My Pleasure

Posted on May 6, 2010 | 1 comment

Building customer relationships is an important consideration for every business. Relationships are not built overnight; the combination of multiple interactions over time creates a fully nurtured and well-understood relationship.

Rather than large and impactful interactions that spontaneously combust a relationship, it is often the combination of subtle things that you subconsciously analyze in others (and others analyze in you). Body language, handshake, eye movement, and the words that you use are all important in the crafting of a relationship with another individual.

There’s one particular company that seems to have mastered the subtlety of leveraging the spoken word to build customer relationships. Chick-Fil-A, one of my all-time favorite businesses, creates an interaction with its customers using two simple words: “My Pleasure”

This may seem trivial or even silly. How can the simple words of “My Pleasure” make a difference in developing a relationship? These words are delivered with a connotation that signifies class and importance. However insignificant these words may seem, if you have ever stepped inside a Chick-Fil-A restaurant than you know exactly the impact that these two words have on you.

Every employee uses those two words when responding to a customer request. To date I have never experienced a counter-example. This fact alone suggests that the policies, procedures, and training systems that have been implemented by Chick-Fil-A are working.

The success that Chick-Fil-A has garnered in the realm of customer satisfaction and service extends well beyond words. However, the consistent usage of “My Pleasure” is one of the subtle things that add up to create a lasting relationship with customers.

Do not expect your business revenue to blow up tomorrow simply by adding these words to your employee handbook or policy manual. Let this example remind you to look for subtle ways in your own business that provides value and meaning to customer relationships. Utilizing such subtlety in your business systems to optimize human engagement will put you well on your way toward establishing fanatical customer movements that will propel your business forward in perpetual fashion.