Hosting Customers

I was on my way to a meeting and stopped for lunch.  I am a major fan of McDonald’s French fries—the best on the planet.  I also enjoy the Chick-fil-A salads.  Luckily the two fast-food restaurants were right next door to each other.

I parked between the two and walked first into Mickey D’s for the fries.  It was like a human vending machine—fast and functional.  But, the Chick-fil-A experience was completely different!  You could feel the upbeat warmth as opened their door.  The counter person smiled and greeted us with, “Thank you for being our guests; what can I tempt you with today!”  Every employee had the same hosting spirit.

As we were leaving, we asked an employee, “How come this is so different than over there?”  We pointed at the golden arches.  “Oh,” she said with a grin, “Over there, they serve customers; but here we are host to our guests.”  We pushed past the labels.  Spotting our bootlegged fries, she continued: “Over there you just get the fries.  But, here we give you a great experience.  You may not remember those fries tomorrow; but we hope you will remember your visit with us, even if you forget what you ordered.”

Or as Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon says; “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts.  It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

Are you serving or hosting?
 

© Chip Bell Group, 2023.  Courtesy of John R. Patterson (www.johnrpatterson.com).  Permission is given to download and distribute this article as long as it contains this copyright notice.