Service that leaves an impression

The other day my son and I stopped at our favorite fast food restaurant – Chick-fil-A.   If you haven’t been to a Chick-fil-A and you like chicken, you’ll definitely want to give this a try.   Chick-fil-A is a fast food restaurant where you wait on line, place your order, give you name, step aside and wait for your name to be called to pick up your order.   Generally, the process is similar at most fast food restaurants, except instead of a number they refer to you by name (nice touch).  Now, here is where things divert.  If you elect to dine in, an employee will deliver the food to you on a tray.  Moreover, it’s someone’s job to ask if you are happy with your meal, provide refills, and is there just to be helpful; WOW.  Pretty standard stuff if you are dining at a restaurant, but exceptional service for a fast food establishment.

There must be something in the water at Chick-fil A – all of the employees look happy and genuinely glad to be working there.  Perhaps it is their hiring process, their training process, or even the fact that they close the restaurant on Sunday’s so that employees can be with their families.  Maybe it is all of the above, but they are definitely on to something with their formula.  The food is great, the service is exceptional, and you feel good going there.

What’s does all this have to do with you?  A lot.  I think that every business professional can learn from Chick-fil-A.  They:  a) Demonstrate respect for their workers b) Foster a motivating and fun environment for their workers c) Create a close relationship with their customers and d) Exceed customer expectations.  It’s that little bit extra that leaves a lasting impression.  I’m not a customer, I’m a fan.  Now, don’t you want your customers to feel that way about your products or services?  Think about what you could do differently to foster a similar environment for your employees.  What unexpected things could you do to make your customers feel extra special?

Do you have any similar experiences to share?

 

Top 5 Reasons Customers Buy From A Salesperson.

Top 5 3d rendering on white background.

 

  1. Likeability – People want to do business with people they like.
  2. Benefit – The sales rep knows and understands their customer’s business well and can effectively communicate the benefits in the customer’s language.
  3. Trust – The customer knows and trusts their sales rep/team.  Would you ever buy something from someone you do not feel you can trust?
  4. Fit – The product or service meets a desire from those empowered to buy.
  5. Price – The product or service delivers good value for the required investment.

If you do not deliver on each of these five reasons, it is highly unlikely a sale will occur.  Keep this list handy, and objectively double check these items against sales opportunities to both identify and sure up areas of weakness.

Happy Selling!

 

Proof – Fun Changes Behavior

I really like this photo for several reasons: 1. Participants were provided a choice as to whether or not to participate. 2. Participants bought into the fun and modified their behavior 3. It’s a great example of the power of fun in action.

Now, I want you to take a minute and just imagine that this escalator were inside your place of business, and for whatever the reason, your company wanted employees to use the stairs. What approach would they take? Would someone in your company brainstorm creative ways to get buy-in, or would they simply send out a compulsory memo and shut-off the escalator? Both approaches will achieve the desired result, but which approach will make employees happier?

If you are thinking – so what? who cares? what a silly waste of time and resources, think again. According to one Economic Study, Happy People are 12% more productive than their unhappy counterparts. At the University of Rochester, Ryan O’Loughlin’s doctoral dissertation showed the linkage between happiness and creativity. Therefore, it follows that employee happiness directly shows up on the bottom line.

 

G = He x Pe x Pd x E x Cs

 

Take a look at the above formula, it’s my employee happiness growth formula hypothesis: Growth = Happy Employees x Positive Environment x Product or Svc. Differentiated x Empathy x Customer Satisfaction. As you can see from this formula, if you assign a low to high value of 0 (we don’t do it) to 5 (we excel at it) to any one of the values, then you can quickly identify target areas for improvement. As you can quickly see, assigning a 0 to any one of the values impacts the entire chain and growth is impacted, perhaps not immediately, but I would argue that it will eventually show up in time – it always does.

Do the math, how would your company rate?