Ourselves?” a few months ago, I present a tale so shocking, so outrageous, I’m still reeling from hearing about it. To my more sensitive readers: you might want to proceed with caution, this is a very ugly story.

I’ve a friend who recently wrapped up putting together a brand new web site. It’s a very nice, specialized web site put together for a specific target audience. I was brought on board to help with the technical specifications and was in on some of the meetings, so I have a pretty good idea what the project was about and what it was supposed to accomplish. By my reckoning and that of all the stakeholders in the project, it’s a great success. In addition, there is a lot of good feedback coming in.

The site’s back end was specialized enough that my friend needed to outsource most of the work. She got bids from three vendors and ultimately picked vendor #2 in my “Tale” to which I link above.

One of the vendors she did not choose recently sent her an email. It wasn’t just a “sorry you didn’t pick us, hope we can do business another time” message. That would have been nice. No, this person attempted to shoot the whole web site to pieces, and, in essence, accuse my friend of incompetence. The message was full of “I can’t believe” and “you must be kidding” and “how could you do” and “it’s all wrong” and etcetera.

It wasn’t bad enough the writer didn’t have the courtesy to let bygones be bygones when it came to be not being chosen for the project; throughout the message it was clear there was no understanding on this vendor’s part of the scope or purpose of the project being criticized. It was just a ranting diatribe.

When she shared it with me, all I could say was, “Wow.”

We Must Do Better
When you run a small- to medium-sized business, it’s easy to take rejection personally. You’re working hard to make payroll and keep the cashflow flowing, so sometimes those small losses are magnified even in light of other victories. Regardless of that, you have to keep in mind that you’re not going to get every job. Indeed, not every job or client may be right for you. You must keep your emotions in check, at least enough that you don’t burn bridges with those who might still be potential future clients.

If you must run down someone who didn’t choose you, complain that they weren’t fair, run down the vendor they did choose and the end product they came up, with do it in the privacy of your home or office among close friends. Get it out of your system and them move on. Do not, however, under any circumstances, put them in an email or in a public forum. Not only is it better for you to avoid alienating a potential future client, you don’t want that kind of karma to come back and haunt you later.

What say you? What advice do you have for those who face frustrations over not being selected? How might you have handled this situation? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Update (July 14, 2011) - During a conversation with my friend the other day, the stream of the chat ventured onto the topic of this email. My friend mentioned that this particular person has emailed a number of times pitching their services. Of course, these pitches are merely deleted without even being opened. I wonder if this person will one day call wondering why their emails were never answered.

photo credit: CarbonNYC

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … . With apologies to Charles Dickens.

Vendor #1 did some work for us. It was very well done, but there was a small detail missing. The small detail probably wouldn’t have cost us much success. It may have been the result of a miscommunication on our part, but nevertheless when brought to the attention of our account manager he took immediate steps to fix the problem. No fuss, no muss, just done.

Very well done.

Vendor #2 was doing some web work for us. I gave them some instructions which would have cause some small problems down the line. I had missed a small, but rather important detail in my instructions. Nothing critical would have happened and it could have been fixed later on. Of course, it’s always best to get started on the right foot.

How did they handle it? Quite well, as a matter of fact. Instead of just going along with what I told them, they contacted me via email and explained why my instruction would not have the outcome I expected. Not only were they very gracious in their explanation, they also provided some excellent and authoritative documentation pointing out my mistake.

It’s nice to know you’ve partnered with a team you can trust to have your back.

Very well done again.

Vendor #3 does some great work for us. I had some questions about some of the work. It’s not that the work they’re doing is bad. It’s actually quite the opposite. In this case, we wanted to be able to accurately measure what’s going on so we can make better informed decisions and give them better guidance as to how they can help us going forward.

They did great accommodating us for part of our request, but for another part we seem to have a disagreement about how to go about getting to a solution. When asked questions about this via email, they go unanswered.

Not so well done.

No doubt, we can all share stories such as these. The key for us as service providers is to remember to be gracious when we are right, and when we are wrong. It benefits everyone when we put our best foot forward. As you build a relationship with your customers and partners, there will be disagreements from time to time. It’s how you handle those disagreements over the long haul which separates you out of the “Good” or “OK” groups to the “Great” group.

Don’t get me wrong: all three of these vendors do great work and (if it were strictly up to me) I’d continue to hire them to do what they do. My purpose in sharing these stories is to help remind all of us about the importance of building good relationships and the constant work which goes into doing that with excellence.