WHAT APPEARS TO BE
Quick. Cover your computer screen, lest your boss read this. And heaven-forbid, don’t read out loud: your customer is not #1.
I repeat: your customer is not #1. (It’s hearsay, isn’t it?)
WHAT MIGHT BE
Training after training, number-minded bosses have trained the staff to think that service to the customer is the priority. And so the cooks throw knives at each other, put a fork in each other’s back, and hide the dough to get the job done- leaving the company to “make nice” as the waiter serves the client.
Excuse me, but there’s a hair in my soup.
Flight attendants remind us to put the oxygen mask on yourself before assisting others for a good reason: because if you don’t take care of yourself you’ll pass out before you can help anyone else.
Do you know any companies that are passing out before they ever serve the customer?
WHAT CAN BE
Mr. Kells, a leader in Denver whose region regularly hits their numbers, knows a better way. “It’s crazy to think you can sustain your efforts for others if you don’t take care of yourself. And it’s much more than morale. When I’m excited about getting up and going to work, the customer can feel it.”
Is your organization a professional team or the Harlem Globetrotters? Are you working to win the customer or just entertain them? If you’re in the game to win, you’d better be at your best. And if you’re going to be at your best, you’d better be healthy.
How healthy is your team? (Translation: how many people are excited about coming to work?)
Have you checked your team’s pulse lately?
What is the difference between what “might be” and what “can be”? You decide.