Remember the days of the salad bar? A quick lunch grab at your local grocery store that is both nutritional and delicious? Peering at the multitude of offerings and contemplating what you will enjoy?
And yes, I can make something similar at home – but then I have to do all the work. And somehow it’s just never quite as satisfying.
But the last time I got the salad bar for lunch, the new young checker tossed it all about looking for a barcode and turning my carefully portioned salads into a jumbled mess. I watched in horror and blurted out “You have to weigh it!” But sadly, the damage had already been done.
The young man likely had no idea how this seemingly minor inconvenience completely ruined the next several hours of my day. So I started to wonder… how many of these “minor” inconveniences do we impose unknowingly on our customers every day?
For instance, have you ever been in a hurry and waiting in line only to feel absolutely no sense of urgency on the other side of the counter? Or how about the answer “It’s just our policy.” I mean, if you can’t tell me why, how important can the policy be?
When we don’t take the time to contemplate what we want our customer’s ideal experience to be, we are often oblivious to the experience we actually deliver. And if we have the ideal experience mapped out but have not trained our associates to deliver that experience, we fail miserably regardless.
Remember – your brand is whatever your customer says it is. What are you doing to make sure you are taking every opportunity to build the story you want them to tell?
