It Takes One Grump to Spoil a Brand!
Companies invest millions to create, design,
fine-tune, build, promote and extend their brands. Think
Nike, Virgin, Versace, Raffles, Amazon.
All your investment brings customers to your door (or
website) with expectations matching your promotional
promise. But when customer meets company ‘face-to-face’,
everything hinges on that critical moment.
A friend recently moved to Singapore from Australia
and went shopping for an appropriate wardrobe. I saw
her several hours into the spending spree and heard
her say, ‘I love Liz Claiborne, but E––T
(a competing brand) can take their clothes and shove
it.’ (Australians can be oh-so-delicate in their
speech.) She continued, ‘I won’t ever go
in one of their stores again.’
Wow! That’s strong stuff. Turns out a sales lady
at ‘E’ couldn’t be bothered to say
hello or help my friend with her questions. She was
too busy with a personal call on her mobile phone. And
when she hung up, she chatted about the call with her
colleague (distracting the colleague from yet another
customer) rather than responding to the queries of my
friend.
To this day, the ‘E’ brand of clothing is
like an enemy in the mall, a regular reminder to my
friend of the ‘who cares?’ attitude, poor
manners and disrespect.
I wonder what the designers, marketing team, logistics
office, production operators, backroom and warehouse
staff would think of that person on the front lines
who couldn’t be bothered to give good service?
If they could meet her face-to-face, what would they
say about her performance? If you were that lady’s
boss, what would you say?
Terrence Nielsen, store manager of IKEA in Singapore,
knows exactly what he’d say. He tells his staff
every day, ‘If you don’t feel like coming
to work...don’t! The last thing we need is to
have anyone at work bringing down the mood for our customers
and everyone else. If you don’t feel good about
yourself and your job, stay home!’
Key Learning
Point
One grump can spoil
a brand. Don’t let that grumpy person be you! The
reputation of your entire company, the livelihood of all
your colleagues and the success of your business and your
brand depend on you.
Action Steps
Check your mood and
attitude every day when you go to work. Check it again
during the morning, after lunch and in the afternoon.
If you are not looking, feeling and sounding 100% like
someone you would like to meet, go back to the restroom,
go back to lunch, go back to sleep. Don’t go to
work and spoil everyone else’s day.
Next Article in Customer Service Mindset >>
Personal Diamond Awards
First Article in Customer Service Partners >>
Helping Others Succeed is Good Service
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