2 Words You Never Say to a Customer

Two words you should NEVER say or write to a customer.....

"division"

and

"department"

Customers do not care about your org chart.

To them, everyone who works in your company is functionally the same - like the guards on The Squid Game, but without the cool jumpsuits, or murders.

On a United Express flight (operated by Air Wisconsin) recently, the passenger in the row in front of me fretted about whether his bag would make his connecting flight.

I watched him query the flight attendant, who briskly said: "Making sure your bag makes the next flight is not my job, it's the baggage department's job."

Thanks. For. Nothing.?

When you invoke "others" in the organization, you force the customer to confront your internal wiring and sticky processes. And seeing your company's innards can erode customer trust in an instant.?

I thought: "if a flight attendant - the public-facing manifestation of this brand - cannot take a moment to explain baggage transfer to a passenger, what else is frayed behind-the-scenes in this company?"?

It doesn't matter whose job it is. From the customers' perspective, every job is everyone's job.

The best businesses are like a duck that's really good at accountability. Tranquil on the surface, but even if they're paddling like crazy underneath the water, they aren't crying foul about other fowl.?

The Village Deli,?owned by Bob and Kari Costello, are a duck like this. Like many restaurants, they have a labor shortage.?

Staff was in such short supply this past Saturday that they drafted myself and three other friends to pitch in and keep the restaurant open.?

The Village Deli is famous for their pancakes. So when they put me in the kitchen to run the pancakes/french toast/waffles station, the stakes were high, especially since the last time I worked a grill in a restaurant RONALD REAGAN was President.?

My friends served as hosts, bussers, expeditors, and whatever else needed to be done.

Did we know what we were doing? Not really. But we made it work. Was it the finest day in the multi-decade history of the restaurant? Unlikely. But what Bob and Kari did NOT do was bemoan the situation.?

They didn't tell customers "I'm sorry your pancake is misshapen. You see, our cook today is actually a keynote speaker, so it's his fault."

72% of companies say customer expectations have gone UP since the pandemic. There's no way to please every customer, every time.?

But there's one surefire way to DISPLEASE them: reveal your intra-organizational dramas.?

Of these most-popular options at The Village Deli, which pancake would you order??Plain. Cinnamon Roll. Pumpkin. Blueberry. Strawberry. Granola. Reply and let me know?