Hello/Goodbye
Two Crucial Moments With a Customer
Hellos and good-byes are beginning and end points, the two highest positions in what memory researchers call the serial position curve. In a list of items or events, they will be remembered most easily. If you want to prove this to yourself, follow in the footsteps of memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus and give a friend a list of items to remember—let's say turkey, salt, pepper, tomatoes, pumpkin, cheese, milk, oregano, chili powder, butter. Odds are good that the first and last items (turkey and butter) will be the ones most easily remembered.
The same is true for hellos and good-byes. Handle them superbly, and you'll reap a disproportionate dividend in what "sticks" as a customer's opinion of you.
Timelessly Time-Sensitive
Greetings and first impressions have been uniquely important to human relationships for thousands of years. Odysseus's son Telemachus knew that first impressions matter: "[H]e glimpsed Athena now and straight to the porch he went, mortified that a guest might still be standing at the doors," writes Homer.
Fast-forward a few millennia to postcard-perfect Bar Harbor, Maine, where Chris Cambridge owns The Scrimshaw Workshop, a gift shop perched next door to an immensely popular ice cream shop. Chris understands the importance of a good "hello" as well as the ancient Greeks: While customers at other shops are greeted with a "No Food, No Drink" sign, or, at best, "Please Finish Your Food or Drink Before Entering Our Store," Chris bucks this trend. Imagine how many more customers Chris wins by upending this norm with this welcoming (and brave) statement:
YES! YOU MAY BRING IN YOUR ICE CREAM CONES—Just be careful of their drips.
To make sure you get the idea that his store is a welcoming place, Chris added this in a smaller font:
P.S. We love your dogs, too! (See the sign at www.micahsolomon.com)
In many businesses, it's a front desk receptionist, host, or other human greeter who welcomes and bids farewell to visitors. So, it's crucial that the person in this position conveys a warm welcome and a gracious, heartfelt farewell; the handling of these two moments is key to your brand's image. This is why inbound and outbound reception is best handled by a skilled, trained, and motivated veteran with great customer-focused traits. It's why we recommend against treating reception as an entry-level, stepping-stone position—because, whatever you call it, "First and Last Impression Creator" is among the most important positions in your enterprise.
Which Level of Service Do You Provide?
Let Them Know from "Hello"
One of the first things a greeting does is convey the level of service a customer may expect from your establishment. Are they going to get non-compliant service, compliant (reactive) service, or anticipatory service?
Non-compliant service ("Can I get some water from you, please?" "Uh, there's a vending machine down the street.") will push away customers every time. They asked for a glass of water and received nothing—except a grudging set of directions.
Compliant service ("May I have some water?" "Certainly. Here you go!") is pretty much the baseline for the contemporary business world. It doesn't offend customers, but it won't win them over either. Compliant service can be well-executed, but it's not going to build loyalty for your brand.
Anticipatory service ("Welcome. It is such a hot day today. May I offer you a glass of water?") is extremely rare. But as we've discussed, this is where customer loyalty is created. When customers' wishes are anticipated, they get to bask in the magical feeling of being cared for. That feeling creates loyalty, which builds strategic value for your company.
So, if you can tip your hand at the front door that this exceptional level of service is what they can expect—if you can manage to literally "have them at hello"—you will predispose your customers to think well of you throughout the rest of the service experience.
Greeted properly and warmly, a customer will be less sensitive to minor issues later in the encounter. A good greeting enhances subsequent human interactions and can—significantly—affect a customer's perception of a physical product that is offered for sale.
A crucial aspect of a proper greeting is recognition. What is recognition? Being seen, literally and figuratively: being acknowledged, being welcomed, and being appreciated. Recognition, to cite Danny Meyer again, is "the number one reason guests cite for wanting to return."
When a customer is arriving on a repeat visit, this should be a special type of recognition: that the customer was missed, that his return fills a gap that was there in his absence. Beth Krick, an administrator we admire at a small primary school in Pennsylvania, greets the children and parents every morning at drop-off. So, when a child or a parent is absent for a few days, Ms. Krick is sure to notice, and she commemorates the return with a heartfelt "We missed you." What a standard for any company, of any size, in any field, to strive for: to give that level of simple recognition to every returning customer.
The Customer May Come in Contact with You Earlier Than You Expect
Remember that service begins as soon as the customer comes in contact with you—but only the customer gets to determine when that first moment is, and it may be much earlier than you think, or would wish. For example, suppose a customer parks his car in a retailer's parking lot and the first thing he sees is broken chain link fencing and cigarette butts strewn all about. In this instance, the first contact has occurred, unbeknownst to the retailer, who now must struggle to overcome this negative impression. It's unfair (the retailer may not even control the lot), but it's reality. This is why every carefully managed resort pays attention to the arrival sequence: the flowers, the signage, the friendly security guard at the gatehouse, the doorman. By the time you get to your room, you should feel gently transported to another world.