The Secret Service Sauce

Imagine you have been hired as the director of customer impressions for an organization you have long admired. For years, the organization that hired you has been first-class and always achieved top rankings in a competitive industry. Revenues were high, customers were loyal, and turnover was non-existent. Until now. Growing pains slowed all the positive love. Employees aren’t feeling inspired and you have been hired to fix it.

What do you do??

I was asked this question before a recent keynote. The question kept me up at night but as I pondered, I remembered driver Lee.

Earlier this week, I delivered the keynote for the South Central Motorcoach Association. The evening before I spoke, all the attendees traveled by motorcoaches to dinner. On the way back, I was one of the first people off the bus. I stood and watched everyone leave. The driver was the first person off the bus, and he stood by the door to greet every passenger as they departed. He shook hands or fist bumped everyone and thanked them for riding with him. Then I watched as he inspected the bus to make sure it was clean and that no one had left anything of importance behind.

Veteran bus driver Lee Bradley helped me answer the question:

Hire people who love people and are teachable. Lee didn’t always know how to drive a bus – he was trained to do that. But he did know how to “drive” people.??That’s because he understands the power of relating to others. You have heard it before, “Hire for attitude first!”

Regularly remind your team of the importance of being kind to everyone. Make sure that everyone in your organization is reminded that attitudes are contagious and that how you treat each other internally impacts how the customer is treated.

Train and retrain your team on the basics of quality customer service.?Do it every day if you can through a team huddle, line-up, or even a Zoom call. Share stories and illustrations of incredible service and even terrible service and the lessons learned. Make sure your team is empowered to make things right when things go wrong.

Have a zero-tolerance policy for rudeness and disrespect.?It’s never okay to be rude to customers or fellow employees. EVER. Most businesses have zero-tolerance policies for workplace drug use, harassment, theft, or violence. Why not have one for rudeness?

Even in a challenging job market, it’s possible to find good people who want to work for great organizations. They want to learn; they want to positively impact others; and they are conscientious about their professional actions and the impressions that they make.

?Hire the right people. Lead them well. Show them love. Help them learn. Then let them loose to do great work.

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I would love to hear the secret sauce that your organization uses to delight your customers and as always, if I can help your organization take a learning pause to up your game, please send me a message or contact me through my website www.TimRichardson.com!