Employees Make a Difference
Posted by Dave Capuano on Fri, Jun 24, 2011
Recently my 9 year-old son received three tickets to a Washington Nationals baseball game as a gift for his first holy communion. The tickets were set for the Sunday of Memorial day and my son was very excited to go to a major league game as he loves to play baseball. Unfortunately for all of us, the game happened to be during the same weekend he was scheduled to play in a baseball tournament himself. As his father I wanted him to get the chance to enjoy the major league experience with one of his friends so I set out to see what could be done to exchange the tickets for another date. I started with customer service and got introduced to a gentleman named Devin. 
I won’t go into the details but I looked at Devin as a representation of the Nationals brand. He, as an employee, held the fate of how I perceived the organization as a whole. Was the organization focused solely on the money or were they concerned with me as a customer and my experience? Devin responded promptly to my website inquiry and helped me navigate the process of getting the tickets exchanged for a game on June 15th. The process was smooth, professional and focused on making me satisfied as a customer. In the end, the three of us enjoyed seeing the Nationals beat the Cardinals 10-0 thanks to four home runs by the home team. It was an experience that my son and his friend will remember for a long time and will associate with the Nationals brand. When I think about the game I think about how Devin helped me have an experience with my son that our CEO, Greg Stock, calls “superhero” moments. Because Devin was empowered to affect my experience he made a direct impact on my satisfaction which will help drive my loyalty. Empowered employees make a difference. If you want to read a good example take a look at what American Express did here.
I remember what Don Peppers said when he was keynote of Vovici’s user’s conference Vision 2011. Don said “the secret to acting on customer feedback is engaged and loyal employees.” Employee engagement is an important part of customer loyalty, and many organizations are looking at ways to bring the Voice of the Employee into the Voice of the Customer, leveraging the observations and insights of employees when building a better understanding of the customer. For some VoE resources, check out some of the links below:
Whether they know it or not, thanks to Devin, I’ll definitely show my loyalty and bring the kids back for another game this season. I’ll also exhibit another characteristic of a loyal customer by referring other customers and by sharing my positive experience I am potentially influencing others already. So the next time you talk to a customer, make an impact as it might be the most important interaction of their day.