I was shocked by my first visit to Whole Foods. I was at first overwhelmed by both the abundance and the aesthetics of the store – it is a natural food lover’s paradise.

In contrast to the festive, welcoming ambiance of the store was my cashier:

a withdrawn, somewhat sullen young guy who didn’t even look up and make eye contact until the end of the transaction.

When he did, it was a dead-eyed stare.

No “Hello”, “Hi, how are you?” Just a dull, “Not thrilled about the job… nor about you being here” demeanor.

The grand finale of this impressive display of graciousness came when he left my items for me to bag and turned to the next customer. I guess it suddenly dawned on him that maybe he could do that. He turned back, so me reaching for a bag, waved me on, and turned to the next customer.

I couldn’t believe it. I’m thinking “I know working with the public isn’t a cake walk and it can be draining, but you’re part of this brand new, elegant store and an enterprise you should feel proud of… what’s the problem?”

Who Thought This Was a Good Hire?

I also wondered “Where did they get this guy? How did he slip through the hiring process?”

I have to admit, I wondered if he was a carry-over from the small natural food store Whole Foods bought out. I had hoped they would weed out those employees who were forever in Sullen Mode.

As I left the store I couldn’t help but think “How disappointing, what could have been an unadulterated “What an incredible place!” experience ended on a real flat note.

The “emotional take away” I left with was far less exuberant than if it had been a consistently cheery, friendly experience, which the store itself created.

Lessons?

OK.. enough of the rant.. let’s get to the “educational” part of this – or at least I hope it will be educational...

First… don’t underestimate the reputation and business damage an unfriendly service person can cause. In an earlier blog posting, I cited some unbelievable research done by Gallup where they studied call center reps and noticed that three of the reps at a companydrove away every single caller! they talked to.

How’s that for impact?

If you’re a business owner or manager of service professionals, do you have people you think might be doing that?

Do you hire rigorously … or are you hiring people like this clerk and hoping they’ll “see the light” and develop a personality?

Are you getting customer feedback and mystery shopping your business?

Are you vigilant about catching your staff doing things well and coaching them on where they can improve?

Please Use This As a Professional Development Tool... Not As a Saga

By the way… when I give negative examples, my goal isn’t to simply rant about lousy customer service, but to increase your mindfulness of those key moments of truth and the impact they have.

I know when you’re immersed in interaction after interaction, day in and day out, it’s easy to forget the huge impact each moment has.

So please use this simple example and others as a catalyst for self-reflection and “grist for the mill” when you coach your service professionals.

Just a reminder, I created this blog with the goal of providing people in customer service, and their managers, with a free online continuing education program on customer service.

My hope is that you use these entries for ongoing coaching.

By engaging your staff in conversations about these moments of truth and the principles they embody, you can not only increase their skill level, but also their job satisfaction. It feels great to be good at what you do.

By the way, if you want to brush up your supervisor skills, check out:

How to Be a "Super-Supervisor”:
Discover What the Best Supervisors Do to Maximize
Employee Performance and Morale

When: March 16th
Where: Westbrook, M

For all the scoop: Click Here

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