Happy Sunday Everyone:
I had a breakfast meeting with Erica (my Team Captain) this past Friday. Went to the same spot we always go to, right by our office, easy, good. Gal that owns it is either Swedish or German, big accent, always a big smile, knows you by name, makes you feel great when you walk in the door. This time, we walked in, two college girls were working the register, owner wasn’t there. No greeting, just “what can I get you”, no smile, nothing. This also isn’t a big deal to me at the time but then my order doesn’t come. Erica asks about it “sorry, we will get it out to you”, 15 minutes later, no order. I get up and ask “where’s my piece of quiche (yes I actually ordered a piece of quiche)”…her response “there was a mix up, it will be right out”. Finally it comes out, with no real apology, and of course, it’s cold in the middle. At this point I’m over it but as I’m leaving I ask for a coffee in a to go cup, and tell both the girls “just so you’re aware, after all that, the quiche was cold in the middle”. They look at each other, look back at me, like I’m the jackass, and say “sorry”.
Is this story that big of a deal? I got a cold quiche 30 minutes later than I should have. I’m not exactly going to starve to death, I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill, correct? I get it, but I always try to relate it back to my world and question my own stuff. A few things that came to mind.
1. We need to question what our client experience looks and feels like when we’re not there. Are our teams in alignment with our vision of what a client needs to feel like when we hang up the phone or meet with them in person. Our team operates off of 4 words; cater, execution, excellence, and gratitude. We can always bring back 5 star reviews and say we hit all 4 of those words with our client experience, and if something went wrong, one of those 4 words was missed, always. In my breakfast, I wasn’t catered too, execution was terrible, I certainly felt no gratitude, and it was not an excellent experience.
2. Training is everything. Yes you could say two college girls are making a few bucks while they’re home from school. Or you could say “I’m handing the keys to my kingdom to these two girls and they need to understand what type of trust I’m putting in them and what I need our clients to feel like when they show up, and when they leave”.
3. If you screw something up, own it until resolution, and show that you care. In the back of my mind, I knew after the first request it wasn’t going to be resolved, because I knew they didn’t care. I was actually betting against them and they proved me right. Make sure your clients are never betting against you, and if they are, surprise them, and earn their trust.
4. You earn trust in drips and you lose it in buckets. A great friend of mine, Kevin P, made that statement at our last Core Summit. I’ll go back to the restaurant because the little euro lady has earned my trust in drips, but the truth is, those two girls on Friday lost it in buckets, if this was the new face of the restaurant, I’d find a diff spot.
I promise, I’m over my cold quiche, but I do find it interesting, and always worth a look, to compare my operations to that of others, in my own line of work, and across the board. I always learn something new, and it helps my team and I stay laser focused on our own vision.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, and say a heartfelt THANK YOU” to all those Veterans.