The Soft Pitch

Well I’m close to another deep Cubbie blue depression…Cubs are down 0-2 to Dodgers…the best team in NL is down 0-2 to the stinking Dodgers…my wife and I went to see our boys in blue in Chicago…what a great time to be there…if u have not experienced Wrigley, it’s fans and team… it is a must. The playoffs are electric…we so want to win…it’s only 100 years.

My life was planned in October to be at all their playoff games, flights booked etc…if we lose…what will I do all this month?

I flew back tp PHX on a very early flight for our monthly Avnet Executive Board meeting…I must have looked depressed walking in a few minutes late because my management friends and leaders did not hassle me…I brought them Cub pens…so I knew that might slow them down a bit.

So what is next? Well beyond the normal stuff to do…I could actually put more time in being a better chairperson for the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Awards Dinner on Nov 13th…I was really honored to be asked by the Az Tech Council…then I actually talked their committee including the big cheese Steve Zylstra into changing the times and venue location…the Dodge Theatre (excellent place in downtown PHX)…the event is at 5pm…then a strolling dinner for those who want to stay…Did I say 5pm? Steve is nutter than me to agree.

I hate those standard receptions and dinners where you have to stay until the 10 o’clock news at your table do not move…boring. I give our Governor high marks in supporting technology and this event is huge with ove 1200 attendees each event. I seriously hope the earlier venue attracts more attendance because people can go home earlier and have a more balanced family life.

I did not change one thing…they have a very cool after hours party. Theme is green…also timely…another reason not be stuck in rush hour traffic when we can be at awards program at 5.  More later. the press release follows…check out the finalists, and the students are awesome every year and the honored guest is a spectacular choice!

Our committee lead by Leigh Goldstein is doing a very good job, as well as the support by Dave Drennon and Sandra Watson from Dept of Commerce…now let’s get signed up, and join us for big night !!!

Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Awards Finalists Showcase Best and Brightest Innovators in Arizona’s Technology Sector

Internationally recognized architect, artist, and philosopher Paolo Soleri to receive a “Lifetime Achievement Award” on November 13, 2008 at the Dodge Theatre

PHOENIX, Ariz., – September 22, 2008 — The Arizona Technology Council in partnership with the Arizona Department of Commerce and in conjunction with Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, today announced the finalists for the 2008 Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Awards (GCOI). Winners will receive Arizona’s highest honor for technology innovation on November 13, 2008, at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix.

This year’s event features a theme of “Shift to Green” highlighting green technologies and will honor internationally recognized architect, artist, and philosopher Paolo Soleri with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” in recognition for his contributions in addressing Arizona’s issues of sustainability and the environment. Tickets for the prestigious awards gala include the pre-award show cocktail reception, awards ceremony, strolling dinner and a VIP Backstage “Green Room” party can be purchased at http://www.aztechcouncil.org.

The finalists were selected by a committee independent of the Council and chaired by Alaina G. Levine, director of Special Projects at the University of Arizona, College of Science. One company within each category will be announced as the winner at the GCOI event. The finalists in their respective categories are:

Individual Award Finalists:

• William F. McWhortor Community Service Leader of the Year: Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD, TGen Clinical Research Services at Scottsdale Healthcare; Jeff Morhet, InNexus Biotechnology Inc.; Terree Parlett Wasley, ASU Technopolis
• Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year: Steve Irons, ImageTag, Inc.; Roy Vallee, Avnet, Inc.; Jeff Morhet, InNexus Biotechnology Inc.

Company Award Finalists:

• Pioneering Innovation: Telesphere; Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems; Microsoft Corporation
• Green Innovator of the Year (NEW): i-Linc; Trilogy by Shea Homes; Global Research Technologies LLC
• Innovator of the Year - Start-Up Company: Flypaper Studios, Inc.; FetchBack;

Ubidyne, Inc.

• Innovator of the Year - Small Company: Succeed Corporation; Kutta Technologies, Inc.; Infusionsoft
• Innovator of the Year - Large Company: Raytheon Missile Systems; IBM Corporation
• Innovator of the Year – Academia: Phoenix Mars Mission; Biodesign Institute; Center for Applied Nanobioscience

Young Innovator of the Year Award Winners:

The “Best of the Best” of the Arizona Engineering and Science Fairs (grades 9-12) for the year 2007. Each of these students will receive a $1000 scholarship to further enhance their education.

• Steven Fan, Tucson High Magnet School; Shemonti Hasan, Hamilton High School; Adrian Laurenzi, Tucson High Magnet School; Smitha Ramakrishna, Coronoa del Sol High School

Teacher of the Year Award Winner:

• Kenneth Zeigler, Eagle Point School

About the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation

The Governor’s Celebration of Innovation was established in 2003 by combining two technology award ceremonies: the High Tech Industry Cluster’s 17-year Innovator of the Year awards ceremony and the Arizona Software and Internet Association’s 10-year “Celebration of Innovation.” With the addition of the Governor’s support, the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation has become the premier technology community gathering of its kind in Arizona. For more information on GCOI, please visit http://www.aztechcouncil.org.

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FYI The Cubs will win 2 in LA because our pitchers are better, and then go back and win the first series on Tuesday night.

Forgive the cliché headline, I couldn’t resist. It’s still Customer Service Week for Avnet employees here in the US (I hear in the UK they will extend it another week and participate in some local activities there).  We’ve posted some employee-made videos about customer service on our website for everyone to vote on – if you haven’t already – go take a look and vote for your favorite: http://www.avnet.tv/contest_vote.php .

As promised, here’s another example of an Avnet employee taking that long walk going down the proverbial “extra mile” on behalf of customers.

Rose worked on a large RFP for a customer. She created several options for an entire disaster recovery solution (uspv, uspvm, ams1000, SAN options) from scratch, working closely with the customer. She worked on this solution for three weeks, produced 20+ quotes, and put in 40-50 hours and in the end presented the customer with a complete disaster recovery solution (including SAN). The customer was more than pleased with the level of service and knowledge that Rose provided, and was able to get their quotes to the end user in time, due to Rose’s diligence. Here’s what the customer had to say … “Rose: I was able to get this information into our quote yesterday. We really appreciate your hard work and insight with creating the quotes. We could not have completed our response without you. Thank you! Ricardo, IT Sales Consultant.” And this from her manager: “Rose during this time was also handling normal team duties such as phone lines, the queue and her own inbox full of other quote requests as well. She went above and beyond expected customer service to complete this RFP, and I think she should be recognized for it.”

Yes, I agree, Rose should be recognized for it.  Thanks Rose!  Wouldn’t you like someone like Rose working on your account?  Or I’d at least like to go shopping with her knowing she wouldn’t rest until I had chosen the most perfect-fitting jeans possible.

At the beginning of Avnet’s Customer Service Week, I promised a few stories of what our employees are doing. Here’s the first example – in this case Michael developed a couple tools that provide technical information to customers in a jiffy. By the way, this story comes from an internal program we have recognizing employees for service called ACE — the Avnet Customer Experience.  This is from Michael’s nomination for an ACE award:

“Michael has risen to the occasion to assist several business groups to meet the needs of their customers.  Example #1: A customer needed information on disk sizing for an exchange storage information solution.  Michael immediately responded with a document solution that he created explaining how disk sizing was accomplished.  This was exactly what we needed to help our customer and Michael should be recognized for providing the excellent customer service and technical knowledge.  Example #2: In addition to his normal job duties, Michael built an impressive web-based tool called ‘VAR MD’ designed to better communicate with EMC and our partners.   It is impressive and he has done this on his own.  This tool puts us way ahead of the competition because it tracks all metrics of EMC and is used to evaluate the value of distribution.  Thanks to Michael’s dedication, knowledge and skills in creating this tool, we are projecting a increase in our team’s revenue, which will have an impact on growing our EMC business.”

If you would like to learn more about Michael’s VAR MD, just let me know.  It’s initiative and innovation to help the customer like this that’s true service that makes a difference.

By the way – a note to any Avnet employees out there reading this.  If you have a great example of customer service you’d like to share, please post it as a comment.  Or if you’d prefer, send me an e-mail at michelle.gorel@avnet.com and I’ll share your story.

There’s a few things that no matter what you say or how you write about them, it sounds like “Motherhood and Apple Pie” – an American term for something that’s truly great that you can’t argue with, but also a bit cliche.  Great customer service is kinda like that.  Who’s going to argue with it?  We all want it, we all know when we get it, and we complain to anyone who will listen when we don’t get it.

So, Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 at Avnet is Customer Service Week.  I’d like a slice of apple pie with that, if you please.  But here’s the catch.  Of course at Avnet we strive to deliver what I call the “triple S” – Simply Superior Service. – every day. And I’ve got some great stories to share about our team members doing just that. (I’ve got a few tucked up my sleeve that I’m planning on sharing on this blog during the week.)  Customer Service Week actually reminds me of the old-fashioned customer appreciation days from when I worked in a bank (many years ago, and way before the mortgage debacle).  We’re asking all employees to call one customer each day and just thank them for their business.  No sales pitch, no “Hey did you know about our new service?” Just, “Thank You.”  Thank you for choosing us.  We appreciate it.  We wouldn’t be here without your business. You are important to us. 

The way we figure it, if every employee makes just one call each day that’s more than 60,000 calls during one week just to say thank you.  Pretty awesome.  I’m going to do it too.  I don’t sell stuff, but I do “sell” Avnet to the journalists who cover us.  So, I’m going to call them and let them know we appreciate their interest in Avnet. 

By the way, while I’m at it – let me thank YOU for reading this.  Because like all the things my Mom did for me and for the sweet tang of good apple pie, I appreciate you taking the time to read this post.  Thank You.

As a follow-up to my post “Ahead of the Power Curve”  we won!  Check out the press release:

September 24, 2008 - Avnet, Inc. Named an Honoree in Computerworld’s Inaugural “Best Practices in Green IT” Awards Program

Avnet Recognized for Its Commitment to Improving Energy Efficiency in Its Data Center

PHOENIX — Global technology distributor Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT) today announced that IDG’s Computerworld selected the company as an Honoree in the inaugural “Best Practices in Green IT” Awards Program. Computerworld’s “Best Practices in Green IT” Awards Program identifies and acknowledges excellence among early adopters and industry leaders in the green IT movement. Avnet received its award in the “Green IT in the Data Center” category based on its three-year project to create a more energy-efficient data center.  more