Who is responsible for customer satisfaction? The short answer is every employee in the organization. But the truth is this: it always starts at the top.
I recently spoke with an employee at a local grocery store. As a strong advocate of communication and training, I asked her who was responsible for training new staff. Naturally, with so many different departments, each with its own challenges, you would expect someone, or even several people, to be accountable for shaping the customer experience. Her response nearly floored me. She said that new employees weren’t trained at all. They were thrown onto the floor to “figure it out” as they went. What kind of impression could this possibly create for customers?
As mentioned in a previous blog, customer perception is powerful and can be potentially damaging. Customers don’t need a handbook to judge your business. They read the signs instantly. Neatness, attentiveness, product alignment, and organization can all generate an immediate perception. Every one of these elements sends a message. When a store appears neglected, customer service usually suffers right along with it. Chaos behind the scenes always finds its way to the checkout.
I spent many years in the retail business and placed a strong emphasis on new employee training. After all, customers have choices, and I wanted us to be their first choice. I also spent years in senior management, responsible for both hiring and training. No employee was ever “released to the wolves” without a complete understanding of the company’s internal processes and their sales responsibilities outside the company. I developed a program called “Cross Functional Training”, where each employee spent time working with every department to fully understand how each functioned. This philosophy was later adopted by many of the companies I consulted for. After all, how can an employee answer customer questions with conviction and confidence if they don’t understand the business?
We’ve all heard the phrase “lead by example.” Unfortunately, it has become a cliché because so few leaders actually live it. Customer retention doesn’t begin on the sales floor; it begins in the manager’s office.
A business without leadership is easy to identify:
- Untrained staff
- Indifference
- Low engagement
- Minimal accountability
- An overall feeling of “I don’t care.”
When management doesn’t care about getting and keeping customers, employees won’t care either. Standards drop. Expectations fade. And mediocrity becomes the culture.
In the situation above, management has clearly checked out, interested only in collecting a paycheque. The result? A business that steadily trains its customers to shop somewhere else.
Responsibility is not optional at the top. If leadership won’t model excellence, it can’t expect excellence. And if management won’t create and protect the customer experience, no one else will.
Because in the end, customers don’t leave businesses; they leave a bad experience. Don’t give them a reason to change.
