Excellence in Customer Service: Don't Drop the Football

Author: Suzanne Mooney, Fundraising Analyst on 25 May 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: event fundraising, nonprofit fundraising, dont drop the football

“Don’t drop the football.” That was one of the first things Jeff Shuck ever said to me. It was 2004 and I had just been hired as a Coach for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. The other new hires and I were on-event at the Boston 3-Day for the Cure as part of our training.

We were discussing the importance of customer service when Shuck said those four words: “Don’t drop the football.” What he meant by that was if someone asks where the bathroom is, you don’t point and explain. You stop what you are doing and you walk them over to the bathroom. When someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, you never say, “I don’t know.” You say, “I’ll find out.” Those four words mean that no matter what your job title, every job is your job when a customer needs something and customer service is important.

The lessons he taught us that day stuck with me. Seven years later those four words are at the forefront of my mind whenever I am dealing with event participants. Those words are also on my mind anytime I am the participant or, really, anytime I am the customer. From finding the starting line at a road race to shopping at the grocery store, I am always aware of whether or not the people around me are dropping footballs.

Molly Fast talked about customer service on our blog last month in her post titled, “Everyone is in the Customer Service Business.”  After a recent experience with a cab driver in Austin, Texas, I couldn’t agree more.  Everyone is in the customer service business and my driver seemed to know this too. He definitely did not drop the football.

I was in Austin for a one-day meeting and had a flight home to Seattle that night at 6:45pm. Being unfamiliar with the area, I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get a cab out to our meeting location to pick me up. I mistakenly assumed I could walk downstairs, hop in a cab and be on my way. By the time the cab arrived I was sweating.  I had a connection to make at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and two dogs at home who would not be happy if I didn’t arrive that night. I could not miss this flight.

For the first ten minutes of the drive the cab driver reassured me. He could see my visible worry and he kept saying, “It’s no problem, it’s no problem, we have time.” He wasn’t worried, so I started to relax and soon I wasn’t worried.

Then we got stuck in traffic. The kind of traffic where you sit in one spot and don’t move. The kind of traffic where you know something bad must have happened. The kind of traffic that can ruin your day if you’re in a hurry.

As it turns out there were three separate accidents on the highway between us and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. However, I still wasn’t worried because I had faith in the cab driver’s confidence. That is, until he turned around and said, “I think we’re in trouble now.” We sat in traffic for a few more minutes and he kept looking around nervously and then I saw the light bulb go on in his head. He pulled out of the lane we were in and headed for the shoulder. He continued down a grassy slope and while we were briefly off-roading he turned around and said, “Don’t you worry, we’re gonna get you there in time for your flight.”

And he did.

We ended up on the frontage road for a few miles, almost got in an accident (or seven) as he weaved through traffic, then we got back on the highway after we had passed the accidents and I arrived at the airport in plenty of time.  

It would have been easy for this cab driver to blame his customer for the situation. “You should have called earlier for a cab,” he could have said to me. If would have been easy for him to shrug his shoulders at the traffic. “There’s nothing I can do,” he could have said to me. Instead, he went above and beyond for his customer, a customer he knew he would probably never see again.

That is what it means to not drop the football. In fact, that is what it means to take the football and run with it and carry it into the end zone for a touchdown. That is customer service.

As an event fundraiser, customer service should always be at the forefront of your mind. In order to raise more money and awareness for your cause, in order to make a difference in the world, in order to accomplish just about anything – you need people. Every interaction with a participant, donor, volunteer or the general public can leave a lasting impression. Make it a good one. Don’t drop the football.