At the end of the day, it’s all about execution (Customer Service)

Many businesses invest millions of dollars on their building, furniture, advertising, and marketing.  However, most fail to invest on the most critical element of their business, people.

Your employees are responsible for executing your plan, your vision.  If you don’t properly invest in them (training, recruiting, educating), your chances of success will drop dramatically.

A recent experience of mine reflects the impact of good/bad customer service.  A friend of mine visited Scottsdale and we decided to go to a restaurant/bar to watch the UFC fight and hangout for a while.  The name of the bar is irrelevant.  The place was packed and we were lucky to find a table for two right next to a server’s station.  She ignored us while she was entering in some information into the point of sale terminal….so, my friend asked her if she could take our order.  She replied “I can’t take your order right now, I’m really busy!”.

My friend and I both laughed and I decided to ask her a different question, “Since you’re busy and can’t take our order, can you please let us know who can?”.

She looked at me with an extremely irritated expression and said “Look, I’m really busy right now.  I don’t know who can take your order.  It’s really packed in here”.  She turned away from me and went back to entering data into the POS terminal.

That made my us feel unwelcome.  We almost left.  However, we knew that we wouldn’t be able to find a table at another bar and the UFC fight was starting.  So, I decided to ask for a manager to help us.  I walked across the bar to another server and asked her if I could speak with a manager.  She politely said she’d get one right away.  He appeared within a couple of minutes and I told him about our experience with the first server.  He was very apologetic and said he would find someone to take our order.  The rest of the evening was fine and we didn’t experience any other issues.  However, as a result of this experience, this establishment won’t be at the top of my list to return.

There are countless stories of employees dropping the ball when it matters most.  Many don’t realize the impact of their actions.  If you are a small business owner, the difference between success and failure could be one or two key interactions.  Invest in your employees, it’s the most important element of your business.