Consistency

Posted on Apr 24, 2010 | 0 comments

Have you ever considered the importance of maintaining consistency of interaction through your customer touch points? It’s obvious that meeting (and exceeding) the expectations of your customers in a consistent manner should be at the forefront of your mind.

One of my favorite restaurant chains is the all-natural and organic food providing Chipotle. When I’m on the road, Chipotle has turned into my defacto choice for ‘food on the run’. HINT: Get yourself the Burrito Bol and skip the rice or sour cream for a delicious meal with minimal sugar and process grains.

While on the road this past week I ended up at Chipotle four times with each visit coming at a different location and spanning 2 states. On my last visit of the week, I noticed something that challenged this notion of consistency. It seems that every time that I pick up my fav Burrito Bol there is a heaping spoonful of chicken or steak that is piled onto my food creation. It turns out that this expectation was consistently met until my final visit of the week.

The young man behind the counter added a very guarded spoonful of steak onto magnificently beautiful mound of delicious food items. I took notice but unlike the woman behind me in line I made the decision not to question the worker. After receiving a similar portion of meat, the woman behind me asked for additional meat. The worker cautiously added 3 pieces of steak to which the customer asked for more meat and reluctantly agreed to an extra charge. What made my eyebrow raise and what prompted the woman behind me to speak up is not the absolute amount of meat that was placed onto our plates but it was the inconsistency as compared to our previous experiences.

There are many potential root causes behind Inconsistencies in your business systems. I’m not sure if this circumstance was brought on by a new worker strictly following portioning guidelines or if the other stores were being lax in controlling how much meat was portioned to Burrito Bol creations. Regardless of the reason, consistency was lost and it left customers with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Be sure to take a look at your systems and evaluate each human touch point for consistency in interaction. With consistency, you can be sure to meet and exceed the level of expectations of your customers on a consistent manner.