1) Great Customer Services starts at the top

If you put people in a business environment that provides and understands exemplary customer service, you are not just giving your people a secure job. You are giving them the pathway to a successful career.  I can site many examples of this.  The first that comes to mind is in the restaurant industry in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

Years ago, throughout the 60’s and 70’s,  the premier, white tablecloth restaurant in Louisville was a place named Casa Grisanti.  Romancing, three martini lunches, important business dinners, family get-togethers, rehearsal dinners and making plans for the Kentucky Derby took place at Casa Grisanti.  The owner-operator was a cultured gentleman named Don Grisanti.  He had that magic presence that made the worst situation smooth.

Don Grisanti passed away too soon, in the prime of life, and eventually the restaurant gave way to the decline of the old neighborhood it stood in. However, the legacy of this man stomped hard on the restaurant culture in Louisville, which is consistently recognized in foodservice periodicals as a hot and growing dining city—one that outreaches its moderate size.

How did Don Grisanti have anything to do with this?

Well, some 8 of his former employees have owned and run successful, well-reviewed restaurants in Louisville.  They saw ‘how it was done’.   They saw how to handle the disgruntled customer and the messed-up meal.  Don Grisanti gave this people a footprint for a career. Every day they worked for him they were effectively in a customer service training class. AND, they graduated.

2) Blur the Lines between work and home

When your employees begin to understand and enact great customer service,  they create an enjoyable work environment for themselves—regardless of the problems that arise.  You have given them a lifelong tool for enjoying work because they know they have the tools and support from management to use their God-given skills to master the day. , Just like the ladies at Disney World I recently wrote about. When an employee is in control and confident of support,  you rid them of the ‘Sunday Night Blues’ and help ‘blur the lines’ between work and home……..AND vacation.

3) Combine 1+2=MAGIC

When you can combine numbers 1 and 2, you and your employees, have magic.

The works pace is energized. Your co-workers are of the same mind and spirit so a TEAM is created.  That’s the difference between the team that wins the Super Bowl and the team that finishes last.

Do you think there is really that big of a difference in talent between those teams?  Don’t kid yourself.

All the players in pro football on the first and last teams have the elite of the elite athletes.  The difference is TEAM and very few people ever really get to know what that means.  Show your people the steps to handling a disgruntled customer, and the proper use of the technology that surrounds us,  and you are showing your employee how to enjoy work, blur the lines, and build a career that distinguishes them from the competition.