The #1 Most Important Customer Experience Skill

Imagine this.

You have waited all your adult life to experience a bucket list moment.

You have traveled thousands of miles, taken two weeks off work and spent an inordinate amount of money to visit a special place few have seen.

The expedition guide prepares you for the hike you will make up a steep mountain covered in snow and ice. It will require walking poles. Arriving at a stone covered beach, you climb out of the raft, place your snow boots in the water and walk ashore. Penguins are playfully swimming at the shoreline. You stop to snap a few photos.

The journey up the mountain is not easy. The summer sun is permeating the layers you are wearing to protect from the cold, so you are peeling off layers on your way up the mountain.

Finally, you reach the top – the pinnacle of this trip you have planned for a decade. The beauty is breath-taking – all that snow surrounds an icy blue sea. The water is like a mirror and the reflections of snow-covered mountains blanket the bay below. Perfection.

Obviously, you want to capture this moment with a photo. Approaching the guide, who is standing alone over-looking the same view, you request he take your photo. As he is walking off, he says, “I’ve been in a long cue of taking one photo after another. Ask another passenger.” It is very evident that George missed his guest service training day. The first sign was not that he refused to take the photo, but that he called the travelers “passengers.” This company never uses that word, but instead refers to its customers as “guests.”

In one sentence, one team member destroyed a guest experience. Maybe his statement doesn’t sound so unreasonable? It is if the company prides itself on exceeding guest’s expectations and they are consistently rated as one of the top customer service brands in the world in their industry. The guests were stunned at the refusal to take their photo.

Walking 100 yards further, the guests stopped to take a selfie, not daring to request another photo. Another guide approaches them volunteering to take their photo. Still frustrated from the earlier experience, they are surprised at the offer and said as much. The guide responds, “that’s what I am here for.”

How can a guest have such an inconsistent experience from one team member to another within 100 yards and 120 seconds of one another? The truth is it happens all the time.

We know the reasons:

  1. There is a labor shortage.  Organizations tend to hire fast, train fast and put team members in their roles  . . . fast.
  2. The wrong team members are selected. Going fast causes us to shortchange the interviewing process and don’t even think about checking references.
  3. The organization drifts from its core purpose.  In every single business, the most important role is to serve the customer.
  4. The leaders do not hold team members accountable for serving guests.

The obvious antidote is to do the opposite of the list above. Take the time to select the right talent for the role, thoroughly train talent to meet and exceed expectations, focus on the customer as a top priority and hold team members accountable for serving guests. But there is one more thing:

Select talent with empathy and compassion. Reward team members who display it.

However, for those guests, it was one moment. They were never, ever going to do that again in their lives. It was their only chance and they had waited a lifetime to do it. With empathy and compassion, George, like Nick, the guide who ultimately took the photo, would recognize this special moment, and seek to celebrate it with the guests. Without empathy, he failed to recognize the significance of the moment.

When I led Talent at Chick-fil-A, I used to teach this principle to my staff: “This week, we will interview dozens of candidates, just like we do every week. It is routine for us. But it is not routine for that franchisee candidate or that support center staff candidate. This is a day that might change the trajectory of their life. Don’t make it routine. Make it meaningful.”

Whatever your business is, you can do the same. Select talent that will celebrate with your guests. Create a culture of care, where team members with empathy can flourish. If you do, you will win the hearts of your team members and your guests. When you win the heart, you stop the revolving door of guests and team members.

Meet The Author, Dee Ann Turner

Dee Ann Turner is a 33-year veteran of Chick-fil-A, Inc. Prior to retirement in 2018, she was Vice President, Talent and Vice President, Sustainability. 

Selected as the company’s first female officer in 2001, she was instrumental in building and growing Chick-fil-A’s well-known culture and talent systems. During her long career, she worked closely with Chick-fil-A’s founder, S. Truett Cathy, and other key leaders as an architect of their organizational culture. Turner was responsible for thousands of selections of Chick-fil-A Franchisees and corporate staff members. Additionally, she led Talent Management, Staff Learning and Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Culture and Engagement. Most recently, Dee Ann launched and led the Sustainability function focusing on Chick-fil-A’s strategy to implement sustainable practices at the $11 billion company.

Today, she leads her own organization, Dee Ann Turner & Associates, LLC, writing books, speaking to over 50 audiences per year and consulting and coaching leaders globally. She is the author of the best sellers, It’s My Pleasure: The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture and Bet on Talent: How to Create a Remarkable Culture and Win the Hearts of Customers. Her newest book, Crush Your Career: Ace the Interview, Land the Job and Launch Your Career will be released in March 2021.

You can connect with Dee Ann at deeannturner.com, crushyourcareerbook.com, Dee Ann on Twitter @deeannturner, Instagram @deeannturner, LinkedIn or on Facebook: @DeeAnnTurnerAuthor.