Dave Catt, a friend and colleague of mine, works as a freelance training consultant, predominantly in the motor industry. He was booked to run a two-day training course at a prestige automotive retailer in Northern Ireland, a business renowned for its exceptionally high levels of customer service.
On the day…
He arrived from the airport in a taxi and entered the showroom, to be welcomed by a receptionist. He had not met this person before and he was not wearing a name badge or anything to identify who he was. The receptionist greeted him with ‘Morning Dave, welcome! How was your journey here?’
Needless to say, Dave was blown away. Talk about making a positive first impression!
He signed in and was shown to the area where the training was being held – upstairs on a mezzanine level.
During a break, Dave was looking from the upper level down onto the customer waiting area, which was packed with customers relaxing and being served coffee.
After a short while…
Dave noticed that one of the staff members serving coffee to customers was none other than the Managing Director! A fantastic example to every member of the team – if he can do it, so can everyone else who works there, that is when they’re not engaged in helping other customers. Not only that, this is a great way for the Managing Director to find out from the customers what they really think of the service and listen to their suggestions for making it even better.
After completion of the first day of training, the retailer insisted on chauffeuring Dave to his hotel and also collected him the following morning.
The next day…
As Dave arrived at the showroom for Day 2 of the training, he noticed that someone was picking up litter on the forecourt. Who do you think it was? That’s right, it was the Managing Director again!
What an incredible demonstration of ‘leading by example’, made all the more powerful by the fact that he had been in the role for 30 years and still showed every bit as much passion for customers as he did on the day he joined.
Ask yourself…
If you’re the manager of a team and you find yourself pointing the finger at your team and asking ‘why don’t they….?’ (fill in the blank yourself), ask yourself how it looks from their perspective. Do they ever see you doing the thing you’re expecting of them? Ouch!
If you’d like a conversation about how you could create a business culture that delivers exceptional service to customers please get in touch.