A documentary film produced by Rotary's broadcast media department that features Rotary member Marion Bunch and her work to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in underprivileged African communities won two 2015 Telly Awards.

The prestigious awards are given annually to the finest film and video productions. Rotary's documentary, "Rotary Family Health Days" received a Silver Telly, the highest honor, in the online video-documentary category, and a Bronze Telly in the online video-branded content and entertainment category. The documentary was shown by the South African Broadcasting Corporation and throughout Africa.

"What we tried to accomplish with the film was to get the good news and the good deeds out there so that the non-Rotary world can see it," says producer Andrew Chudzinski. "It was a great collaborative project."

The film documents the tremendous burden HIV/AIDS places on African families and communities. It covers the journeys of two women: South African grandmother Me Maria, who is raising her two grandsons whose parents died of AIDS, and Bunch, from Atlanta, Georgia, USA, who became a global advocate for AIDS prevention and the inspiration for Rotary Family Health Days after she lost her son to the disease.

"Because of that one single tragedy, my life's journey changed dramatically, from a very engaged businesswoman to a warrior on AIDS and advocate of human rights," Bunch told senior White House staff in October, when she was honored as one of 10 Rotary Women of Action for 2014. A member of the Rotary Club of Dunwoody, Bunch is the founder and CEO of Rotarians for Family Health and AIDS Prevention, a group of members that collaborates with Rotary clubs and districts on health-related projects.

The Rotary Health Days project, now in its fifth year and supported by Rotary clubs in Africa, has grown to deliver free basic health care, including HIV/AIDS screening and other preventive services, to underserved communities in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda. It began in 2010, when Ugandan Stephen Mwanje, then governor of District 9211, asked Bunch if the Rotarian group would organize a multisite, comprehensive health event.

"The tremendous burden on the families of those infected by HIV/AIDS -- particularly for older people caring for their terminally ill children and raising their grandchildren, and for children orphaned by this disease -- is incalculable," says Bunch. "This is a story of people coming together to help fight this global killer and other preventable diseases."

The award-winning documentary was a joint project of the public relations and broadcast media staff at Rotary's world headquarters in Evanston, Illinois. In addition to Chudzinski, producer Vivian Fiore, writer/editor Todd Murphy, and executive producer Stephen Guenther worked on the film.

"We went through many different outlines, thoughts, and angles, and worked closely with Marion [Bunch] on it," says Fiore. "It evolved into a better piece than we all imagined."

You’ve heard it a thousand times: Happy customers translate into repeat business. For small businesses, truer words were never spoken. So why do some business owners view customer service as an unnecessary cost, believing in the adage that “a great product should speak for itself”?  Here are three things you can do to keep your customers for life.

“Many companies say that customer service is a low-level, entry-level type environment,” said David Hassell, founder and CEO of employee engagement platform 15Five. “They’ll say ‘let’s hire the cheapest employees,’ or ‘we’ll offshore it.’”

Hassell and his team, on the other hand, believe that great customer service should be a core component of 15Five’s product experience.

“It’s the difference between being great and being excellent,” Hassell said. “It’s through this approach that customers may not only accept your flaws, but in some cases, they may even begin to love you for your flaws.”

Hassell and his team have built a top-shelf customer experience by following these three simple rules:

1. Hire a service-oriented team

A strong customer experience begins with the people at the front lines of your organization. Your customer-facing staff—from entry-level associates up to executives—are the ones who define your brand for consumers.

“Take Southwest Airlines for example,” Hassell said. “They hire people who are happy and excited, and the result is a fun experience on every flight.”

This kind of customer centric attitude and commitment to service can’t be fabricated.

“You need to find people whose natural demeanor, strengths, and gifts are aligned with providing outstanding customer service,” said Hassell. “They enjoy helping people and interacting with customers and making someone’s day by doing something unexpected and delivering delight.”

2. Embrace criticism

Hassell and his team believe that customer feedback is a core part of the product development process. He pointed out that after nine months of development, the new version of 15Five received glowing reviews from all of their beta testers—except one.

“Floyd Marinescu of C4 Media tried it out and said that he hated it,” Hassell said. “He wanted the old version.”

So Hassell and his team started to dig deeper. They realized they had sacrificed some of the ease and simplicity of the first version in favor of a nicer aesthetic design.

“It would have been easier to be dismissive of this negative feedback. Instead, we took his feedback to heart and went back to the drawing board on some of these issues.”

Following Marinescu’s response, 15Five decided to revamp two major functions of its platform. The resulting product was a serious improvement on the version it had been testing.

“It wouldn’t have happened had we not been customer-oriented and listened to his concerns as a customer,” said Hassell.

Marinescu went on to become a long-time customer of 15Five. Later, he became an investor.

“We learned not to hold too tightly to our own ideas and to be open to reconsidering things based on customer feedback,” said Hassell. “Putting our egos aside allowed us to come out with something that’s really phenomenal.”

3. Integrate it company wide

Hassell believes that customer service is everyone’s responsibility. Because of this, 15Five ensures that all employees are well-positioned to create a positive customer experience.

“We do a few things before tackling customer service. We educate our team on our culture first,” said Hassell. “What are our values? What do we care about? Why is what we’re doing important? How is the product helping provide value to our customers?”

According to Hassell, the key is empowering team members on a personal level so that each employee feels passionate about their contributions.

“We’re really expecting the people we hire to be naturally inclined to be of service and to enjoy doing it,” said Hassell. “We want their individual spark and uniqueness to come through in their interactions.”

Customer service doesn’t need to be a separate business function. Instead, it should be wholly integrated into daily business functions and operations.

“If you really integrate [customer service] by making it a company wide value . . . it ends up being something that everyone thinks about. It’s top of mind for every team member,” said Hassell. “That’s when you get into really unique ways of approaching customer delight and success.”

Ritika Puri specializes in business, marketing, entrepreneurship and tech. She writes for American Express OPEN Forum, Forbes, Investopedia, Business Insider, CMO, the SAP Innovation Blog and others.

 

We learned a lot about USC Verdugo Hills Hospital.

Peter Keller, exec. Irene wife, Director of Aid Africa