We routinely perform marketing strategy workshops. One of my favorite sections is when we to begin allowing the newly defined brand begin to not only inform content marketing strategies but the operations of the rest of the brand.
One of these aspects is customer service.
How does your brand reflect in how your front-line workers inform that first impression towards your customers?
Recently I had the pleasure of taking a business trip, absolutely delightful given the lack of travel taken by most at the time of writing.
I was able to visit quite a few businesses, hotels, etc. and during the trip, I visited four large mainstream businesses that stood out to me. These were places you would stay at, get coffee at, grab food and endless fries at and more.
At each of these places I asked two questions to the service workers:
How are you doing today?
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
An interaction that takes 15 seconds, ended each time with a deep sigh and a “thank you for caring.”
These are just pleasantries, but I typically followed up with additional questions like how long have you worked here and do you like your job.
The typical answer was, “I have worked here between 3-5 years” and “I like my job, but I hate my managers because they don’t care.”
Big Yikes!
This is a small sample of multiple cities and the only similarities are that these are service industry jobs. I don’t believe this is rare or unique. In fact, I think it’s quite common.
Managers are not to blame either.
The real question is, “Why was I not pulled into your brand, delighted, and thus made into a fan of your brand?”
I do firmly believe that everything rises and falls on the shoulders of leadership. If leadership is unable to accurately articulate the brand, values, and spark of joy in their workers, then what are we even managing?
Being in business, ultimately there is a bottom-line that dictates many things, but making fans of your customers does contribute to that. Keeping your skilled, dedicated, and long-term employees invested in the brand also contributes to the bottom line.
Big and small, brands have an incredible opportunity to win regular customers and with a little empathy, you can make waves.
Next Steps?
Ask yourself three questions about your business:
- How does your customer recognize your brand from the parking lot?
- How does your customer know your brand from the tone of your front-line workers?
- How does your customer fall in love with your brand during and after a purchase has been made?
Thinking through your customer journey is one of the most beautiful ways to understand how to delight customers and move your business ahead of your competition.
What to learn more? Let’s get together and talk through your brand.
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