This text refers to items 26 through 45.

Broken windows, broken business

1 ___ 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.

4 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

7 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

10 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

13 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

16 on the grounds of jaywalking³! 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

19 dramatically. It was made clear that the good guys would be in

charge there, not wrongdoers.

Levine says the same principle applies to businesses.

22 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

25 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,

28 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

31 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

34 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

37 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

40 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

43 customers for life.

Mystery shoppers should be regularly employed to

learn whether customers are having a positive experience

46 dealing with a company. Candidates for mystery shoppers to

recruit include customers who already complain about their

experiences with the company.

49 ___ 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

52 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.

55 ___ The worst business scenario is “broken window

hubris⁴”. Examples are Kmart and Enron. A company suffers

from broken window hubris when management thinks the

58 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.

According to the text,