Start your day with a power hour

The total opposite of getting nothing done, having too many interruptions in your work, or procrastination, is productivity.

To kick start your day and continue at top pace, slip a power hour into your schedule. A power hour is one full hour without unplanned distractions, unrelated phone calls, negative self-talk with yourself or gossip with others, unwarranted pauses for teas and coffee, playing with your phone, surfing the internet on social media, and anything else that will stop you from focusing directly on the task in front of you. This is how you clear your inbox. You would be surprised how many emails you can send out in an hour. This is how you call your customers one after another. This is how you clear any backlog. When you give undivided attention to any task without distraction you will find that you build momentum and focus as you go further into that hour. The minute you are distracted you lose the drive that forces you to dive into the work you are doing and get it done. You lose time. It’s very hard to pick up a task with the same focus and energy if you have been distracted. You often go back to the job on hand thinking about whatever it was that pulled you away. The idea of a power hour is that you allow nothing to pull you away.

It’s a bit like swimming in a pool. When you go swimming you swim lengths of the pool. You normally don’t stop and have chats or go and make a coffee or look at your phone. You do what you came to do. Swim. This is just like swimming! Look for a quiet time to have your power hour. For me, it’s the first thing in the morning. I would even suggest that you wake up early before the rest of the world starts working and get a head start on the tasks you wish to focus on. More importantly, find a time that suits you. This is like an athlete training for an event. When athletes train they are training for results. They focus on one thing only. They focus on their game. It’s the same for you. Focus on one task at a time. Whatever is not needed, such as phones or the internet, remove them from your radar. If you work around other people let them know that for that hour you don’t want to take any calls or speak to anybody as you are working on something that needs your total focus. It will take time and practice. Print up a power hour sheet that you can monitor the work you are getting done each day and see your progress.

You will get results. In fact, I use this method for my writing. And, my editor is delighted with my approach!

Taken from The ‘Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ by Oisin Browne, which can be pre-ordered on Amazon Kindle today and will be available along with the paperback on the 27th of November on Amazon. It will be stocked in Charlie Byrne’s in Galway, Hana’s Bookshop in Dublin, and O’Mahony’s bookshop in Limerick.

3 Books & Counting…

Written by The City Bin Co.’s Oisin Browne, Author of ‘The Binman’s Guide’ business book series.

English grammar was never my strong point, so I would have never handpicked myself to write business books. Everything was against me, from my short attention span to my mild dyslexia. If I was told in 2010 that I would write and publish three books over the next ten years I wouldn’t have believed it! Roll on November 2020 on the month of the launch of my third book and I am quietly content with this unexpected journey so far. Yes, I can tick the box as an author, but more importantly, I have grown professionally and personally as a result of committing to writing the three books.

Through writing, rewriting, and editing, going back and forth with an editor, my grammar, thankfully has improved over time. I wanted to write business books that would be an easy read and a solid introduction for people starting in business or people in a business that wanted a refresher that would inspire new ideas that they could apply to their own situation.

Not alone would my grammar improve, but a great plus of writing a book is the learning that comes from researching and studying the topic of the book. With all three books containing interviews from business owners on their success and learnings, this gave me an opportunity to get an in-depth insight into successful businesses. In many ways, writing each book was kin to doing a university business Masters on the subject. With this book-writing journey came a professional speaking experience where I was invited to speak to universities, businesses, and conferences to talk on the topic of the books. Also, I did a lot of interviews with local and national journalists and was featured on radio and television shows. These experiences helped me become confident in public speaking and sharpened my communication skill.

In hindsight, while I had my personal flaws that gave me indications that writing books would be a tough and near-impossible task for me, I can now see the two main elements I unknowingly applied to my writing journey that made it possible for the three books to be completed and published. They were my long-term intentions and my tunnel vision stubbornness that I used to fuel my commitment.

I am a dreamer. I love to dream big and do a lot of future planning, you know, that question; ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years from now?’ From the start, my intention was to write 3 business books over a period of 10 years to inspire and give ideas to people interested in developing their sales and marketing game. In setting the bar at 3 books it allowed me to aim high and fall far. I told everybody my intention as I knew my closest colleagues would hold me accountable and I committed to doing all three books and seeing it through.

It has always given me a great sense of accomplishment to have one of my finished books in my hands. One of my big learnings is that accomplishments don’t appear out of thin air. Accomplishments are the result of a commitment to follow-through. The process of writing a book is sometimes a lonely solitary experience that entails many months of research, writing, and editing, while the launch of the book is a party, with a book launch, reading sessions, radio interviews, workshops, and lots of promotional events!

I remember in 2012 at a marketing meeting throwing out the idea of writing a series of thought leadership books for The City Bin Co., as a way to create content for the brand and to help place the brand in a different space than the competitors. I knew I could write as I had been writing a column in the business section of the local paper The Galway Advertiser sharing business ideas and inspirations. But I never thought to take on a project so big. I didn’t think I’d be able, but I was willing to give it a go.

I felt enthused to apply my skills as a writer and to exercise my creativity for the company that I worked for. I decided I would share my experiences and ideas over 3 books and stick to the areas that I was confident with and where I had the most knowledge. They were Selling, Marketing, and Customer Service. From 2003 to 2012 I worked as part of the sales team in The City Bin Co. I was a Sales representative managing the B2B portfolio for many years in Galway before moving onto the role of Social Media Manager and setting up the Social Media channels and working with the team on large marketing campaigns as the company expanded into the Dublin market. My experience during this time helped sculpt the content of the first two books on the subject of Selling and Marketing.

My new book ‘The Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ was always going to be part of this collection as it is what I have known and learned for the last 22 years working with The City Bin Co. I never just worked for a company that provided a waste collection service, skips, and bins. More than that, I worked for a company where the culture always guided and supported me to provide an excellent experience to the customers.

It is a proud moment in my book writing experience to hold this book in my hands, as this was the book that I was always waiting to write and publish. This was to be the defining book in the collection. And it is. However, this will not be the last book as I have definitely got the writing bug. I am already committed to writing my fourth business book. So, it’s three books and counting! While this book on ‘Amazing Customer Service’ will be a tough act to follow, I believe what makes the subject of this book important is that everything in business ultimately comes back to one thing; the Customer, and the desire to give the customer an amazing Customer Service.

It’s such a great feeling to launch a body of work that helps business owners and employees tune into their own customer service and explore how they can turn the dial just a little, or maybe a lot, to make it an amazing experience for their customers.

New Book on Customer Service

From the back of the bin truck to best-selling business author, The City Bin Co.’s Oisin Browne is launching his third book ‘The Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ on 27th November 2020.

Following on from his debut in 2013 on the theme of Selling, and his second book on the subject of Marketing, Oisin’s third book in the series brings the attention back to providing ‘amazing customer experiences’. With over 20 years working in Sales, Marketing, and Key Account Management in the Waste Management industry, in both Ireland and the Middle East, Oisin shares a wealth of ideas, inspirations, and interviews that will give the readers a good guide on how to put proven best practices and team training into any business process that will lead to amazing customer service.

All ready to be launched in March of this year when the country went into the first lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic the book was temporarily shelved, but as the days, weeks and months went on, Oisin realised it was not going to be possible to have an in-person book launch this year. At the outset of the second lockdown, Oisin decided not to let the pandemic stop the launch as it has already stopped far too many other things happening this year. Although this is a tough time for many businesses, more than ever there is a need for the delivery of customer service to be amazing. With that in mind, the new book will launch on the 27th of November 2020.

‘The Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ focuses on the key activities employees can deliver on, and actions to make a big difference to the customer’s experience. Oisin shares learnings from his own experience in Ireland and beyond, bringing you on a journey inside the customer service habits of many successful companies around the globe – from a taxi company in New York, to a public toilet business in Spain, to coffee shops of the Middle East.

The book covers everything from best customer service practices, how to turn complaints into compliments, to an invaluable collection of interviews on the subject of customer service with business leaders from around the world.

‘The Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ can be pre-ordered on Amazon Kindle today, and will be available along with the paperback on the 27th November on Amazon. It will be stocked in Charlie Byrne’s in Galway and Hanna’s Bookshop in Dublin.

Working hard for you…

We’d like to provide some information, reassurance, and instructions regarding your waste collections during this new Level 5 lockdown.

The waste collection continues to be an essential public service and our frontline crews remain out each day. They are working very hard, amid extremely challenging conditions and increased volumes, to ensure this service continues for you.

So, we’d like to reassure all our customers that it’s business as usual for…

✅   Household Collections
✅   Commercial Collections
✅   Skip Delivery & Collection
✅   Junk Collection (Galway)
✅   Recycling Centre (Galway)

We’ve taken all of the appropriate safety precautions at our end. However, there are a few specific areas where we need your help to reduce the potential for cross-contamination.

We may also need to stagger our crew start times, so you may see us arrive at a different time of the day than normal. However, if for any reason we cannot complete a collection our customer centre team (now all working from home) will let you know.

We hope you and your family stay safe and healthy.

The Flying Bin Logo

In 1997, when The City Bin Co. opened for business it had one truck, two customers, four bins, and a really eye-catching logo.

At that time, it was hard to imagine why a waste collection provider needed branding of any kind. This type of business just collected garbage. Waste collectors didn’t have to advertise, they didn’t have retail stores and their trucks were big, ugly and smelly. Nobody needed to know who these firms were as they were passing by. People just wanted them to collect their waste and move on.

However, Gene Browne, founder of The City Bin Co. had a different idea. He had a well thought out plan to change the public’s perception and also the way that companies within the sector were doing their job. He set out to shake up the image of the waste and recycling industry and achieved this goal in a very short time. He wanted people to think ‘service not waste’.

How? Through innovation, creative branding and an understanding that the public could, and should, receive a higher level of service with their rubbish collection. And the best way to lead is by example.

The ‘Flying Bin’ logo was one of the first important steps in Gene’s plan to reinvent the industry’s way of engaging with the customer. Gene knew the benefits of branding and had a logo that stood beside the best of the multinational companies. So, Gene commissioned a Galway design studio to come up with something…a bit different. The result was the ‘Flying Bin’.

The City Bin Co.’s logo is instantly identifiable; a red bin with white wings and a black outline. The logo is an animated image of a flying bin with the name of the company in a simple red font to the left. It is simple and easy to spot. The logo, through its simplicity, has a subtle meaning of a company that is always moving forward.

Despite trends in design and marketing over the past twenty years, the ‘Flying Bin’ has remained unchanged, and The City Bin Co. brand has now become a household name. That ‘Flying Bin’ is immediately recognisable, whether on the side of a truck, on the front of the distinctive red bin, or simply drawn by a young fan! More and more customers and non-customers of The City Bin Co. associate the logo with excellent customer service.

Thinking ‘service’ not ‘waste’? #JobDone!

Customer Service, Measured!

Everything The City Bin Co. does is customer-centric. Decisions are taken with the customer in mind and systems are designed to facilitate great customer service. Customer feedback is communicated across the company from the CEO to the staff on the trucks who empty the bins.

That’s why we need a method for systematically measuring customer satisfaction and benchmarking ourselves against other companies. After looking at various options and running annual satisfaction surveys, it was decided that we would start using the Net Promoter Score to measure, analyse, and drive service improvements on a continuous basis.

The Net Promoter System is a management philosophy, a way of running a business. As a Net Promoter company, we are committed to specific processes and systems that help The City Bin Co. focus on earning the loyalty of both our customers and employees. Loyal, passionate customers use our excellent service longer, contribute with valuable suggestions, and share favourable comments with family, friends, and colleagues. Loyal, passionate employees love working here, come up with new ideas, and regularly go the extra mile to delight our customers. The Net Promoter Score allows us to measures loyalty and drives change across the company. However, implementing a Net Promoter system isn’t easy. It is a continuous process that requires commitment. The Net Promoter approach defines the cultural values that affect every aspect of a company’s business system and competitive strategy.

At The City Bin Co., you will find an in-house team member who manages the system and constantly analyses customers’ feedback. Detractors (those who answer 6 or less to the question: How likely are you to recommend The City Bin Co. to a neighbour, friend, or colleague?) are contacted immediately and the reason why that customer rated us low is addressed quickly. Special attention is also given to passive customers (those who rate us 7 or 8) and we are constantly looking for clues in their answers that would help us improve the service so they will experience an improvement in the service.

The power of NPS is not based on how high you scored on your first NPS survey, but on the subsequent impact, it has on employees becoming focused on improving the score. An increase in NPS score means you are getting more referrals and higher customer satisfaction. And that is a massive motivational factor. The City Bin Co. surveys a sample of customers monthly so we can continually address any issues and improve the company’s processes to deliver a better service.

And with a score that regularly exceeds 60 – we’re in pretty good company!

The 4 Pillars of Excellent Customer Service

We all know that the business we run and are involved in has some level of customer service.

In fact, most businesses will claim to have customer service to some degree, and rightly so, as all businesses have it in some form or another. From one extreme of ‘you call and we’ll put you on hold and we will never answer’ to the more favourable ‘order today and get it yesterday’. Have you ever asked yourself if you deliver good customer service? Have you ever measured it? Would you say you have systems in place that allow your customers to have great customer experiences when they interact with your business?

You need to change the thinking on the words ‘customer service’; not to change the words, but change what they imply. Customer service is not really about the customer and the service. These are very important elements of the business cycle.

Excellent customer service is about the 4 pillars behind the delivery of your service or products: 1) Systems 2) Culture 3) People and 4) Expectations.

Customer service is about the systems your business has in place to give a smooth delivery of your products or services. Great systems help staff to deliver great customer service and to easily cope with any unseen problems that may arise in the buying process for your customer.

It’s about the culture in which the people work. It’s about the place where you operate, the people who you employ, the tone of your office or shop, the canteen where you eat, your professionalism and manner towards customers, the speed at which you work, and the environment in which you work. It’s about the meetings you have day-in and day-out and the results you achieve when you set goals.

It’s about the people and their capability to work to their best abilities within the processes that you set to deliver your service and products.

And finally, it’s about the perception and expectations that your customers have when they interact with you and your capability to meet them. This goes back full circle to the systems you have in place to deliver the customer’s expectations and prove that their perception is indeed merited.

The Great Wall of WOWs!

The City Bin Co. stands out when it comes to providing amazing service experiences.

The service in question just happens to be waste collection. The City Bin Co.’s promise to customers: Job Done! We will do the job right each and every time; you will never have to listen to excuses or sad stories! However, the company isn’t singing about this from the rooftops. No sir! Their customers are the ones doing all the singing!

The company receives unsolicited written praise from their customers on a regular basis. In fact, it would be unfair to refer to these as testimonials, as they say so much more. The City Bin Co. has renamed these tributes, good news stories, and compliments as WOWs. One happy customer was so wowed by the service that she was inspired to write a poem about The City Bin Co. The WOW captures the sentiments of the customers sending them. They have been wowed by an excellent service experience delivered by The City Bin Co. The company was getting so many of these WOWs that the CEO, Gene Browne, decided to routinely circulate the WOWs by email to all staff as a means of sharing the customers’ appreciation.

Things have evolved since then and now The City Bin Co. have created and copyrighted, its own social media-inspired icon. There is an interactive on-line WOW page and to top it all off there is a Great Wall of WOW on display at the company’s headquarters. The WOW!’s comprise a variety of complimentary messages and cover topics ranging from prompt service, going over and above to help a customer, clarity of the communications, kind words for the friendly and well-mannered staff, and more. The Great Wall of WOW yells that this is a service company that really cares about its customers.

It also tells us that The City Bin Co. doesn’t merely have satisfied customers, The City Bin Co. has Fans.

The Power Of The Red Bins!

Red is the colour of The City Bin Co.’s bins, skips, trucks, uniforms, and logo.

Colour psychology 
is a term you don’t hear too often in business, yet the creative amongst us fly the flag for the power of colour and the effect it may or may not have on customer engagement. Red is powerful, eye-catching and enthusiastic. Red is a primary colour that gets noticed with it’s warm, exciting, and strong virtues. You only have to look at companies such as Virgin and Coca-Cola to see the values of red. Red stands out. The red bins of The City Bin Co. have become part of the personality of the company by being easily noticed and making the brand instantly recognizable. The Red bins say, ‘We are a company that is different’.

According to John Williams, founder and president of LogoYes.com, who created brand standards for Fortune 100 companies like Mitsubishi. ‘Red activates your pituitary gland, increasing your heart rate and causing you to breathe more rapidly. This visceral response makes red strong and energetic.’ You can count on our red bins to evoke a passionate response!

What colour do you associate with your business or yourself?

Second-hand September

Way back when, hand-me-down jumpers and second-hand shoes from your brothers, sisters or cousins were completely normal! I recall on one occasion growing up, saving up and buying a new pair of Nike runners. I was so excited about my new kicks, however, being the same shoe size as my brother and father, it was a race to the shoes every morning.

Some harsh facts about the throwaway fashion industry we have gotten accustomed to:

• 35% of materials in garment supply chains are wasted.
• In Ireland, 225 tonnes of textile are dumped every year.
• In Ireland, half a tonne of clothing is dumped into a landfill every minute. That amount produces over 12 tonnes of carbon emissions – the same as driving 65,000 kilometres in a car.
• Buying just one white cotton shirt produces the same amount of emissions as driving 35 miles in a car.

Throwaway fashion is putting increasing pressure on our planet and its people – and it’s not sustainable. By changing our shopping habits, together we can help tackle the growing issue of fast fashion. Some great solutions are the rental and swapping fashion models, which eliminate the risk of panic buying for one occasion (for which Instagram has a lot to answer for) that feeds into the fast-fashion cycle.

Oxfam has come up with an initiative offering a solution to throwaway fashion and the devastating impact it is having on people and the planet. Oxfam’s #SecondhandSeptember urges people to rethink the month that is usually associated with Fashion week and the start of autumnal shopping and put away their credit cards to help save the planet.

Why not shop second-hand for 30 days? Firstly, you will save money. Secondly, if you shop in charity shops, you will be GIVING money to people and organisations in need. Thirdly, you will be helping save the planet. There are so many benefits in getting involved in this pledge to say NO to buying new clothes for the month. Who knows, you may even enjoy finding hidden gems and saving money so much that you decide to keep it up!

Where to shop second hand:

• Local charity shops (Oxfam have 47 shops around Ireland – find your nearest store here
• Vintage stores in your area
• Depop
• Host a clothing swap with your friends (with appropriate social distancing measures!)
• If you have an occasion coming up why not rent a piece from Borrower’s Boutique or Rent the Runway.
• Subscribe to Nu Wardrobe and join a community of swapping and borrowing clothes

Sign-up and start #SecondhandSeptember at any time here, for top tips, inspiration and more to make the pledge as easy as possible.

Best of luck!