Have you ever been at a restaurant and your food order is wrong, but the waiter or waitress blames the cooks?  More than once I’ve heard a waitress say something like: “They get half the orders screwed up on Friday nights.”   Or, “They’re not the smartest cooks.”  Or, “We’re short on help back there tonight.”  Here’s my all time favorite: “I’m not your waitress.  You’re not in my section.  I’ll send over your waitress.”

Frankly, I don’t care!  That’s not my problem!  I don’t work here.  I’m the customer, for goodness sake!

When I order coleslaw, rather than fries, I do not want to hear a waitress blame the cooks.  I just want my coleslaw.  And, I want my waitress to make me feel like the entire restaurant staff feels bad that I didn’t get my coleslaw.  After all, I came to a restaurant for the service as well as the food.  I could have served myself a meal at home.  Part of the reason I went to a restaurant is to sit there and not work.  I expect service.  Good service. 

I AM NOT UNIQUE IN MY EXPECTATIONS!   That’s every customer’s expectations, which should drive virtually every business function in every business.  The businesses that make customers feel special win.  Period.

I expect warm food, and my order served timely and as ordered.  I should NEVER hear a waitress distinguish herself from the kitchen.  There are not two separate operations within a restaurant.  There are no seating or service “sections” that the customer needs to know about.  Not from the customer’s perspective, and only the customer’s opinion counts.  No host or hostess should talk about the kitchen staff or the wait staff as different or distinct from the host’s job.  No waiter should pass the buck to another waiter.  If a customer needs something, EVERY waiter in the joint is eligible to address that customer’s needs, wants and demands.  A restaurant is a single entity and offers a single customer experience.  And that concept should be drilled, taught and mandated by management in restaurants and every other business type.  YOUR BUSINESS INCLUDED!

 For more thoughts on this subject, please take a look at the follow up post-  All Employees Are In Sales-  Part II

In Part I of this blog topic, I discussed how employees impact a customer’s buying experience.  In this blog entry, I’ll explain how that is the essence of your sales efforts.

This will be short, because the concept is so simple.

Your employees can sell your products or services by showing that they value customers.  Period.  End of concept.  End of post.  (almost)

‘Value our customers?”

What’s that mean?

I mean that they should really, truly value your customers.  There should be genuine concern by your entire staff to help, serve and improve a client’s status or position.  Genuine effort is required, but genuine concern is equally important.  Most customers can detect when a clerk or salesperson is faking it.  That is a huge barrier to getting repeat business, which should be the goal of every business in some form.  It’s too hard winning all new customers every day.  It’s easier to sell a customer whose already accepted your product or service.  So, do everything it takes to get the customer to return.

The first and most important element in that effort rests with your staff.  They are your company.  That one rude (or exceptional) employee, as much as anything, will be remembered by your customer the next time she is going to buy your or your competitor’s product or service.  So, hire, fire and invest in people properly.  Don’t “train” your staff.  We train dogs, seals and show horses.  “Empower” your staff with skills, knowledge and rewarding work environments.  “Develop” your human resources.

Get  this. . .  in many European countries, the success of a company is measured largely by employee retention and job satisfaction.  We treat employees quite differently here in the USA, and it shows in the lack of employer-employee loyalty.  Who pays the price for that distrust and lack of loyalty?  The customer, that’s who.

Align your company’s vision and goals with those of your staff, and you’ll be on the path to making customers happy.  My guess is that most of your staff has no clue what your company is trying to become, accomplish or excel at.  So, it is no wonder that those values aren’t translated into quality customer relations.

Do you get it?  If you don’t, your business is almost assuredly underperforming.