So maybe the employee’s purpose, in a greeter position, could be to genuinely welcome the customer…however he or she defines that. Of course, I’d role play in advance to make sure their definition of “genuinely welcome” was aligned with the expectation (e.g., the expectation of a greeting may vary from a Four Seasons hotel to a Blockbuster video store).

Curt…great illustration. For me, you really made the feeling of depersonalization (as a result of the rote greetings and other scripts) come alive.

Interestingly, Julie used the word “purpose” and you chose the word “intent.” It sounds like you both may be saying the same thing along the lines of communicating expectations to employees and providing job clarity (i.e., the meaning and significance of a particular job role).

I read, for instance, that Starbucks does not consider itself in the coffee business serving people, but in the people business serving coffee. That’s an important distinction that most Starbucks baristas, based on my experience anyway, seem to “get.”

1) A greeting (Hello, Good Morning, etc)
2) The word “Welcome”
3) The name of the bank
4) A personal introduction (My name is….)
5) An offer of service (May I help you?)

It has been drilled into the bank employees like there is no tomorrow. Unfortunately, and I have provided this feedback directly to the Branch Manager at two locations, it has de-personalized the experience for me. My specific comments to management were that it felt like I was watching all of the tellers answer the phone. “Hello, welcome to Midtown Federal, my name is Bob, how may I help you?”. As a frequent bank customer, I felt I deserved a more personal interaction, and one that sounded less canned, and that was my point.

For all of the retailers out there that now include a customer service survey invitation on the receipt, almost all have a script that all check out clerks must follow to invite them to participate. Witness my everyday interactions at a major office supply store in my town: “…..and, if you call this number or log on to http://www.thiscompany.com/survey/thistown and enter this 28 digit invitation number, you could be entered into a drawing for $1000.”

More important than the execution is the intent. If our front line associates and partners understand the INTENT behind our initiatives, we are more likely to get the results that we want. If our “greeters” or “expediters” or even “cashiers” in multi-functional environments would understand the intent behind the execution, I think we would have greater success in what we ask them to do.