Employees Are Your Business Differentiator – Friday Distraction
(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, a leading provider of workforce management and human capital management cloud solutions. They were recently recognized as a Great Place to Work in Asia, Canada, India, and the U.K. for their WorkInspired culture. Congrats to them. Enjoy today’s article!)
Today’s Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos totally reminded me of the interview I did with Gregg Gordon, vice president of Kronos’ data science practice group, about his book “Your Last Differentiator: Human Capital”. I hope you’ll check it out.
I’ve always worked for companies where the product or service wasn’t the star of the show. All hotels have rooms and beds. And all airlines have seats. It’s the employees who make the experience in business. I’ll give you an example.
I was recently on a business trip, staying at what would be considered a no-frills, extended stay hotel. The first night I was there, I decided to pick up a frozen meal for dinner. The front desk clerk noticed that I was spending a very long time trying to decide between lasagna or chicken and said to me, “You know, a lot of guests get the pizza. It’s pretty good.” So, I did … and it was.
The next day, the front desk reminded me that I had two free bottles of water available. And they apologized for not remembering my name. I’m like, “I’ve only been here a day and a half. I don’t expect you to have my name memorized.”
The point being, the front desk didn’t have to do any of these things. In fact, we both probably know some hotel chains where the front desk is told “Don’t give away the water unless a guest specifically asks. It’s expensive you know.” But just those couple of nice comments made my business trip special – and memorable.
This isn’t to say that the company’s products and services aren’t important. Good customer service doesn’t replace a terrible product or service. Customer service can often be easier with a good product or service.
As the company makes business investments in products and services, they also need to make investments in customer service training. That includes problem-solving and decision-making. Employees should be empowered to take care of customers. That way, everyone wins!
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