Sainsbury’s is the third largest chain of supermarkets in the UK. In June of 2011, a 3 1/2 year old girl called Lily Robinson wrote a letter (with the help of her mom) to the supermarket chain posing a simple question. Why a certain type of bread sold by the chain is called “Tiger Bread” when it really has the markings of a “Giraffe”?

How Sainsbury responded, is a textbook example of how other companies should handle customer service. The response isn’t dry, and stock. It’s a personalized response to the little girl, that uses language a three year old can understand. Also attached was a £3 (almost $5) gift card – enough to buy the bread and some sweets.

Lily’s mom posted the original response letter on her blog site, and though the response received some attention from blog sites, Twitter and Facebook, it really went viral of January of this year. The letter has been “Liked” nearly 150,000 times, and shared nearly 50,000 times on Facebook, and it’s been commented on thousands of times.

This simple act, of Sainsbury’s responding to a little girl, has generated a massive amount of publicity that would have otherwise cost thousands upon thousands of dollars for the company. Companies should not be afraid to embrace social media. A well laid out social media strategy will be a benefit to your company.

In the trucking industry for example, each major social media platform has its suitable uses. Facebook for example, is a great place for hiring drivers, as well as building company culture around your employees and your brand. LinkedIn is a great way to generate leads as well as network. Canadian carriers are under-utilizing social media, and it’s time for them to, get on board.

I’m looking out my window at a snowy day in Mississauga. It would have been a reasonably good weather day for March in small town New Brunswick where I grew up. But here and now, a little snow can shut this city down. Twenty minute drives can end up being 2 hours.

Hard to believe I had my motorcycle out for a spin on the first day of spring just two days ago. Life is like that, you can never predict what will come your way. Just two weeks ago, on a similar day as today, I had my SUV stolen right in front our business condo. I had just finished loading it up, went upstairs to send an e-mail…came back and it was gone. Yep, keys were in the car and engine was running…an east coast thing I’ve never been able to shake.

I waited two hours for the police to show. No CSI stuff. No pictures, fingerprints or measuring tire impressions. No pretty gals with low cut sweaters either. I answered a few questions, finished the police report and was about to leave when I realized the key to the office is with the thief who took my truck. So another 2 hours to wait for the locksmith. He had quoted $60 on the phone but somehow managed to justify a $220 bill on completing the 10 minute project. Oh yes, and the music gear I assembled, customized and perfected over the last 6 months was in the truck too.

Like many people, I like to think things happen for a reason. What goes around comes around and all that. Over the years I’ve learned to duck and weave and think on my feet. This kind of thing doesn’t really faze me at all. I’m pretty good at keeping my perspective.

My best friend from small town New Brunswick teaches English in Japan… just found out last night that he’s safe and sound. I’ll trade tsunamis and earthquakes for snow storms, stolen cars and unethical vendors (the key guy) any day.

Lee’s quote for the day

“Like my Uncle Fred used to say, everything is relative…just don’t marry one.”

This summer, Tim Horton’s introduced a new procedure where the person taking your order got a little more personal, “Hello my name is Debbie” were the words you heard as you drove up to the area where you initiated your first cup of java for the day. I waited for the new procedure to fall off but after several months the location I frequent has kept up the pace of being as warm and comforting as the products they serve.

Shift to small town New Brunswick. I had to visit recently on a family matter and stopped by the busy little Tim’s that has graced the community of less than 1000 for about 10 years now. Even the old boys that used to hang out at the barber shop and local gas station have migrated up the hill to their new spot and are quite comfortable calling Tim’s home.

For the most part, East Coasters have a reputation for being pretty friendly but when I took a spin through to get my morning coffee I didn’t hear the “Hello my name is…” greeting. Inquisitive person that I am, I mentioned my story to the lady serving me at the window. Her response was something like “Yes, we got some CD down from Ontario but I can’t see us doing that.” She proceeded to get my order and left me with these final and sincere words,”You have a good day now honey pie!”Friendly enough wouldn’t you say?

For all of us that have tried to initiate new processes and procedures is there a lesson to be learned? I think so. We tend to create all encompassing policies because we are either afraid to or are not able to single out individuals causing us grief in some way. Do most hourly employees punch time cards because at some point everyone was fudging their hours or because a few were? Are trucking companies religious about measuring on time performance because they were always late or because they messed up less than 5% of the time? Has anyone created a long list of rules and regulations for everyone because a small percentage of people are doing the equivalent of “peeing in the pool”…and does that sign on the wall actually stop those individuals from doing so in the future?”

I remember a blackout happening in Fredericton, NB where I went to university. At first it was “yahoo” with speeding cars everywhere but within a few hours there was self managed order without a street light or policeman in sight. In “Good to Great”, the author promotes self managed order as the key to business sustainability. It’s a leap of faith that requires a huge amount of trust. For the time being it seems the rotten apple continues to set the environment for the basket.

Lee’s quote for the day

“For the most part, the only thing tougher than initiating change is being on the receiving end of it.”