Broken windows, broken business

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. 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 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 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 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 on the grounds of jaywalking316 ! 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 dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses. 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to learn whether customers are having a positive experience dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to recruit include customers who already complain about their experiences with the company.

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 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.

The worst business scenario is “broken window hubris4”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers from broken window hubris when management thinks the 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.