Putting people first
In my new book I talk about the importance of staff members in creating great customer experiences. If you don't have happy, upbeat, empowered staff members, no amount of good design, clear signage, or comfortable seating can make up for them. Here are two examples I recently spotted of companies working to acknowledge their staff members.
We received this from American Airlines, as AAdvantage fliers. It allows the flier to easily give "applause" and a note about a great staff member while they are flying, and is pre-printed with the member's name and AAdvantage number. Each certificate is numbered as well; I'm guessing they track the usage of these, and by which fliers.
At my local grocery store, recently acquired by Wild Oats (and now by Whole Foods), they have an internal system to give kudos to hard-working staff members, who win a store gift card.
Tip of the day: Find ways to reward and acknowledge the hard work of your staff members in providing great experiences. People who have the gift of giving good customer service should be nurtured and treasured, as they are difficult to replace and invaluable to your business. You can often trade perks with other businesses, giving out one prize a month and maybe one big one every year (use a lottery system of all the people nominated to make it fair.)
Technorati Tags: customer experience, customer service, American Airlines, Wild Oats, staff perks
We received this from American Airlines, as AAdvantage fliers. It allows the flier to easily give "applause" and a note about a great staff member while they are flying, and is pre-printed with the member's name and AAdvantage number. Each certificate is numbered as well; I'm guessing they track the usage of these, and by which fliers.
At my local grocery store, recently acquired by Wild Oats (and now by Whole Foods), they have an internal system to give kudos to hard-working staff members, who win a store gift card.
Tip of the day: Find ways to reward and acknowledge the hard work of your staff members in providing great experiences. People who have the gift of giving good customer service should be nurtured and treasured, as they are difficult to replace and invaluable to your business. You can often trade perks with other businesses, giving out one prize a month and maybe one big one every year (use a lottery system of all the people nominated to make it fair.)
Technorati Tags: customer experience, customer service, American Airlines, Wild Oats, staff perks
Labels: American Airlines, customer experience, customer service, Wild Oats
posted by Stephanie Weaver at 7:42 PM
6 Comments:
A couple of great examples there, Stephanie - and I love the "applause" metaphor of the AA form. :)
I had a great experience recently with a Delta crew who were obviously cherished by their employer, and who gave a star performance in return. Here's a post about it.
Cheers
Adam
experiencedesign.de
I love this idea.
I struggle with a way of rewarding employees when we only have 4 in our building. Being a small town public library, we know everyone and the employees are well known throughout the community.
We also have a limited budget--I was going to approach some of the businesses in the area to see if they wanted to participate in recognizing the library staff on National Library Worker's Day (April 17)--balloons and small giveaways.
Has anyone else come up with a great way to applaud staff when there are only a few?
George,
Having an "applause" station where library visitors can easily drop off thank-you's and comments is one way; reading them aloud at monthly staff meetings helps reinforce how much you value them. I love the idea of getting local businesses to provide thank-you perks. If you could provide them some PR in return, like a display that acknowledges their gifts, you might get even more people involved. Perhaps you could get a grade at the elementary school to "Adopt a Librarian" and make them cards or other gifts as well. That would mean a lot and heighten awareness with young patrons about what librarians do for the community.
Anyone else have ideas?
I think it is important to show your folks as individuals. A lot of firms have a photo-wall with pics of the team - how can we better use this?
What about letting each team member add three or four items to be displayed near their picture? A baseball mitt for the sports fan, a picture of the Harley for the biker, or the grandchild's picture of "Grandma at work". The staff will enjoy choosing the items, and being asked about them. They can change the items as often as they like.
(Another nice point might be to add their professional specialisations. Mr Smith can tell you loads about 18th century novels, Ms Jones is the computer wiz...)
I once saw a dentist who had his model railway in his waiting room. It was not a "display feature", it was clearly his personal pride and joy. Not only did it make the scary dentist more human, it got you thinking about the engineering challenges of dentistry. This was not "just" a medical professional, it was also a passionate master craftsman doing your bridgework... Hidden values again!
Adam
experiencedesign.de
Adam,
Great ideas for personalizing staff members. Perhaps in George's library they could feature each staff member with some of their favorite books, prized possessions, etc?
Interesting, they just made an announcement at our last all-staff meeting (for the spa that I work at) that we are starting another "reward" program for staff members who are
nominated for providing superior customer service. I forwarded your blog site to the spa owner again, I hope she reads some of the other blogs sometimes, when I do this.
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