Last week, I met two friends at a popular local eatery for lunch. Being the week before Christmas and having a location in a strip mall, the restaurant was busy. Several things happened throughout our experience – we waited 15 minutes before having our drink orders taken, we waited another 15 minutes to receive said drinks and to place our order, the food arrived late (and undercooked), and the waitress never once stopped back to ask the customary “is everything ok?” Now, we understood the restaurant was busy…and at this time of year, we were quite willing to overlook these infractions. However, the tipping point was when we were paying our checks. First, the waitress didn’t bother to take the time to sort out which check belonged to whom. Second, after she ran credit cards and made change, she brought the receipts back and dumped them on the table, with no eye contact or ‘thank you,’ and walked off. Although we were understanding about the busyness, and willing to overlook the meal, we simply couldn’t look past this final gesture – no “thank you.”
There’s another local restaurant that I frequent, at least once a week. The reason I go back is that I feel valued as a customer. No matter how busy, they take the time to say “hello, how are you,” and more importantly, “Thank you.” Additionally, the staff also knows my car, and will have a hot cup of tea (sweetened just the way I like it, too) waiting on me at ‘my table.’
These two examples couldn’t be more different. In the first example, I did not feel valued; heck, I wasn’t even worth a 5-second “Thank you.” In the second, I feel like the most important customer in the world, I receive personalized service that is completed by a sincere “Thank you.”
Could the waitress in the first example simply be having a bad day? Perhaps. However, the bottom line is that employees, particularly those that deal directly with your customers, are representative of your business and of your brand. As business owners, we all should do periodic reviews to ensure our employees are effectively carrying out our brand message.
Your brand goes beyond your logo and visual identity; it is rather the persona of the company that is projected to your customers. As we prepare to enter a new year, what better time to review (or develop) the mechanism you have in place to measure or gather feedback from your customers – what you think is being projected by your employees may be, in fact, interpreted differently from a customer viewpoint. Surveys, mystery shoppers, polls, personal calls to customers are all possible ways to gather this information. Once armed with this information, you’ll be better positioned to make any changes, if necessary, to drive the brand image YOU desire!
And, please dear reader, remember to say “Thank you” to those that you value this Christmas season.