A QBQ! Pro at Bass Pro

Author, Ken Blanchard (and fellow Cornell University grad), speaks to how critical it is to have “raving fans.” Certainly, we all love to have some of those!

So I asked a guy who was raving about the QBQ! book’s message of personal accountability to tell me why he feels the way he does. Just doing research. 🙂

In response, Jerry Rogers, an outstanding leader to anyone who works with and for him at the Stapleton Mall Bass Pro store in Denver, Colorado, shared this: 

“QBQ! is exactly what those who sincerely want to be better leaders, parents, and people need. The reason QBQ! fits so well at Bass Pro Shops is we sincerely want to be better at serving others. I cannot be an effective servant leader if I’m not willing to look in the mirror and acknowledge not only what I might be doing wrong, but what I can do to make it better. QBQ! speaks to exactly this and eliminates the victim mentality and blame that our society perpetuates. We all make choices and many of us at Bass Pro Shops have chosen to adopt QBQ! and its personal accountability message to help us improve our service levels every day!”

Obviously, authors love to read sentiments like these, but what caught my eye was his use of the word “sincerely” twice which he italicized each time. I believe what Jerry is saying is too often organizations pay only lip-service to stated goals like “serving the customer” and “getting better everyday.”

But not Jerry. And not Bass Pro Shops. They are serious (sincere?) about taking care of their customers. Customers, Jerry informs me, who spend an average of two hours in his store. Now that’s loyalty! And they’re probably all raving fans, too.

A bit more on Jerry, from my perspective. You see, when Jerry texted me the image below, I just knew I had to go buy him lunch.

This Bass Pro Shops general manager is a passionate, fun, engaging, likable, and sincere leader serving a team of up to 400 staff—not to mention all those people who pay the bills! (Explore how Outstanding! firms view customers)

And though I liked Jerry a ton, I’m not a hunter or camper. Nor do I fish. But, I do know that Bass Pro Shops and “the other guys”—known as Cabela’s, a name I absolutely could not get Jerry to say even once—inspire great passion and commitment in their customers.

I am, however, proud that Jerry and I have passion for one common interest and idea: The clear need for personal accountability in our world today.

And the good news is, Jerry’s customers may stay 2 hours in his store, but it only took his staff one hour to read QBQ!

For Comment: 

Is your organization sincere about customer service? 

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