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I admit it. The pace of business, technology and complexity has taken us away from the three basic premises of what we need to do best:
1. Take an order
2. Ship an order
3. Get paid for an order

While the basic premises are so simple, execution is not. We get wrapped up with “solutions” that give us “outs” but more times than not, do not address the core. For instance, let’s take the process of taking an order. Getting put on hold for minutes waiting to speak to a live person has become so common, why focus on expediting the wait period? In fact, we hired a third-party provider to answer our calls after 60 to enhance our service levels. While this alleviated long wait periods, the level of service from our third-party provider was below standards.

Getting back to the gold standard is what TNG  used to do: Answer the phone in 3 rings or less. In an era where customer service continues to decline and more consumers are up in arms over this issue, and companies must control costs to stay in business, this gold standard is difficult to accomplish. But if we are going to deliver on our mission of 100% Customer Success, it’s time to try.

We tossed out our third-party provider and are hiring additional talent. We will achieve our objective and while there will be occasional lapses, the level of service for this basic premise will be world class.

The second premise, ship an order, we do quite well. But it’s not the gold standard. While we invested more than $4 million into SAP since October 2008, only now are we getting to a point where the data is being transformed properly. We still need another 12-18 months. But we now have an effective VP of Purchasing that is closing the gap quickly and positive changes will take place.

If there is one thing every person at TNG knows about me, it’s that I despise being out of stock. Yes, there are times that key suppliers (CND Shellac in this instance) are out of stock and there is nothing we can do. And while we may be in stock 99% of our top 200 items and 97% of everything else, we need to be better. And we will be.

The gold standard is that our customers place an order and that the order ships complete and arrives perfectly intact. This is world class and this is what TNG is known for. We will not disappoint.

The third premise is one that we have refined well and will continue to assist our customers through the “cloud” movement. TNG was first to eliminate shipping C.O.D. (and saving our customers $10.95 per order). TNG was first to use ACH payment (and saving even more fees). TNG was first to send invoices and shipping notifications electronically. When it comes to shipping and payment fees, I can say we are the best in class and will continue to maintain the gold standard and improve yet even more.

I admit it. Our team of over 200 TNG talent admit it too. There is no team more dedicated and focused on achieving the gold standard. The past 25 years has been quite a ride; we are focused like never before on the next 25 years. Thank you for your understanding and partnership as we get back to the gold standard.

I just returned from the SAP World Tour held in Chicago at the Marriott. The event was sold out and it appeared that everyone came to listen to Al Gore and eat a free lunch (they ran out of the boxed lunches).

SAP’s USA President spoke before Gore and I arrived 15 minutes after the session started. I was told the ballroom was full and they pointed me to another "viewing" room where they had a projector set up so you can see the same thing as if you were in the ballroom.

After five minutes, I decided as a guest panelist at the event, I should see the event live. The "guard" let me in after I told her I came from Alaska. And what did I see? Five huge screens and the SAP President.

After listening for nearly 30 minutes, it was clear that SAP is the global leader in business software and I was happy we made the decision to be part of the SAP family.

Al Gore came on next and after writing a book, doing a movie and speaking a thousand times since he left the White House, this Al Gore was nothing like the one we remember. This one is pocketing $100K for an hour, has polished hair more so than my nails and is more confident that Obama talking about health care.

But alas, Gore is and always will be a politician. After an hour of listening to him, you are ready to run for the hills and find a nice secluded cave. This way you can avoid all the fires, floods, draughts and other things mother nature has in store for us due to global warming.

Gore told us he was going to only spend a couple minutes on the subject. HA! His key point was that the North Pole Ice Cap has lasted 300 million years (nearly as long as politicians) but at the recent pace, will be gone in the next five. That will produce tremendous issues for the planet.

In his effort to tie his message into SAP, he stated that business leaders are the ones that are going to have to forego short term profits for long term results. He mentioned Frito-Lay as a company on the leading edge of "green." (I am confident his previous speech was to church leaders and he told them that church officials are going to have to lead the way).

In the end, Vice President Gore got applause, but not a standing ovation. He’s having way too much fun and making way too much money to care.

Happy Thursday!