This text refers to items 26 through 45.
Broken windows, broken business
1 ___ The book Broken Windows, Broken Business, by
Michael Levine, was inspired by an article entitled Broken
Windows, by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L.
4 Kelling in the March, 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson
and Kelling suggested that when laws against minor crimes,
such as graffiti and turnstile1 jumping, are enforced, and broken
7 windows are promptly repaired, major crime rates will decline.
When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York
City in 1994, he worked with police commissioner William
10 Bratton to implement a “zero tolerance” broken windows
policy. Graffiti was promptly cleaned up on subway cars.
Turnstile jumping wasn’t tolerated. Laws against petty crimes
13 were enforced. Those guys who’d take advantage of traffic jams
or red lights to jump in front of cars with a squeegee2, quickly
cleaning the windshield and begging for money were arrested
16 on the grounds of jaywalking3! A good many of them were
carrying weapons. Over the following few years, the number of
murders, assaults, robberies and other violent crimes went down
19 dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in
charge there, not wrongdoers.
Levine says the same principle applies to businesses.
22 Business owners and their employees must become fanatics in
attending to the details of presenting outstanding customer
service and in the image presented by the business to inspire
25 customer confidence and loyalty. The broken windows theory
is all about the unmistakable power of perception, about what
people see and the conclusions they draw from it. In business,
28 perception is even more critical. The way a customer
(or potential customer) perceives your business is a crucial
element in your success or failure. Make one mistake, have one
31 rude employee, let that customer walk away with a negative
experience one time, and you are inviting disaster. Small things
make a huge difference in business. The messy condiment area
34 at a fast food restaurant may lead consumers to believe the
company as a whole doesn’t care about cleanliness,
and therefore the food itself might be in question. Indifferent
37 help at the counter in an upscale clothing store — even if just
one clerk — can signal to the consumer that perhaps standards
here aren’t as high as they might be (or used to be). An
40 employee at the gas station who wears a T-shirt with an
offensive slogan can certainly cause some customers to switch
brands of gasoline and lose an enormous company those
43 customers for life.
Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to
learn whether customers are having a positive experience
46 dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to
recruit include customers who already complain about their
experiences with the company.
49 ___ It is critical that the right kind of people (those who
enjoy dealing with people) be hired for customer contact
positions. Employees exhibiting an attitude of “a smile isn’t in
52 my job description” must be told that a smile certainly is
required, and to find other employment if they can’t fulfill the
required behavior.
55 ___ The worst business scenario is “broken window
hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers
from broken window hubris when management thinks the
58 business is so successful that it’s no longer important to please
customers.
Internet: <www.profitadvisors.com> (adapted).
1turnstile – a narrow gate at the entrance of something, with metal bars that move in a circle so that only one person at a time can go through.
2squeegee – an object used for cleaning windows, consisting of a short handle with a rubber blade.
3jaywalking – a dangerous or illegal way of crossing a street at a place where cars do not usually stop.
4hubris – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people.
It can be inferred from the text that
some people were used to riding free in subways in New York.
