“O most dear ones … I can see you, beginning the journey to the land where there is no night nor sorrow nor death.” –St. Patrick

If I could pick a patron saint for the trucking industry, it would be Saint Patrick (who of course, would have to do double duty as he’s also the patron saint of Ireland). Now, sure, we’re coming up on St. Patrick’s day and all the frivolity that goes with it – parades, people dressed as leprechauns, green beer, etc. – but that’s never what St. Patrick was about.

(Contrary to the legend you’ve heard, St. Patrick did NOT banish snakes from Ireland)

The reason I feel trucking and St. Patrick go together is that he’s a living representation of the power of one – how one person can make not just a difference but huge, mammoth change; the kind that eternally resonate down the pathways of human history. His belief in leading by example, by facing danger head on, is the same stuff exhibited by truckers every day – especially those honored by Goodyear’s “Highway Hero” award, the ones jumping out of their cabs to rescue fellow drivers and motorists, no matter the danger to their own life and limbs. For who knows what the lives saved by the selfless bravery of truckers will go on to accomplish?

The Irish are a good example of what one person can do in this context. Today the Irish are largely known as an open hearted, happy-go-lucky people with a dash of wildness that gets them into trouble from time to time. But turn the clock back to St. Patrick’s time, the 5th Century, and a much darker, more horrible picture emerges.

Back then, the Irish (a race then known as the Celts) were universally feared and loathed: they were the stuff of nightmares. Might made right as hundreds of small-time kings and queens led gangs of thugs into frequent battle against one other, stealing cattle and other goods along the way. Human sacrifice was an everyday occurrence. (You can read about all about it in “How The Irish Saved Civilization,” by the one of the great historians of our time, Thomas Cahill)

Worst of all, the Irish were slave raiders – skilled at snatching children in particular. Up and down the coast of what much later became England, Wales, and Scotland, they preyed on native villages and Roman towns alike. Patrick was one of those unfortunates – a 15-year old Roman, Patricius his given Latin name, plucked in a raid and made a shepherd-slave for six lonely years, ill fed and poorly clothed. You can argue – living as he did, fearing for his life every day – that the voice Patrick heard calling on him in his head to escape might have been his own; a mind driven to desperation by his circumstances.

But escape he did – traveling 200 miles on foot across Ireland to the sea, somehow managing to get aboard a ship to Gaul (later-day France) even though he’d been recognized as an escaped slave. Not only that, he saved the crew from hunger after they’d landed in Gaul to find the region a wasteland (caused by invading Visigoths). They called upon him and his God for food – and then it appeared, provided conveniently by a herd of pigs.

Coincidence? Luck? Divine intervention? Call it what you will. But here’s the important part: after surviving all of that, after rejoining his family in England, he decided to go BACK – to return to the lands of his oppressors with only his faith as protection. He first went to Gaul to become a monk, struggling to speak, read, and understand languages and concepts he barely understood due to his utter lack of formal education. Then he took ship and came back to Ireland. There he changed the course of history.

(Statues of St. Patrick cover Ireland today)

Within his lifetime, human sacrifice stopped in Ireland, as did slavery and slave raiding. The rampant pillaging and plundering went way, way down as the Irish embraced him and his teachings. By the time of his death in 461, monasteries dotted the land and the monks within them would go forth and rescue the books of the then-collapsing Roman Empire, tirelessly copying them page by countless page, then return their horde of priceless knowledge and literacy a hundred years later to medieval Europe – laying the foundation for the Renaissance to come.

Sure, Saint Patrick didn’t do it all himself, but his example convinced many to join with him, and together they changed a people, a country, and eventually a world for the good of all mankind. And he didn’t do it by force, with armies at his back, armed to the teeth. He did it only with a book of prayers, the clothes on his back, and his own inner strength. Not too shabby for a one time Roman and former slave, if I say so myself.

So many truck drivers I’ve met over my career display the very same courage and fortitude of St. Patrick; their willingness to perform a tough job that’s (to put it VERY politely) disdained by much of our society. I’ve no doubt that the monks who taught Patrick looked down their noses at him and probably thought him way off his rocker for going back to the people who enslaved him – to a land they themselves, with all their educated sensibilities and self-righteousness, feared and loathed. But his was a necessary if dangerous task, something any trucker can relate to.

(An Irish trucker’s rig — decked out appropriately!)

Maybe this is all over the top; OK, it IS over the top. But it’s worth remembering the real story of St. Patrick and what he truly achieved in the course of his life – indeed, the change he set in motion that continued long after he passed from the Earth. That’s inspiring and it shows that one person can still indeed make a huge difference on this planet of ours – even a truck driver, as the case may one day be.

Now HERE’S something that looks like fun!

That’s Meredith Ochs, Sirius radio DJ, in the middle of the photograph below, between Bryan “The Don” Martin on the left and Ryan “Rhino” Templeton on the right – just two of the famous “Chrome Shop Mafia” staffers that’ll be giving Meredith a ride in style to the Mid-America Trucking Show this year.

Meredith – co-host with the esteemed “Chris T.” of the Freewheelin’ satellite radio show broadcast on Sirius Road Dog Trucking Radio channel 147 – is riding shotgun with the Mafia from Joplin, Missouri to the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting all the way.

The Chrome Shop Mafia (as if you didn’t know) is one of the biggest and baddest trucking reality cable TV shows and they do a weekly guest segment on Freewheelin’ Thursdays from 12 noon to 1 pm eastern standard time.

Now, to call Meredith and Chris T.’s live three-hour talk show on Sirius 147 “high energy” is kinda like calling a tornado a strong gust of wind. It definitely wakes you up (far more than my own appearance on the same channel from 6 am to 7 am every Monday morning, let me tell you). They cover the news and pop culture topics, along with celebrity guests, every weekdays from 11 am to 3 pm eastern.

So if you’re coming west to east for Mid America, you might just see Meredith, the Mafia, and probably a lot of other fans rolling along in one big convoy. Tell them I said “hi” if you do.

“The nation needs to develop a new long-term vision for its highway system that would include improving conditions and safety and reducing traffic congestion.” –William M. Wilkins, executive director, The Road Information Program

It’s no secret that our rural and urban roads, alongside highways and bridges, are in sorry shape these days. The question we need to answer is twofold: how bad off are they and what can we do about it?

According to a new study released by The Road Information Program (which gets compacted down into ‘TRIP,’ one very slick acronym) deteriorating urban pavement conditions cost the average driver in the U.S. some $413 a year in terms of additional vehicle operating costs due to accelerated vehicle deterioration, additional maintenance needs and increased fuel consumption.

TRIP, a national transportation research group, also says its study found that roughly 23% of the nation’s major metropolitan roads – interstates, freeways and other critical local routes –are in poor condition, resulting in rough rides for truckers and motorists alike. Not surprising, Los Angeles and the cities of San Francisco and Oakland have the largest amount of poor pavement out of all the metropolitan locations in the country (65% for L.A. and 62%, respectively, for San Francisco and Oakland) while (and this shocks me!) Washington D.C. – the U.S. capitol – only has about 30% of its roadways in serious disrepair.

What’s that mean in terms of dollars? Well, for drivers in Los Angeles, it costs an extra $778 a year in extra vehicle maintenance and fuel – almost twice the national average. “With state and federal transportation funding falling short, the cost of materials and repairs rising and traffic volumes increasing, transportation agencies will face a significant challenge in improving urban pavement conditions,” said William Wilkins, TRIP’s executive director.

Now, TRIP puts out a study like this almost every year and though it does a good job trying to be objective about the issue, trucking gets dinged repeatedly in their roadway analysis – simply because (and it’s the truth) trucks weigh a good deal more than cars, thus putting more pressure on pavement surfaces.

Overall travel on urban roads increased by 39% from 1990 through 2005, but urban travel by large commercial trucks grew at an even faster rate, increasing by 49% from 1990 to 200, TRIP noted. “ Large trucks place significant stress on road surfaces,” said Wilkins. “While overall vehicle travel is expected to increase by approximately 30% by 2020, the level of heavy truck travel nationally is projected to increase by about 39% by 2020.”

There’s a way to address this, of course. If we raise the weight limit on commercial trucks – from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds – and add an extra axle to the trailer, we’ll be able to reduce the number of trucks on the roads while not sacrificing any freight capacity. That extra axle will help redistribute the added weight, by the way, so there wouldn’t be any additional pressure put on the pavement surface.

However, size and weight increases for truck are pretty much dead on arrival in Congress, according to recent comments by Rich Schweitzer, an attorney that serves as general counsel for the National Private Truck Council.

“We want to look at increasing truck size and weight to six axles and 97,000 pounds, explore using 333-foot doubles using current bridge formulas and axle-weight limits, and propose truck-only lanes,” he explained during a speech at the 9th annual fleet management conference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, last week, put on by PHH Truck Services. “Congress isn’t on board with any of this.”

Back to TRIP’s study: Although the share of major urban roads in poor condition has decreased since 2002, conditions are likely to worsen in the future under current transportation funding projections. The group said the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) expects that, through 2025, the nation will fall short of the cost of maintaining current urban pavement conditions by $119 billion and will fall short of making significant repairs by $270 billion.

TRIP further found that maintaining urban roadways in their current condition would require a 56% increase in annual funding, while significantly improving the physical condition of urban roadways would require a 126% increase in annual funding.

There’s more gloomy news to report, unfortunately. Federal funding for highway repairs and improvements in the fiscal year 2009, starting on October 1, 2008, may be reduced as a result of a forecast deficit of $3.2 billion in the highway account of the Federal Highway Trust Fund.

On top of that, 18 states expect to face budget shortfalls totaling more than $14 billion during the current 2008 fiscal year, with 25 states expecting to face budget shortfalls of at least $36 billion during fiscal year 2009, largely as a result of shrinking tax revenues. Because most states are not allowed to run a deficit or borrow to cover their expenditures, said TRIP, it is likely that states will have to consider drawing down reserves, cutting expenditures or raising taxes.

The cost of roadway improvements is escalating as well, TRIP found, because the price of key materials needed for highway and bridge construction is increasing rapidly. Between January 2004 and January 2008, the average cost of materials used for highway construction, including asphalt, concrete, steel, lumber and diesel has increased by 46%.

Hoo boy!!! Not exactly a recipe for warm and fuzzy feelings about the future of our road networks, is it?

“The great virtue of free enterprise is that it forces existing businesses to meet the test of the market continuously, to produce products that meet consumer demands at lowest cost, or else be driven from the market. It is a profit-and-loss system.” –Milton Friedman

There’s no question that the trucking industry is served by many top-notch suppliers of everything from new trucks and aftermarket parts to engine oil and maintenance services. That’s been my experience covering this industry and it’s all the more remarkable because trucking is such a tight-margin business, with 5% to 7% profit margins the norm for many fleets out there – numbers that usually aren’t attractive to the best suppliers in the market.

Yet the reverse is also true; that there also suppliers that exasperate fleets to no end, with customer poor service probably the top issue. Professor Jerry Osteryoung from the college of business at Florida State University is very aware of how much trouble suppliers like these can cause, especially for the entrepreneurs he works with. Truckers, like many entrepreneurs, recognize the value of customer service and how critical it is as a competitive advantage in the marketplace. That’s why is can be a real problem on more than one level if their suppliers don’t follow the same playbook.

So, as usual, I’m going to give Professor Osteryoung some space here to detail his thoughts on the subject of difficult suppliers, as he’s had a lot more experience with this issue than I have. Professor Osteryoung, the floor is yours:

“Suppliers allow you to function as a business and provide products and services to your customers. They determine the cost, as well as the availability, of your products and services. In so many ways, suppliers are the lifeblood of your business. They are clearly indispensable … and that means you will probably have to deal with at least one difficult supplier at some point during your business’s life.

We were helping one entrepreneur deal with an incredibly difficult vendor. Compared to the firm’s other suppliers, this vendor had the highest cost, but it was the industry leader, with a name that was considered the flagship of the industry. This vendor did everything possible to avoid being supportive of this business, from not returning phone calls to charging for each and every sales brochures that was designed for the ultimate customer (including their catalogs, which listed the product description and the wholesale price of each and every product).

Because of the supplier’s position in the industry, the firm thought that they had no choice but to keep this vendor on. They thought that they absolutely needed the vendor’s name to lend credibility to their business. While they tried to negotiate a better relationship and terms with this vendor, the vendor just was not interested, as they believed that they were the ‘elephant’ in the market.

I was able to work with this firm and show them that, while the vendor had a significant market share, the firm’s customers trusted them and relied on their product guidance – that the customers came to my client’s firm, not to their vendor!

It was tough for the firm to let go of the vendor, as they really believed that their business would not be as successful without it. However, after one year without the difficult vendor, sales were down by 5%, but profits were up by 10%. On top of the improved financial considerations, the entrepreneur is sleeping better and just feeling much, much better. Now, in hindsight, the entrepreneur wonders why it took them so long to make this decision.

Some of the red flags indicating poor vendors are continuously unfulfilled orders, poor relationship with the vendor’s sales rep, questionable value in the products that they are distributing or manufacturing, and the feeling that you are just not getting the service that you require to service your customers. The key is to examine each and every one of your vendors to ensure that they are servicing you in the manner that your business requires.”

And let me add one thought here to those of Professor Osteryoung: don’t forget the positive, to tell your vendors and suppliers when they do a great job. Positive feedback, in my view, is probably an even more vital ingredient to building and sustaining a long-term relationship with solid vendors than criticism alone.

To reach Professor Osteryoung by e-mail, go to jostery@comcast.net. You can also contact him by phone at 850-644-3372. All of Dr. Osteryoung’s articles can be found in a searchable form at www.cob.fsu.edu/jmi.

So I just got back from the ninth annual fleet management conference put on by PHH FirstFleet, a third party vehicle management provider based out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. (Incidentally, they just changed their name to PHH Trucks, to make the trucking aspect of their business crystal clear to their customers and the industry as a whole.)

I look forward to this event every year, despite being asked to speak at it (because I am just deathly afraid of speaking in public) because PHH Trucks brings in top-notch experts from across the industry to give the audience (made up of mostly private fleet managers) deeper insight into the business, regulatory, and equipment issues they will face today and especially tomorrow.

I already posted a story on our website about the engine panel PHH Trucks put together to go over the lessons learned for 2007 and what’s ahead for 2010. Richard Nelson, an engineer with the National Biodiesel Board, gave a truly excellent presentation called “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” concerning biodiesel’s use in commercial trucking, warning fleets that they must rigorous in determining the quality of both the biodiesel they use and the producer that makes it.

Mike Romaine from Eaton Corp. laid out the roadmap for hybrid vehicle development, telling the gathered fleet managers where Eaton thinks hybrids can be most advantageous in commercial use – which, frankly, is looking like everywhere as oil prices spike over $100 a barrel and diesel fuel nears $4 a gallon.

Jackie Yeager from Cummins talked about the California Air Resources Board (the infamous CARB) and the plan it’s drafting to force the replacement of older model trucks and buses in successive stages between 2010 and 2013. Following that effort is a proposal to start regulating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions much the same way they’ve addressed particulates and oxides of nitrogen – for both California and out-of-state trucks that work in California.

I missed Dee Kapur’s outlook on truck manufacturing issues (expensive hotels like Hyatt should not have a third-rate, outside company run their business center computers for them, nor charge Internet fees when guests are shelling out $250 a night … but that’s another story), which is a bummer for Kapur, the president of the truck group for International Truck & Engine Corp., always has some interesting (if not controversial) things to say.

I did catch Rick Schweitzer’s talk about how states are eyeing more tolls and the sell-off of toll roads to third parties as a way to raise revenue. As legal counsel for the National Private Truck Council, Schweitzer also noted that the industry’s ongoing effort to get Congress to address commercial truck size and weight issues – an effort that could reduce the numbers of trucks needed to haul freight, while boosting overall trucking productivity – probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

But by far the best presentation came from Jim Meil, Eaton’s chief economist, who once again used his insightful mix of economic analysis, uncomplicated language, and humor to give the assembled fleet managers a potential picture of the days ahead. Will there be a recession? Meil thinks not – but it’ll be a very “close call.” He believes the government has reacted in time, using a $165 billion in economic stimulus package combined with “bonus depreciation” for equipment bought by businesses this year. Also unheralded by most economy watchers is the strong ongoing boom in U.S. exports, up some 42% or $184 billion between 2006 and the end of 2007, which is helping balance out the 39.4% or $173.4 billion decline in housing starts.

That export boom is coming from strong economic growth in the rest of the world, particularly China, where the economy is literally expanding by 16% to 17% a year. That’s also translating into demand for new and used trucks, with Meil noting 15% of new trucks built in the U.S. are being exported – some 30,000 Class 8 units, compared to 3,000 units eight years ago. “We’re see used truck exports to Russia, South America, Nigeria, and Chile – a channel that literally didn’t exist several years ago,” he noted.

It helps, too, that the U.S. dollar is weak abroad, which is encouraging a lot of foreign purchases of U.S. goods as they can get more for their money. And with trucking so tied to manufacturing in this country, that’s a good bellwether for freight volumes in the months ahead. Meil also things that’ll help push Class 8 truck sales up to 240,000 units for the year.

This doesn’t mean the U.S. economy is in the clear – not be a long shot. If some big banks start failing from the subprime loan mess and oil prices climb up to $120 or $130 per barrel, that’ll spell real trouble. Demand for oil is exploding across the world, again with China in the lead, and that’s what will keep oil prices high for the foreseeable future.

“The freight worry here is that shippers are reacting to costly energy by cutting shipment weight,” he noted. “We’re also seeing a shift in freight from truckload to private carriers and more efforts to improve logistics efficiency to control costs. The bottom lime is that many tailwinds have turned to headwinds … but the trucking industry is resilient. And trucks still continue to be the major transportation mode, compared to available alternatives.”

Overall, Meil expects the economy to grow very slowly – “creep” might be a much better word – for the next few months, then ramp up toward the end of 2008. Anemic gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.6% in the fourth quarter in 2007 and 0.8% for the first quarter this year should shift up to 2.2%, 3.3%, and 3.5% for the remaining three quarters of 2008, averaging out to GDP growth of 2.1% for all of 2008. Not good numbers, but not too bad either, Meil said. “Those are not recession numbers,” he added. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed that in the end we’ll dodge a recession this year.”

Let’s just hope that scenario plays out in the end this year.

The port of Long Beach in California is pushing ahead with an aggressive truck replacement plan that got the green light last month – a plan that seeks to replace a large chunk of the 16,800 diesel-powered tractors serving the port with models equipped with 2007-compliant engines or fueled with liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The port’s Clean Trucks Program – which got the go-ahead Feb. 19 this year – is designed to slash truck-related air pollution by 80% within five years. “This truck program is a major step forward for cleaner air,” said Richard Steinke, executive director for the port of Long Beach. “Getting these old, dirty trucks off the road will deliver major air quality improvements for the entire region.”

It’s sister facility, the port of Los Angeles, is also forging ahead with a similar plan, he noted.

Starting on October 1 this year, the port is going to ban pre-1989 trucks from operating on its premises. By January 1, 2010, all 1989 through 1993 model trucks will be banned from the port’s terminals, along with non-retrofitted 1994 through 2003 model trucks. The final step comes on January 1, 2012, when any trucks that do not meet the 2007 federal emission standards will be banned from port of Long Beach terminals.

The Port plans to start granting five-year concessions to licensed motor carriers (LMCs) for a one-time application fee of $250 and $100 per truck each year if those operators meet several key requirements, including using trucks that meet the port’s “clean truck” standards, use drivers that meet security requirements including enrollment in the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program, and tag their vehicles with radio-frequency identification devices so the port of long beach can monitor engine compliance with air quality standards.

However, the port stressed that truck owners are going to be offered a variety of financial incentives to upgrade their vehicles.

The first is a lease-to-own program, whereby an applicant can exchange an older truck for a pre-approved new truck under a 7-year lease agreement for a monthly lease payment between $500 and $700, with the port augmenting the lease payments with monthly stipends of $800 to $1,400, along with prepaid maintenance. At the end of the lease term, the port noted it would provide a 50% ($7,000 - $15,000) subsidy towards the purchase of the truck for the lessee.

For truck owners seeking to buy an new, pre-approved cleaner truck model, the port plans to offer grants of $60,000 to $75,000 for a clean diesel truck, with $90,000 to $120,000 for LNG or other alternative fueled truck, with prepaid maintenance also provided via another upfront grant.

Trucker owners that wish to retrofit their vehicles to lower pollution levels can also receive financial help, via one-time grants of as much as $20,000 towards the purchase of retrofit equipment for model year 1994 – 2003 trucks in 2008 and 2009.

Money to provide for all of these grants and subsidies is expected to come largely from a new “Clean Trucks Fee” of $35 levied on every loaded twenty-foot equivalent container unit (TEU) that arrives by ocean carrier starting this October, along with funds from California’s newly passed Proposition 1B transportation bond. The fee – which should generate about $1.6 billion, the port estimates – does not apply to containerized cargo moving through the port by train, it noted.

So, is this program the bellwether of future efforts by ports, cities, and states to reduce air pollution? Will it ultimately be affordable for truckers larger and small, even with the generous subsidies being offered? That remains to be seen. One thing is for certain – the clock is now ticking on this program, meaning truckers at the port must deal with it now or risk big disruptions in their business at year’s end.

Talked with Mark Betner recently, manager of heavy-duty lubricants for Citgo, at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s annual meeting down in Florida (And NO, there won’t be any video of me flapping my gums this time – which I’m sure is a relief to many out there).

Betner’s been a longtime advocate that the U.S. trucking industry needs to switch to a lighter weight for its engine oils – dropping to a 5W-40 grade from the 15W-40 standard almost all heavy-duty truck owners now use. His contention, backed by long experience in the European market, is that heavier-weight oil doesn’t provide extra protection, which is a widely held belief among truckers.

(Mark Betner, Citgo’s manager of heavy-duty lubricants)

In fact, lightweight 5W-40 oil can provide even better protection, as it offers a much wider temperature range (down to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit) of operating effectiveness. That thinner viscosity is good in another way, said Betner, as it means there’s less fluid for the engine to “work” through – and if the engine doesn’t have to work as hard, fuel economy can improve.

“Europe’s been a far stronger advocate of lightweight viscosity engine oil grades because their fuel coats are almost double ours,” Betner explained to me. “And we’re just now recognizing that lighter viscosity grades can give you a fuel economy advantage. In fact, Eaton just did a study showing that lighter weight synthetic lubricants can translate into fuel efficiency gains.”

On-highway tests conducted by Roadranger – a marketing partnership between Eaton and Dana Corp. – indicates that using synthetic lubricant in both components can translate into fuel economy gains of more than 1%.

The tests – comparing new Roadranger Synthetic Lubricants to traditional synthetic blends and semi-synthetic blends – involved two U.S. linehaul fleets, with a third conducted by an independent research facility. The tests – using an SAE Type III 1526 test, a TMC/SAE J1321 test, along with a modified J1376 test – showed both linehaul carriers on average improved fuel economy 1.029%, with the independent research facility generating fuel savings of 1.112%.

“This is a significant finding when you take into account that every 1% improvement amounts to about $500 in annual fuel savings per truck,” commented Rick Muth, lubricants manager for Roadranger. “Our previous Roadranger lubricant blends were already producing fuel saving benefits of 2% and 4% over mineral-based lubricants, so the additional savings is a further bonus.”

Citgo’s Betner told me that while a 1% fuel efficiency improvement may not sound like much, when you extrapolate that gain out across a fleet of 100 trucks operating in typically longhaul on-highway applications, you’re talking about saving $80,000 a year in fuel costs. “Three dollar-plus diesel has changed everything,” Betner said.

Will thinner, lightweight engine oils gain traction in the U.S. market? The jury is still out for now on that. One thing is for certain, though: as fuel continues to get more costly, fleets are going to look at everything and anything to try and improve fuel efficiency – and that includes what grade of engine oil they use, I suspect.

“To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” –Harriet Beecher Stowe

Sure, sure, we’ve all heard it before – how “the little things” can add up to be a really big thing in terms of customer service. But I’ve found it’s true that just a kind word here, some extra effort over there, or even the addition of some little extras makes a big difference at the end of the day.

For example, there’s a barbershop I favor in Burke, VA, operated by Vietnamese immigrants, where I’ve gotten haircuts for the last 12 years. I don’t live in Burke anymore, yet I still head out that way, because they greet me warmly every time I come in, know how I like my hair cut, and get it done in record time (very inexpensively I might add). Still, it’s that little thing – the personal greeting – that keeps me coming back.

Professor Jerry Osteryoung with the college of business at Florida State University had some thoughts on this subject and what it can mean for small business owners trying to win (and keep) clients for the long term. So, Professor Osteryoung, as usual, the floor is yours:

“I was in Jacksonville to give a speech, and I was up very early (the older I get, the earlier I seem to wake up). I knew that I needed to eat some breakfast, so I stopped at Panera Bread and ordered a toasted bagel (multi-grain) with cream cheese (low-fat) and some coffee to have in the restaurant (they also had a free wireless internet connection). When I sat down in a booth with my bagel and coffee, much to my surprise, on my tray was an old-fashioned metal knife – not the usual plastic cutlery.

For me, spreading the cream cheese with the metal knife was easier and just felt good. I am sure it is not as economical to use metal knives, as they have to be washed, but it sent the beautiful message that the customer is very important at this restaurant. In addition, I also felt as if Panera Bread was helping the environment by not serving a plastic knife.

Given that every new customer represents a significant investment of dollars, you must make sure that each and every detail pertaining to your customer service delivery is thought through and carefully planned out. As I like to say, ‘The devil is in the details, especially with customer service.’

Another example of where details make a difference is with paper towels in bathrooms. I hate, hate electrical hand dryers, as it seems to take forever to get my hands dry. Of course, some of this may have something to do with my strong impatient streak; however, having paper towels in restrooms just creates the right customer service experience.

I work out at Premier Fitness and Health Center. When you first walk in, there is a check-in counter where they scan members’ ID cards. What is neat here is that when you are leaving, the staff tries to say ‘Good bye’ to you – and if they know your name, they will mention that as well. Having one of the staff say ‘Goodbye, Jerry’ on my way out makes a wonderful final impression. Small things do matter!

Another detail that many overlook is their voicemail message. Suppose you call someone and his or her voicemail message says ‘I will call you back as soon as possible.’ Does that mean in two weeks, two days, or to hours? This vague message does not tell me that the customer is important; rather, it says ‘I will get to you whenever it is convenient for me.’ Clearly, this is just not a good message to transmit.

I prefer a message that says, ‘I am in the office today, February 18. I am sorry that I could not receive your message directly, but your call is important to me. If you leave me a voicemail message, I will get back with you before the end of the day. Thanks for calling me.’ Messages like this are so much more effective than those that say ‘I will get to you as soon as possible.’ Looking at all of the details of your customer service delivery is important, for it’s the small things that really matter.”

You can reach Professor Jerry Osteryoung by e-mail at jostery@comcast.net or by phone at 850-644-3372. All of Dr. Osteryoung’s articles, by the way, can be found in a searchable form at www.cob.fsu.edu/jmi.