Which fast-food chain cooks up the better job description?
Happy Tuesday!
As I’ve said again and again, experience is everything, and everything is experience. All of the language and communication on your website is an opportunity to further tell your story. Even your job descriptions! In fact, you will see a company's true colors by reading through its career page. How are they describing their commitment to their employees and customers?
Let's take a look!
A couple of months ago, I was waiting for my order at the Chick-Fil-A drive thru window. Two younger women were managing the orders behind the glass when I heard one of them turn to her colleague and say “Those people at Taco Bell could never do what we do!”. I couldn’t help but yell out my window, “You’re right!!” The girls were immediately embarrassed that I heard their conversation, but it’s true. Most employees at Taco Bell, or Burger King, or McDonald’s aren’t trained to match Chick-Fil-A’s commitment to their customers.?
One of the biggest fundamental differences that separates companies with incredible customer experience, or CX, from their competitors is the dedication at every level of the organization. Customer centricity isn’t something that can just be dictated by the C Suite — it’s got to be instilled and enabled within every single employee.?
Even if only a small percentage of employees interact directly with customers, every individual must work in service of the customer and understand how their role contributes to the overall experience. Every employee is the most important ambassador of the company. Every interaction is the one with the potential to shape the company’s reputation for the next decade.
The other biggest fundamental difference that separates companies with incredible CX from their competitors? The dedication to the employee experience, or EX. If employees are treated poorly, then why would they feel compelled to go above and beyond for their customers? Your employees are only going to treat your customers as well as they’re being treated.?
Since Customer Experience and Employee Experience go hand-in-hand, you can learn a lot about a company’s values from its career page. To illustrate this point further - and in spirit of the CFA drive-thru employees -? let’s compare two job descriptions for Chick-Fil-A and Taco Bell.?
Here’s the Front of House Team Member job description from Chick-Fil-A:
Here are a few reasons why this description is so good:
First mile: preparing and serving fresh, hot, flavorful food and a clean atmosphere.
Second mile: Going above and beyond the guest expectations.
Chick-Fil-A could easily stop at the 1st mile. After all, their customers are looking for an efficient, tasty meal in a clean restaurant. However, as I wrote last week, average companies settle for “good enough.” SUPER companies try to blow their customers’ minds in every interaction so they can’t help but tell their friends about it. CFA sets the tone for exceeding customer expectations right off the bat by emphasizing it in the job description and ingraining it at every level of the organization.?
If you’ve ever been to a Chick-Fil-A, you know that every customer’s request is followed up with a “my pleasure” from a CFA team member. Their positive attitude and commitment to second mile service is instilled on day 0, before their candidates become employees. It’s no wonder that the team members at my local Chick-Fil-A exclaimed that their Taco Bell counterparts could never do what they do!
Speaking of Taco Bell… let’s take a closer look at their Team Member job description:
At first glance, this job summary isn’t too bad, right? It mentions customer experience, positive attitude, and friendly service. But there’s a reason that Taco Bell isn’t famous for its world class CX, and there’s a reason why not every fast-food restaurant is like Chick-Fil-A.
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The first sentence of the description, “...YOU will set the tone for the Taco Bell customer experience..” is already off to a rocky start. First of all, the customer experience is not set by the employees working the frontlines. Of course, their interactions with the customer can certainly make or break the company’s reputation, but so can everyone else’s. Every employee is in the experience department. CX has to be set from the top of the organization and instilled within every team member - not just the service associates.?
Another big difference between the two fast-food chains and their job descriptions is that Taco Bell doesn’t communicate its story on its career page. Even as a franchised restaurant, there’s an overarching brand story that unites all of the locations, and yet it’s nowhere to be found when a prospect wants to read more about the position. How are they attracting their ideal type of employee whose story aligns with theirs? It’s no wonder CFA is able to find enthusiastic and honest employees - it’s because they specifically asked for them!
Toward the end of the descriptions, Chick-Fil-A promises candidates, “We teach you everything you need to know!”, whereas Taco Bell says that it's 'the place to learn, grow, and succeed!’ It seems like a trivial comparison, but the active phrasing of “we teach you” versus the passive phrasing of “you can learn here” reflects the difference in employee experience between the two companies.?
While Taco Bell simply describes the position in terms of its responsibilities - taking orders, preparing food, and maintaining food-safety standards - Chick-Fil-A describes how the responsibilities will be performed: with the Recipe for Service, the core 4 values, and model communication. Taco Bell stops at the first mile, whereas Chick-Fil-A goes the second mile.?
Perhaps you’ve seen one of the many popular memes that describes modern art this way:
MODERN ART = I COULD DO THAT + YEAH, BUT YOU DIDN’T
I’ve described customer experience in similar terms as the famous modern art meme:
EXPERIENCE = I COULD DO THAT + YEAH, SO WHY DON’T YOU??
Everything that Chik-Fil-A does, on the surface, is simple. None of it is rocket science. And yet, that simplicity is deceptive. If it were easy, everyone would do it. There’s the average employee at Taco Bell who’s dedicated to preparing food and serving customers in a fast-paced and friendly environment. Then there’s the SUPER team at Chick-Fil-A whose mission is to ensure that every guest leaves with a smile.
This isn't setup to shade Taco Bell, by the way — I was in a Taco Bell drive-thru less than a week ago! Instead, it’s to remind you that to be truly customer-centric, you’ve got to bake it into your brand DNA.
How would YOUR customers and colleagues describe YOU? Are you the Taco Bell or the Chick-Fil-A of your industry? Investing in customer and employee experience will always result in a positive ROI!
"I believe no amount of business school training or work experience can teach what is ultimately a matter of personal character. Businesses are not dishonest or greedy, people are. Thus, a business, successful or not, is merely a reflection of the character of its leadership."
-S. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-A
Ever wondered why all the Chick-Fil-A team members say “my pleasure” instead of “you’re welcome”? Read this Entrepreneur article to learn more.
Have a great week and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!