The Worst Legal Punishment
It was only as recently as 1989 that the death penalty was abolished in New Zealand. Up until then you could still legally be hanged for treason. The death penalty was a classic “political football” for many decades in NZ. All death penalties were commuted to life sentences as early as 1935, before being abolished in 1941, then restored in 1950 and finally being made inoperative in 1957, other than for treason. Nowadays, a number of people consider the worst legal punishment you can get (in the military and in prison) is isolation. This might seem like a far cry from the death penalty, and it is, but it is still incredibly effective because it impacts people at a deep psychological level. People need to be seen and heard. Being ignored can profoundly impact people in a negative way.
In his classic book, “Uplifting Service”, Ron Kaufman talks about the different levels of service in his service elevator. These range from “criminal” to “unbelievable”. Most people want to avoid “criminal” levels of service (although I have heard countless stories of people who have experienced service they deemed so bad it was “criminal”!) and many businesses strive to create “unbelievable” levels of service (Changi Airport in Singapore is my favourite example). The danger zone when it comes to customer service standards is not that businesses deliver “criminal” levels of service, but rather that they settle for the “mediocre levels of basic or expected” levels of service. This service falls into the trap of treating customers like a number, processing them through like cattle on a conveyor belt.
How do you know you if you are at the risk of doing this?
Simple answer: Your customers feel unseen.
Maya Angelou captured the heart of this beautifully in one of her most famous quotes, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” How do you make your customers feel at each and every interaction? Are you deliberate and intentional about this, or does it just default to the current mood of the person on the front line? Have you trained your team to “see & hear” your customers?
Being seen and heard is often made up of small actions - making eye contact and looking at people to see them; a genuine smile; a warm, heartfelt greeting; a few extra moments to listen to a customer's reply. Jumbo is a Netherlands-based supermarket chain store with over 700 stores, who have taken this to the next level. They introduced a “Kletskassa”, which translates to “chat checkout,” a special lane for customers who are not in a rush and could use a little talk with the cashier. This was so popular on their first trial that they have rolled out 200 chat lanes.
Obviously this will not work for most businesses. What could work for you? How could you do something relatively small and yet powerfully impacting on your customers? Check that your team has not ‘checked-out’ and that they are engaging with your customers. You want to ensure your experience is memorable and not akin to solitary confinement!
