The Customer Experience Series: Chick-fil-A’s Secret to Mind-Blowingly Great Customer Service.
Actually, let’s clear some things up right from the start: Chick-fil-A doesn’t provide “mind-blowingly great” customer service… and, there is no secret to what they do. In fact, the title was just click bait.
The customer experience at Chick-fil-A is good. Compared to their competitors, it’s great. Compared to a First Class seat on Emirates Air, it’s better than getting a tooth pulled.
But, what Chick-fil-A has discovered (and most every other retail business has not), is that you don’t have to blow customers’ minds with delight, you just have to get things right the first time. Moreover, the average fast food customer just wants to get a good deal on decent food served by respectful people of average intelligence.
Today’s consumer is not looking to have a love affair with you, with your company, or with your brand. To help make this point is a great Harvard Business Review study that showed only 23% of consumers said they had a relationship with a brand, any brand. This means that your store or dealership or restaurant or bank shouldn’t waste time or money chasing relationships that simply will never materialize. Instead, you should just do what Chick-fil-A does.
Moreover, you can’t artificially tell the customer what your brand is – you need to live it. Great customer service is not about relationships with your brand; great customer service is about simplicity. In fact, with Chick-fil-A, it’s just good service and manners.
Take your empty soda cup back to the counter for a free refill at Chick-fil-A; thank them for refilling it and you’ll hear “My pleasure.” It’s a sincere response, even though you’ll hear the same response in every one of their stores. The service is good; their team is respectful; they do it right the first time (so they avoid issues that require solutions); and the food is good.
Simply put: Chick-fil-A eagerly provides fast food with manners. That’s it.
Next up in the series: Are You Eager?
(If you’re catching this series for the first time, you may want to begin with the first post in the series: Why Does Good Customer Service Matter?)
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About TheManager:
Steve Stauning, creator of The Appointment Culture and an expert in The Customer Experience. He is also an extremely popular keynote speaker, writer, and industry consultant. Learn more about Steve at SteveStauning.com.