Sunday, August 17, 2008

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar - Wayne Dyer

No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice.

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.' Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally's Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.' Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'
Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day.

He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?' Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.
He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It.

Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.''
'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally.

'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I
decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I
did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said. 'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it.
You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with
it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us?
Smile, and the whole world smiles with you.....The ball is in our hands!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's actually illegal for cab drivers to serve any sort of food or beverage, without a food and beverage license. I've had this idea for years and wondered why cabbies didn't do it. It's because it violates both local and federal law.

Olias said...

Dyer really ought to stick to plagiarizing Buddhism and other religions rather than come up with his own material. It's laughable. I don't think he knows much about wildlife or metaphors. I've never interpreted a duck's quack as complaining, although I have interpreted Dyer as a quack. And Eagles are not noble birds; they are scavengers and steal food from other creatures. Dyer is kind of like an Eagle in this respect, a lot of his ideas and sayings are not his own but taken from other sources, without acknowledgement.
Anyway, I'm glad I stumbled into this website. Just looking at the ridiculous title makes me laugh. Don't try to be clever, Dyer, it makes you look like a real hack.

Anonymous said...

Thank you dear dr. Dayer for sharing with us this story. About previous comments I just can say: those kind of people they just do not understand....for now ;-). Life wisdom is more simple than our mind wants to addmit or it is capable to see....somebody said: Great teacher teach simple things, but those things change people's life...and here is another "plagiat"...hope you like it...I do: There was an old wise cat and a small young kitten in a park.
The old cat saw the young kitten chasing its tail and asked: “Why are you chasing your tail?”
To it the kitten replied, “I’ve been attending cat highschool and I have learned that the most important thing for a cat is happiness, and that happiness is located in my tail.
Therefore, I am chasing it and when I will catch it, I shall be happy forever.”
Laughing, the wise old cat replied:
“My dear, I have also been in a cat highschool, and I am totaly agree with you except in one small detail. Going through life, I found out that whenever I chase after my tail, it keeps running away from me, but when I forgett all about it and simply living my life, it just seems to follow me wherever I go and whatever I do.”