I believe that recognition and acknowledgement play a huge role in employee engagement, and thus your customer experiences.
I had the opportunity to work with the legendary Ritz Carlton CEO, Horst Schulze, who did a whole slew of best practices to raise engagement. The one that resonated most with me and became very famous was the company motto:
“We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”
Much as been written in the customer loyalty/customer experience realm about the power of that motto. I think the real power of the motto is not from a customer service perspective.
The real power of the motto is the Rock Star Recognition this created by acknowledging the staff as ladies and gentlemen!
The fact of the matter is most housekeepers are rarely treated consistently as ladies and gentlemen. In my opinion, The Ritz Carlton is one of the best at living up to it’s superior reputation.
I believe it is this “inside-out” focus of the Ritz Carlton that enables them to create such great service experiences.
I think great leaders focus on creating great experiences for their employees while removing obstacles to high performance.
Obviously, in addition to the focus on employees, it is important to understand what your external customers value.
Do you know what your external customers value?
Do you know what your external customers deem important?
Here is one thing I guarantee; when you put your employees in a position to deliver value for your external customers it creates a positive cycle. This experience profit chain enhances the employee’s esteem and engagement by putting them in a position to proactively respond to customer issues.
Most importantly, it will create better service experiences and loyalty with your external customers.
What do you think?
Are your service providers in your organization treated as ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentleman?
And if not, why not ?
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