Johnny Bench’s Vowels of Success

Okay, confession time.  I once dated Johnny Bench.  Now “dated” is a relative term. *

During his final year of baseball with the Cincinnati Reds I attended all of the home games, purchasing a bleacher ticket and sneaking my way down to the seats behind home plate.  I’d come early to watch the warm ups and stay for the game.  It was a transition year in my life and baseball, America’s pastime, seemed like the best way to transition from one phase of my life to another. 

I had been inspired by Bench’s baseball career and read his book Catch You Later which also offered up some pretty encouraging thoughts that helped me through that rough patch.  In fact, I still have the scrapbook I put together chronically that last year of his career (Johnny – call me if you’d like to have it.)

So what does my crush on Johnny Bench have to do with make or break moments or building customer relationships?  Well, I don’t know another catcher in history that is as famous as Johnny for making the most of every opportunity in his career.  One of his quotes says it all:

“A catcher and his body are like the outlaw and his horse. He’s got to ride that nag till it drops.”

In customer service words, I believe we can take that to mean that we never give up in our effort to provide every customer the best experience; when it is easy and when it is challenging.  We have to stop at nothing to do our best to build those customer relationships so they remember, refer and return.

Johnny is now out on the speaking circuit and his message is about Success.  He uses the vowels to outline the five main points of his topic:

VOWELS OF SUCCESS

It’s been 27 years since Johnny retired.  He’s still a legend and his message is as inspiring today as it was when he played for the Reds.  Everyone knows their vowels and now we can remember Johnny’s success message as we strive to do our best for our business, our customers and our associates.  Thanks, Johnny.

*Okay, the date consisted of him sending a batboy over to the stands with a ticket to his seats behind the Reds dugout.  Which weren’t as good as the seats I usually sat in behind home plate.  I met him afterward at The Precinct, a local nightclub/restaurant, and had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with him before he left me for someone more….  but it was a high point in my life.  I always hoped I’d have a son that would be impressed by this but sadly  he chose to go into music and doesn’t have a clue who Johnny Bench is.  ah youth.