Why People Want You To Care
Nothing warms my heart more than when I visit our restaurants and see members of our Chick-fil-A team caring for people: taking orders with kindness and respect, refilling drinks, greeting people with a smile.
When you act in confidence and with care it translates to those whom you desire to serve. And confidence begets confidence.
I believe you gain confidence by caring.
In our business, caring means concerning yourself about the small things most take for granted or don’t think about. Like, keeping the parking lot trash-free, or the bathroom spotless and tidy, the tables cleared, or keeping fresh flowers around.
Dad believed it wasn’t enough to run into the bathroom with cleaning supplies, scrub for five minutes and leave. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
Cleaning a bathroom doesn’t require specialty skills. But it does require discipline. And as many of us know, staying disciplined with anything is hard work. But highly rewarding.
Caring about what you do is not something you and I can turn off and on like a light switch. It’s a core principle that needs to be nurtured each day.
And when we do, our confidence will grow. And so will the confidence of those lovely people we aim to serve.
Here’s something else to be confident in. In recent years experts have actually quantified the effects of customer service. They found that when companies deliver great customer experiences they save money. So not only is caring for your customers a great core leadership principle, but it makes good business sense.
When a Chick-fil-A Operator cares for her restaurant it shows. And customers pick up on it. They feel valued.
When we care about our work, it will show. Plain and simple. And when it shows, we’ll feel good about it, and so will our customers.
Think about how you feel when someone shows kindness to you, or when someone goes the extra mile for you. There’s a deep connection there in all of us. We can’t always put it into words, but we know how it feels.
It makes us relax. It calms us.
When we nurture this kind of environment in our workplace, no matter the industry, people flourish. And it all starts with picking up the trash.
Photo by José Martín Ramírez C on Unsplash
Academic Advisor at GCCC
6 年I visited a Chick-A-Filet restaurant in Wichita, KS & it was freezing & windy outside & the line was extra long so there were two people out in coats taking orders. They were extra nice & didn't complain about the weather. The person at the window apologized for the delay in line, which I usually expect. This kind of service keeps me coming back, time & again, besides the fact that I love the food.
Cannabis Production Manager Part 107 certified sUAS Remote Pilot Montana State Rep. MGNOC
6 年Very true and it is reflective in work and life relations. "When you act in confidence and with care it translates to those whom you desire to serve. And confidence begets confidence." With confidence, other virtues can stand out as well like you mentioned, kindness, helpfulness, compassion and more that like you said are often taken for granted or not even thought about. Good write and read, thank you
Customer Service Representative at Motion Industries
6 年Thank you Dan,so true and important to value people in the little things.
President & CEO, Action Unlimited Resources
6 年So true. If it's worth doing it's worth doing well. Regardless of what "it" is. Thanks
Vice President of Strategy - Achieving success through Leadership, Training and Dedication
6 年Dan, great customer service is becoming a lost art. Congrats on keeping the art alive in your restaurants! This one thing is buried beneath revenue and profits in most companies and often mentioned as a guiding principle for businesses with little to no backing. I have always felt that people make the biggest difference in a company. Show them care and give them confidence and they will do the same for their customers.