This may sound harsh, but in my experience, this is the fact: if you hire people with the wrong attitude, you’re done before you’ve started in terms of providing a positive customer experience. Customers are irrational and emotional, and they act based on those emotions. If you’re not making positive emotional connections, they’ll leave in droves.
If you’ve been in business for awhile, you know that I’m right. Have you ever hired somebody with the right technical skills for a job, but also with a holier-than-thou air? It’s over. Spend money on training, spend money on processes, and you can improve the customer experience slightly, but with that attitude, your employee will be able to “overcome” those efforts to create a negative customer impression.
Think about the companies who take customer experience seriously – Zappos, Southwest, Union Square Hospitality Group. Do they all spend time and energy on processes, technology, and training in order to create a memorable customer experience? Absolutely! But first, each focuses on unique and time consuming methods for assuring that they’re hiring the right people. They understand that the foundation for exceptional service and experience is the people. The other stuff just helps those great folks to deliver what they want to in the first place.
How’s your company set up? Do you have employees that touch customers who don’t naturally seek out ways to connect with and help people? If so, you better take a hard look at your hiring processes. It’s the key to customers who – whether they know why or not – keep coming back.