When I was a young boy, I imagined I was Wild Bill Hickock a lot of the time…or sometimes I was Hopalong Cassidy. We watched the great cowboys on black and white television and then rushed to the back yard to replicate their antics. I now live on the 13th hole of a PGA golf course designed by Jack Nicholas about an hour from the Augusta National golf course. My golf-playing buddies would watch golfing greats at the Master’s on color television and then rush to the nearby links to replicate their moves. The mimicking behavior looks the same to me.
So, what if you watched great service in action and then rushed to the marketplace to replicate what you experienced. I have a friend who is the CEO of a company. She gives her new hires a night at the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel followed by lunch at a nearby Chick-fil-A. All she asks is that they come back and catalog actions they observed in the two establishments and how they could use those same actions at the company she leads.
But, here is one for those of you who lead a customer-facing unit or organization. What would it take to deliver a customer experience so profound your customers would be moved to serve others in the way they are served by your employees? What would it require for your service to be a poignant role model of greatness to everyone?
Touch-your-heart service has a magnetic impact on customers. It attracts them because it conveys to a customer the kind of unconditional positive regard that characterizes a relationship at its best. Customers like the way they feel when dealing with service providers who have such a greatness orientation. They feel valued, not used. They enjoy relationships with value and substance far more than encounters that are functional but hollow. Give to your customers the best that you have and the best will come back to you and to others.