Our Slippery Rock Gazette columnist, Aaron J. Crowley has published his first book, Less Chaos, More Cash The Process for Reducing Confusion & Improving Profits in Your Small Business. The book describes a process to help your business improve results. I believe that the relentless drive for improvement is fueled by the reality of customer satisfaction failures. I don't want to give away the secrets; buy the book, try the ideas, and let Aaron know how his suggestions have helped to improve your operation (available at www.LessChaosMoreCash.Com ).

Marketing consultant Denny Hatch, in his monthly column in Target Marketing, January 2010, outlines the results of failure to perform. In a nutshell, United Airlines failed to perform as expected in the eyes of one of their customers, Mr. Dave Carroll. Mr. Carroll was unhappy enough to post a blog (www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars). He also created a series of "lighthearted" but scathing YouTube videos (visit the links from Mr. Caroll's website). The YouTube video does a great job of outlining the customer experience as seen by Mr. Carroll. As a frequent flyer of United Airlines, I found it easy to relate to the video, and video one's 7 million + views would seem to confirm public opinion, or at least the entertainment value.

In his January 2010 Target Marketing article, Mr. Hatch points out that United Air Lines third quarter loss was $57 million and suggests that some of that red ink could be attributed to the result of Mr. Carroll's giving United a "spike in the eye." We now live in a world where people routinely search Google for customer reviews before parting with their cash and where customers have the ability to express their feelings instantly to the whole world. To be successful in the future we must build our businesses around exceeding customer expectations or run the risk of being the subject of a YouTube critique.

There are undoubtedly ways that Aaron's ideas can help us improve The Slippery Rock Gazette. We will continue to strive for improvement, and hopefully you will see the benefits in our upcoming issues.

Thanks for reading,

Rich Hassert

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