A recent stay in hospital gave me a first person lesson in the difference between enthusiasm, professionalism and downright hostility.
During the 4 days I was there I and my ward-mates were looked after by a number of nurses of differing skill levels and ages. The student nurses were the most enthusiastic, friendly and generally interested in talking to us patients. They needed guidance from time to time, but hey, that’s why they’re students. The recently qualified were similar, efficient, and very personable. Those who had been in the job more than a few years were professional, thoughtful and helpful, though they’d seen it all before so getting into involved chats with patients wasn’t their thing.
The ones that stuck out like a sore thumb (pun intended) were the ones that must have been pretty close to retirement. It was clear that they viewed patients as an imposition on their TV time, they coughed on patients, ignored requests (from a guy confined to his bed!) for as long as they could, passing the buck onto the other. It was clear that they’d become jaded with the job, so bored that they seem to have turned it into a game with points going to the one who can treat patients the worst.
What does this have to do with marketing? Simple: It’s all about ‘guest experience’. Take a look at the people in your organisation. Have any of them become jaded, phoning in (or worse) their effort? Have customers become an inconvenience to them? Does giving anything more than the bare minimum seem like needless over-achieving?
Take action to either incentivise or just fire these people. They’re bringing the perceptions of your organisation right down. Your customers are facing a pot-luck as to whether they have a great, good, or awful experience with you.
Not sure how to test this?
- Look at whatever KPIs you can to compare staff
- listen to interactions (though they may raise their game just when you’re around)
- survey your customers (better still, survey the customers you may have just lost).
As you do this, give praise to the people doing it right, learn from those that go above and beyond, put the spotlight on them and get everyone to raise their game.
Above all make sure that the ‘guest experience’ that people get from your company is the one you had assumed they’re getting.
Image credit: slightlynorth via Creative Commons on Flickr
