Uncle Ray’s history, our brand and reputation, the pillars of our brand … a lot of theory. Sure it all makes sense – looks good at least on paper or on the monitor. How does it all come to life and become reality?
We make it happen. Each of us – seamlessly working together as a team – each doing our part. Each of us individually bringing the flavor of our personality to color the experience.
You and I create the unique, total Uncle Ray’s Way experience:
- premium ice cream,
- fun environment
- “knock your socks off” customer service
- clean and welcoming setting
YOU ARE THE STORE!
Customers don’t distinguish between you and our store. Once they step up to the window, you become the store to them. Whether they leave the store impressed or disappointed relates directly to their interaction with YOU. A brief encounter, a moment in time.
Remember what we said earlier about their expectations. Once you greet that customer and say “How can I serve you?,” it’s now all on you. They come with high expectations and sometimes with unrealistic demands : “Serve me my ice cream now.” “Help me with this purchase, please:” “Solve my problem.”
And once again, it’s you … you are Uncle Ray’s. OMG, what a burden to take on.
However, we want to assure you – we believe you can do this. By the end of this basic training course, we will entrust you with our store, our livelihood, our reputation.
Saying, “the policy is…” or “they don’t allow … ” tells customers you are just a clerk. If that’s the way you feel, you won’t ever be able to help The correct answer is “YES!” “Yes I can … !” Being the store to your to your customers is what makes the work you do both challenging and rewarding. In your hands is the power to make that customer contact both magical and memorable.
TEAM PROFILE
Here’s what we need from you – four key characteristics:
- alignment with our brand
- growth mindset
- can do attitude
- Essential “E”s
There is no way you’ll be able to do this without these key ingredients in your repertoire.
ALIGNMENT WITH OUR BRAND
An openness to aligning yourself with our brand as described in the previous two sections of this module will be critical to your enjoyment of Uncle Ray’s. We have forty years of proven experience behind the brand. So we’re convinced that this is how we want to run our business. So we need to be on the same page.
Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset
I recently read an interesting book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006), by Dr. Carol Dweck.
Here is Dweck’s thesis: Our genes influence our intelligence and talents, but these qualities are not fixed at birth. If you mistakenly believe that your capabilities derive from DNA and destiny, rather than practice and perseverance, then you operate with what Dweck calls a “fixed mindset” rather than a “growth mindset.” Our parents and teachers exert a big influence on which mindset we adopt—and that mindset, in turn, has a profound impact on how we learn and which paths we take in life.
Our genes influence our intelligence and talents, but these qualities are not fixed at birth. If you mistakenly believe that your capabilities derive from DNA and destiny, rather than practice and perseverance, then you operate with what Dweck calls a “fixed mindset” rather than a “growth mindset.” Our parents and teachers exert a big influence on which mindset we adopt—and that mindset, in turn, has a profound impact on how we learn and which paths we take in life.
In experiment after experiment, Dweck has shown that the fixed mindset is a huge psychological roadblock—regardless of whether you feel you were blessed with talent or not. If you have the fixed mindset and believe you were blessed with raw talent, you tend to spend a lot of time trying to validate your “gift” rather than cultivating it. To protect your self-identity as someone who’s super smart or gifted, you often steer clear of tough challenges that might jeopardize that identity. Here’s how Dweck puts it: “From the point of view of the fixed mindset, effort is only for people with deficiencies…. If you’re considered a genius, a talent, or a natural—then you have a lot to lose. Effort can reduce you.”
If you have the fixed mindset and believe you lost the genetic lottery, you also have little incentive to work hard. Why bother putting in a lot of effort to learn a difficult concept if you’ve convinced yourself that you’re lousy at it and nothing is going to alter that basic equation? When I was visiting with community college students in Arizona, one young man said to me, “I’m one of the people who’s not good at math.” It kills me when I hear that kind of thing. I think about how different things might have been if he had been told consistently “you’re very capable of learning this stuff.”
In contrast, people with the growth mindset believe that basic qualities, including intelligence, can be strengthened like muscles. It’s not that they believe that anyone can become the next Albert Einstein or Michael Jordan if they just work hard enough on their physics homework or fadeaway jumpers. Instead, in Dweck’s words “they believe a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.” As a result, they have every incentive to take on tough challenges and seek out opportunities to improve.
At this point in your life, you are not finished, a done deal. You’re still sorting out what you want to be in life, what you want to do. You’re far from done.
We will encourage you to take risks. This in turn will give you the freedom to make mistakes which is critical to growth.
Uncle Ray’s Way the eLearning Course
This course is designed to promote and encourage growth. You will be taking a lot of Information in during the course. A lot is contextual, i.e., background understanding, A lot more is behavioral and skill development, practice, practice, and more practice
We will put you in situations that will encourage and support you while trying on new behaviors. In those situations you will be taken beyond your comfort zone. Yes, it would be so much easier to do these things the way you would normally do them. But now we’re asking you to do them Uncle Ray’s Way.
CHOICES AND DECISIONS
Choose Your Attitude
Like our business targets, these key characteristics are what we are looking for in our team members. We don’t expect you to have mastered them. We accept you as being a work in progress of becoming someone unique and special.
You choose what you think, how you act, your friends, how you spend your free time, what you read, what you eat …
We are suggesting that you include your attitude. Everyday it’s your choice. Next we are suggesting that you choose to Be Fabulous.
We are each in control of our own outcomes. It’s easy to let the world dictate our path, and there’s no shortage of people to blame for challenging circumstances. However we get to choose our own journey. We can choose to give our days to what matters most, or to allow ourselves to be distracted by temptation. We can choose to set the highest standards. Or toss our hands in the air and let fate do as it may. If you get to choose what you think, how you act, who your friends are, how you spend your free time, what you read, and what you eat … why not choose fabulous?
Committing to being the standard by which others are benchmarked has been a winning strategy for over 100 years. Why not choose fabulous?
You make hundreds of choices each day, both big and small. Spend a moment each day make a deliberate choice to be great, to be fabulous.
Negative Attitudes
Here at Uncle Ray’s, if you choose to settle for anything less than “wow” customer service, you are systematically short-changing us by eroding our customer base. By settling for a toxic culture, ho-hum marketing, uninspired products, or soul-crushing bureaucracy, you’re also settling for mediocrity.
The truth is, we could fill this store with our award-winning ice cream, with all the greatest ingredients, stacked to the ceiling coming out the windows and then served by an unfriendly, “Debbie Downer” at our front counter, you know the one you find at about every fast food joint in town!
Debbie actually worked here once – Yes indeed. We saved the letter sent by a disappointed and loyal customer and we’ll read it to you later. That person actually undid everything that Uncle Ray’s had put their heart and soul, 35 years of sweat and tears and more than one million into building the best ice cream experience anyone has ever dreamed of. And boom! One person ruined the experience for at least that one customer
ESSENTIAL “E”S – ENERGY, ENTHUSIASM, EXCITEMENT
By contrast, you will stand out by deciding each day to add that just one extra inch or touch can touch of Energy, Enthusiasm, Excitement to each and every contact with a customer OR teammate. That extra inch is the stuff of greatness. It’s what gets you noticed. It’s what makes you stand out. Remember, you are auditioning for your next job – teacher, lawyer, doctor, salesman or anything in life!
In a world of mediocrity, many stores struggle to deliver the bare essentials. I’m sure you’ve been there. Sales people, service people, cashiers appear so bored that they can’t wait to get home. Their body language screams out, “I don’t want to be here.”
Extra Inch
All of us have been challenged since an early age to go the Extra Mile. Forget about that overused cliché! Not to mention, an extra mile can feel like an overwhelming amount of work. Let’s go the EXTRA INCH! The extra mile is just too far – too much work.
The Extra Inch is that little bit of Extra Effort applied to each and every treat you create and deliver. It’s that little something extra special you add. Eyeballs on the cones for kids, telling customers on a subzero day, “That ice cream will warm you up!” Helping an elderly guest who might look a little unsteady, or taking the time to explain our sometimes, complicated menu when were lined up to the street, goes a long way and makes you look like a real pro.
That extra little zip will deliver a powerful impact for you and all those around you – imagine 12 dynamic people serving ice cream to customers lined up to Leroy Street, that’s what we do. Google us, check us out on Trip Advisor see what they say about us. It’s almost unreal, indeed expectations are high – very high. And one person can ruin the whole experience.
In a world of mediocrity, many stores struggle to deliver the bare essentials. I’m sure you’ve been there. Sales people, service people, cashiers appear so bored that they can’t wait to get home. Their body language screams out, “I don’t want to be here.”
By contrast, you will stand out by deciding each day to add that just one extra inch or touch can touch of Energy, Enthusiasm, Excitement to each and every contact with a customer OR teammate. That extra inch is the stuff of greatness. It’s what gets you noticed. It’s what makes you stand out. Remember, you are auditioning for your next job – teacher, lawyer, doctor, salesman or anything in life!
Sooo, how happy do we want customers? EXTREMELY!
How happy do we want your fellow teammates when they are working with you? EXTREMELY!