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.

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.

They have a point. I’d hate to say that I really believe that matters of the heart could ever be (or should ever be) reduced to a flowchart. I understand what they mean when they claim that interpersonal communication with its unpredictable linkages, streams of consciousness and uncontrollable variables isn’t a good place for a system.

However, the fact that they have a point doesn’t mean I think they’re right.

There is room for systematization in interpersonal communication. Sales are a perfect example.

People think of good salesmanship as an art form. It’s a uniquely human skill that we can’t honestly pinpoint or accurately measure. There’s a certain personality-driven component to salesmanship that it can often seem just shy of being magical.

Nonetheless, salespeople benefit GREATLY by operating from a system. The research consistently demonstrates that sales staffs working with a structured approach to making and closing deals outperform the “mavericks” who are trying to make things happen with good interpersonal skills and that “sixth sense” the best sellers always seem to have.

The critics are right to point out the silliness of trying to tightly organize all potential communication into a structured process. Anyone who’s ever had an unrewarding conversation with a telemarketer or a tech support person who’s working from a diagrammed script can attest to that.

There is room, however, for systems that emphasize a certain series of steps in a more general sense; leaving the practitioners of the “art of sales” enough to do their own thing without wandering too far off the best overall technique.

That’s how systematizing works in sales and it’s how it can work in other parts of business and life that revolve around interpersonal communication. Establishing systems for these interactions isn’t an effort at creating predictable robots that lose their human element. It’s about giving full-fledged and talented people the space to be themselves while keeping them pointed in the right direction.

If you’ve been hesitant to do more the systems in your life because you feel that it just isn’t a good match with your “shake their hands and look ‘em in the eyes” business, think again. There’s room for beautiful, personal conversation and interaction in the right system.

So now it’s finally time. It’s time for me to shift my focus from a broken, left-brained educational system to that of right-brained creativity and free thinking.

It’s that last statement that summarizes the entire intent of my blog. Too many people are falling behind as they focus on automating, outsourcing, and computers (all of which are important). However, in this fast-paced world there is something much more important that has been forgotten…..YOU…..as a human being.

As I completed my PhD research I began to observe an interesting pattern. A pattern that seemed to separate the uber successful from the successful. I took this theory and expanded upon it through reflection and practical application. Since then, it’s taken on a life of its own in what I call Human-Centric Systems™ (HCS). This blog is all about HCS – about the theory, about how you can apply the theory, and about how others apply the theory.

You’ll notice that this blog has no fancy name. Just Brad’s blog. No professionally written articles. Just Brad’s blog. My thoughts each day about HCS. I’m sure that you’ll enjoy. And if you do – all I can ask is that you’ll help me to continue to help others by introducing them to……Brad’s blog.