I was next in line at a store and the person ahead of me was becoming increasingly frustrated by the answers she was getting from the salesclerk. The person helping her was rude and had a big attitude.
Regrettably, this isn’t so unusual.
What fascinated me, however, was the huge sign in back of the salesclerk that displayed this company’s mission statement. It was all about customer service and how they built their business on relationships and service.
Talk about a disconnect! Watching the customer deal with the attitude-ridden salesclerk was fascinating, because this employee’s actions were literally the opposite of the words in the credo.
This made me think. Do your – and your people’s – actions reflect the messaging that you present about your organization? Is there alignment between what you do and how you do it with how your company is represented publicly?
This begins with the first point of contact in your company all the way to the CEO. This isn’t just about consistency; it’s about alignment of your organizational values with how people do their jobs.
Of course, the salesclerk could have been having a bad day, and even the customer could have been awful. But they lost two customers that day based on their behavior.
Perhaps it’s time to “mystery shop” your company to make sure that the image presented is the one you want to convey.
Header image by Mikhail Nilov/Pexels.
