Re: The Work Thread 2 - Get back to work!
Posted: Fri May 12, 2023 10:03 am
Post about an ex colleague dying so trigger warning. First time I've ever experienced this.
Drumstick wrote:Is that high or low?
Frank wrote:Had to do a little "return to work" thing with my manager since I took a couple of days off because my car was broken (mainly as an "it's 2023 and my entire job is sitting at a desk and working on a computer why the strawberry float won't you even consider hybrid working you distrusting dinosaur" protest). My manager mentioned what my current Bradford score is... It's 2268
Great T-shirts and Totes I commissioned for the [just take the opportunity to both not actually be helpful at all and promote my Instagram account] art show at [nobody strawberry floating cares] in [pointless mention of the month of event, in the past] QUality was excellent and we sold out so clearly our visitors thought so too. Thanks to Ben and Kat
4 stars
In my view a 5 star rating for anything should be about achieving absolute perfection which we both know isn’t really tangible.
I’ve never left a 5 star review for anything but I don’t generally leave reviews. For me the words that accompany the rating are what’s important and the score is subjective. The words I left were complimentary so anyone reading them would be left with a positive perception of you and your business.
Anyone who knows anything about statistics knows that the value is in grouping results together to smooth out the subjectivity if the scorer. So 4/5 are effectively the same thing.
Sent from my iPhone
Hi,
If you could drop them at the venue that would be amazing ….we’re there all day today until this evening so anytime
If that’s a problem I will probably drop over tomorrow morning after 10am
Many thanks,
Sent from my iPhone
Update 06/07/23: Client clarified 4 stars is the highest score they ever give and does not believe in 5 stars i.e. perfection. No complaints/negative feedback.
____
Hi,
Thank you so much for the positive feedback, which is much appreciated. As I aim to deliver a 5* service, and excellent products, like you say, very much to support my clients' goals such as selling out the T-shirts for your event, it would be great to know how we can maintain the 5* standard and perhaps any areas of improvement you've identified that knocked it down to 4 stars?
With this being the first such case in many years (with online reviews being present in perpetuity), it is very important to me so that I can both improve the service and address any concerns that you may have had. We are here to listen.
I do intentionally raise the bar by electing for extremely high quality garments (in this case ringspun & combed cotton, certified organic and Fair Wear Foundation Stanley/Stella 185g/m2 heavyweight T-shirts and 200g/m2 heavyweight cotton canvas premium totes, compared to more generic options such as Fruit of the Loom) and high definition, durable, full colour CMYK+W and eco-friendly print methods as standard (with no set up or artwork fees, minimums or other hidden charges). Offered at a reasonable price point that is commensurate with those goals (honestly subsiding this in terms of real revenue to provide a simply better standard, as we could charge a lot more). I was happy to meet your original budget in this instance by making a couple of concessions on price, as I would sooner do that then bounce down to a midrange product that may not make the same impression for the visitors.
However, I realise that is not all that makes up a service like a commercial art studio and perhaps there is something else I need to focus on improving?
In terms of expert attention paid to the enquiry from start to finish (the printer not any sales staff), this was logging around 11 hours (just emails) with exhaustive detail, which may have been too much. I am trying to refine this aspect of my service and would be interested in hearing your thoughts here too. The best source of feedback in this respect has to come from my clients.
Besides consistently targeting the highest quality, this process never ends; we are constantly updating, improving and investing in the service to provide this standard at a very small scale locally within the community, and shipping worldwide. And I feel that is why the business has consistently maintained over 93 5* reviews since 2014 (9 years). I truly care about each and every order and am always looking at the competition to see the various ways we could improve, including reading their reviews!
You know how to reach us if you would like to share with us any areas of improvement, and how we can earn your full five stars on this or any other occasion.
I am of course so happy to hear that you sold out of all the merchandise, thus turned a profit of around 200% and hence netting a source of funding, and marketing, for your events (in terms of leaving something quality and long lasting in the hands of every person who was lucky to grab one!). And yes the visitors most likely would concur they were about close to perfect (as is the aim), hence purchasing them. It is often just that little bit more tangible quality, such as softness and density of jersey knit, and print look and feel, that convinces and makes a sale compared to something so-so. I fear that, in many cases, promotional items of this nature are left unsold in piles, because often the service producing them never really cared about the quality, or this impact on the environment (if left unsold), and just wanted them out the door and to maximise the profit possible.
I was grateful for the opportunity to work with yourselves and look forward to the possibility to produce more in the future. Thank you so much.
With very best wishes,
Ben (Artist/Owner)
poshrule_uk wrote:What is it with these people who are obsessed with making other people life a misery. I couldn't even imagine what a 70 hour week would be like but I feel I would probably be dead by Wednesday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-67269976
How many hours should a person work in a week?
That's the question being asked in India over the past few days after software billionaire NR Narayana Murthy - the father-in-law of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - said that young people should be ready to work 70 hours a week to help the country's development.