Don’t leave it to chance
It was a cold, wet and windy Friday night and my flight home was delayed. Feeling tired and irritable,
I stepped into the aircraft, prepared to show my boarding pass to a bored crew member who would tell
me where seat 1D was, just in case I could not figure that out. I was surprised to be greeted warmly
by a flight attendant with a broad smile and bright, friendly eyes that gazed directly into mine. She
quickly looked at my boarding pass. "Dr Brooks, it's so nice to have you with us this evening," she
said, raising her eyes to meet mine. "Your seat is just here."
For the next 15 minutes, I admired how this woman greeted my fellow passengers by giving them the
same warm, friendly welcome. Making eye contact, she gave them a big smile and said something that included
the customer’s name, which she gleaned from a quick glance at the boarding pass. I could see the
look of concentration on her face as she made sure she got the person's name correct. She was careful
to vary what she said to each passenger so that it did not sound trite. Her hard work paid off and there
was a look of surprise, followed by delight, on each passenger's face as they got an unexpectedly warm,
enthusiastic and personalised greeting.
When the plane was airborne and the woman had a free moment, I complimented her and asked where she
had learned to greet passengers that way. "I just figured it out myself," she told me. “I
knew people would be tired and I thought they might like to see a bright smiling face. And, everyone
likes to be greeted by their name, don’t they?” I agreed and asked if her managers knew
what she did. A look of sadness flashed across her face. “No,” she said. “They don’t.” I
asked whether I would have had the same greeting from any of the other cabin crew on the plane and with
some reluctance she said probably not.
The other day I went into my local dry cleaners. I used to enjoy going there because the woman who
ran the store was very friendly and always had a smile for her customers. Unfortunately she left last
year and, as I walked out with my dry cleaning, I thought how I have never seen her replacement smile.
In fact, she always looks as if her dog has just died and I now find going into the store depressing.
When I got home, I asked my wife how she found the new woman. “Oh, I stopped going there months
ago,” she said. “I didn’t like her attitude.”
These two very opposite customer experiences have one thing in common. The quality of the experience
reflected the attitude of the employee and had nothing to do with management. In fact, in both cases
management appears to be unaware of how their staff are behaving and the effect it has on their customers.
This is hard to understand given the flight attendant is such a positive and enthusiastic person and
the woman at the dry cleaners so clearly miserable that their behaviour must have been obvious at the
job interview and on every occasion their manager has met with them or seen them in action. You could
not possible miss it - unless, of course, you were not looking for it.
Therein lies the problem. Managers keep a sharp eye on their business’s financial performance,
whether policies are complied with and staff are productive. But many do not watch how their staff behave
towards their customers, which is disturbing when you think 100% of a business’s profits come
from its customers. Here are five steps to avoid making that mistake yourself.
First, talk to your customers to learn how they would like staff to behave. Until you learn this,
you can safely assume your customers would like to be treated the way you like to be treated when you
are a customer.
Next, write a detailed description of how you want your staff to behave. Be very specific and cover
the many situations in which staff and customers interact. If you write a short general description
it will have no impact on your staff.
Thirdly, put yourself in a position where you can watch your staff interact with your customers. Do
this several times each year. This will take time but there are very few things more important since
100% of your profits come from your customers.
Most importantly, act on what you see. Praise and reward people who get it right and coach and encourage
those who are trying but not always succeeding. Deal with those who are not behaving as you want them
to by identifying the behaviour you do not like and explaining the effect it has on your customers.
Then tell them how you would like them to behave and explain how this will create a better experience
for your customers.
Finally, follow up with the poor performers by keeping a close eye on them until you are confident
they are consistently getting it right.
How well your staff treat your customers is crucial to the success of your business. Their behaviour
should be managed and not left to chance.
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