The Ivory Tower Syndrome

The Ivory Tower Syndrome … And Why You Must Ban it From Your Business!

Hey what's going on???

It's Tuesday, it's 7:42 PST and I'm sitting on the couch with my trusty and I use that term loosely with this DELL Latitude, getting ready to write you a blog post.

Like I've told you before I have a close friend that prompts me, every Mon, Wed, and Friday. That way I get help so I don't forget about the blogging thingy. And you know what? It worked. I'm now writing 4-5, sometimes 10 blogs a week and that's going to help me help more business people do what they need to do.

Make money.

Over the years, I’ve found that you should “inspect what you expect." That means, thinking often falls short, especially in large corporations, as you move from the front lines of customer service toward what I call the “Ivory Tower.”

Doctors do this regularly. They think because their name has a Dr. in front of it, they're special and they are entitled to certain privileges. They are in a sense, but then again, that entitlement should be geared toward their colleagues, not the normal guy on the block.

Anyway...

The Ivory Tower is where policies and procedures are enacted by folks who rarely, if ever, spend time interacting with customers.

Said in my terms, for my profession, the Ivory Tower is where policies and procedures are enacted by doctors who rarely, if ever, spend time interacting with patients.

The result—those policies are often silly, and sometimes ridiculous, when implemented on the front lines.

If only those upper-management folks sitting in the Ivory Towers (and this could be you) would “inspect what they expected,” they’d quickly see how the very policies and procedures they create often interfere with their ability to meet and exceed customer/patient expectations, and, thus, interfere with their ability to grow their business.

Twenty-five years in business has ingrained in me an ability to spot such stupidity a mile away, as I did recently, so let me share the story to illustrate this point.

I was on a tight schedule for the day, I had a ton of things to do, including going shopping at the grocery store which I hate, and as usual, one of my stops was at my bank to deposit a check.

I pulled into the tight drive-through, and, after waiting almost twelve minutes (while still on that tight schedule mind you), the paunchy teller returns to the foggy window to tell me that he couldn’t deposit my check because it appeared altered.

What? Come on give me a break.

It was my own company check, written by me, to myself, to be deposited (not cashed!) into my personal checking account that I had with this bank!

It seems that the bank has a policy of not accepting checks that may appear to be altered.

At first glance, this seems like a worthwhile safety policy for all concerned, so I asked what the specific objection was. I mean, hey, it' my check. What's wrong with it?

The teller explained that the date looked altered. Yeah the date! He said that he couldn’t tell if the date was February 12 or 13. It was not altered, perhaps my messy handwriting made it look that way, but in either case, what difference could this possibly make? It was February 13th! At this point, I really wasn’t mad, I was stunned in disbelief.

I realized that the $14/hour teller was simply following bank procedure (dictated by someone in the Ivory Tower) and that the teller was not the one to be upset with. So I asked if the manager of the bank was inside. He said that she was, but that she already okayed this! I looked at him and said, “Tell her I’ll be right in. I want to talk to her personally as I'm on a tight schedule and I don't need something like this happening to me, especially today.”

I drove around, parked my car, got out, and went inside where the manager was waiting for me.

She re-explained the bank’s policy, and showed me that the date on my check was not clear. Since it was already February 13th, I asked what possible difference it could make, and she simply repeated the bank’s “no-alterations” policy. I would need to bring back another check.

Now I was getting pissed.

Here are the facts of this situation as I explained them to the branch manager, who, by the way, knows me by sight! I make weekly if not daily deposits, so it's not like she doesn't know me.

* You recognize and know me by sight as one of your customers.
* You personally opened up our checking and savings accounts.
* You know that I own my own business, and that this is my company check, written by me.
* And finally, I’m not looking to withdraw money; I’m trying to deposit this money into your bank!

No dice.

She told me that I had to write another check or come back later with another check if I didn't have one.

Despite my utter disbelief and, I believe, red face, I still recognized that even the branch manager was not the policy maker, so I asked who was, and if we could get that person on the phone!

Surprisingly, she obliged.

Woohoo! Imagine that.

She got the bank’s corporate Ivory-Tower controller on the phone to further clarify the bank’s no-alterations policy. The branch manager told the controller the facts as I just outlined above, and then asked the Ivory-Tower controller, “Even though I know Jim, if I accept this check, someone in Compliance will write me up, right?” She was told, “Yes, they will.”

And there you have it.

The branch manager, who appeared to have an ounce of common sense, and was trying her best to help me, her customer, was simply afraid for her job. The result was one of major inconvenience for a good customer. Not good.

By the way, this bank has also been courting me for six months to move my business banking to their bank.

Not going to happen.

This is an example of a policy created in the Ivory Tower, combined with zero tolerance for any common sense to be applied by the very folks entrusted to interact with and serve their customers.

Don't get into the Ivory Tower Syndrome. Learn more secrets on how to get more customers or patients, keep them longer if you want them, selling them more of your products and services, and get them to refer you to more new customers or patients by making sure you read this blog.

Hey tomorrow is my official blog day. I think I'll put another video on as people like to watch and learn. I do anyway and since it's my blog, that's what we're going to do.

Go figure.

This is Dr. Carney, signing off. I hope you know that this is geared to help you do some outrageous marketing and to do it well. I think as a blogger I'm supposed to use words, key words like chiropractic, marketing etc., but I forget and really I don't care. I want people learning, so there you have it.

Have a great day and keep your nose out of the clouds and don't take an elevator to the Ivory Tower Level.

Ever!