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When I was age five—and a year away from beginning first grade—I spent the mornings and afternoons with my maternal grandmother, who lived next door and had just retired from 30 years of teaching elementary school in our small North Carolina town of Marshville. One of my most vivid memories from that special time was our "bill-paying day" each month, when I would make the rounds with Mama in her old black Chevy as we visited the offices of the power company, the phone company, the gas company, and so on.

Sure, my grandmother could have dropped her payments in the mail, but she so enjoyed the friendly banter and the "Hello Miss Ada" greetings she received on these visits. (And, of course, I liked the Tootsie Rolls, Fire Balls and Mary Janes that called out to me from candy dishes in these offices!) Personal interaction was a critical dimension to my grandmother's customer experience.

Yes, she expected her gas drum to be refilled, her telephone to work, and her lights to burn at night. But what really kept her relationships fresh and rewarding with these businesses was the personal touch she received every month at the counters where she paid her bills. To my grandmother, these good folks were just "Carolyn" and "Irene" and "Jimmy." But today, we would dub them "brand ambassadors" for the way their actions extended and reinforced their organizations' intended value propositions.

The world has changed, and today the management requirements surrounding the reliable delivery of frontline "wow" are substantially more complex. Part of this complexity is rooted in the fact that companies must now manage a number of delivery channels, each with varying frontline requirements.

Whether serving customers face to face or via email, the Web, phone, fax, instant messaging, self-service, or some combination of them, a firm's reputation for world-class customer care is built one customer and one contact at a time. Frontline employees in operations, sales, service, or account management, etc., all play key roles in delivering this all-important contact.

Accordingly, a firm must continually evolve its internal operating systems and processes into structures that empower rather than impede the frontline's success with customers. This is a tall order. Yet, keeping an eye on a few key priorities will help you succeed. Regardless of the channels they serve, employees need at minimum three things to perform effectively on the frontline:

  1. A can-do, customer-first attitude
  2. Performance know-how
  3. Customer policies that turn buyers on, not off

1. A Can-Do, Customer-First Attitude

An effective brand ambassador needs a can-do, customer-first attitude—one that emotes an affection for people and a desire to do right by them. World-class companies discovered long ago that you hire for attitude and train for competency—not the other way around. Certain people are born with a natural passion and heart for serving customers and fellow team mates. And it shows.

In their memorable book Turned On, authors Roger Dow and Susan Cook tell the story of Albert "Smitty" Smith, who won Marriott Hotel's award for the best sports salesperson. When accepting his award, here's what he told the audience:

You've probably guessed that I'm not a salesperson like all of you. I don't have an office or a fancy title. But what I do have is a relationship with all the sports teams. When a team comes to town, I work 24 hours a day to take care of their every wish. I know what every player, every coach, and every manager likes as their special order. Sometimes they even call me before they get to town and request special snacks and treats.

Last year, a competing hotel offered rooms to teams for $4 less than we were charging. Half of the teams went to that hotel, including the Dodgers. But whenever a team that wasn't staying at the Marriott came to town, I took the day off. I'd call my friends at the other hotel to find out what time the team was scheduled to arrive. Then I'd go over in full uniform and wait for the team in the lobby of the other hotel. One time, the Dodgers came to town. Tommy Lasorda came in and saw me standing there. He shook my hand and said with a smile, "Smitty, what are you doing here? Are you with this hotel now? This is great. So are we." "No," I answered, "I'm still at the Marriott." "What are you doing here, then?" "Well, I just wanted to welcome you to town, wish you good luck against the Braves, and tell you that I'm bringing over your special order from the Marriott after the game tonight." Lasorda asked why I would do such a thing. I answered, "First of all, because this hotel's room service closes at 11:00 PM, and if the game goes into extra innings, you'll miss your late night snack." But more important, I added, "I just wanted you to know that even though you can't afford to stay with us anymore, we still love you."

Smitty had a natural affinity for serving customers. The attitude that compelled this behavior was not "trained" into Smitty. He brought it to the job. But Marriott had other important roles to play:

  1. Creating recruitment messaging for attracting Smitty-like job seekers

  2. Spotting these candidates in the recruitment pool and hiring them

  3. Then creating a work environment where their can-do, customer-first attitudes could blossom for the good of the customer, for themselves, and for the organization

2. Performance Know-How

Making frontline employees effective means arming them with the information they need to serve their customers well. No one understood this better than Mike Marino, who a number of years ago, as vice-president of customer development at Frito-Lay, was grappling with a problem plaguing many sales teams in geographically dispersed locations: How do you pool information resources to serve a national customer on a local level?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Jill Griffin

Jill Griffin is an executive trainer (jillgriffin.net) and author.