Based on peer conversations I’ve had over the past week, I’ve been considering the potential to script/institutionalize job essence so that it can become a function of one’s job role—and not left to chance.

To clarify, the essence of an employee’s job is his overarching purpose—his highest priority. Job essence for employees at most companies is to create promoters—enthusiastic customers who will recommend their products and services, are less price-sensitive, and have higher repurchase rates.

Job function refers to the duties associated with one’s job role. For example, a job function of a restaurant server may be to provide ice water to guests who have been seated by the hostess. This may be restaurant protocol—a mandatory step in the process of providing table service.

But providing restaurant guests with ice water in and of itself does not reflect job essence—to create a promoters of the restaurant. The reason being that guests, at least in the U.S., expect ice water to be served. So providing ice water is not a differentiator—there’s no competitive advantage. In fact, if it’s not offered and diners have to ask for it, that may be seen as a displeaser.

On my flight home from Boston last night I thought of two examples of businesses that had, from my perspective, captured job essence within an employee’s job function (though I’m sure we could produce many more):

1.) There’s a restaurant in Denver called The Broker Restaurant that provides a complimentary shrimp bowl (with the purchase of two or more entrees) in the same way many fine dining restaurants provide a basket of bread. While a basket of bread is typical, ordinary, routine, and expected, the shrimp bowl (for first time guests) is unique, extraordinary, fresh, and unexpected. Placing the shrimp bowl on the diners’ table is a job function, just like providing glasses of ice water—or a basket of bread, that reflects job essence: providing a pleasant surprise. (Unless, of course, you’re allergic to shell fish…)

2.) I recently visited a delicatessen at the Atlantis hotel on Paradise Island in The Bahamas to purchase a roast beef sandwich for lunch the following day. When I placed the order, I mentioned this to the server. She then confirmed the bread type and some other specifications and then disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. When she returned, she handed me my order pointing out that she had taken the time to group and individually wrap the sandwich’s ingredients in wax paper to keep them fresh and separated until I was ready to build my sandwich at lunchtime the following day.

If this was the restaurant’s policy (a job function) on to-go orders intended to be consumed the following day, then it illustrates how the essence of the server’s job (express genuine interest, provide a pleasant surprise) could be captured in a job function. Now, I doubt this is standard policy at the delicatessen. More likely, I was fortunate to encounter an engaged server who made the choice to express genuine interest in me, anticipated my needs, and provided me with a pleasant surprise.

Both examples illustrate how job essence can be institutionalized (via standard operating procedure) as a job function. The danger, of course, is to rely on these standardized practices to “wow” guests and deemphasize the spontaneity that ordinarily accompanies job essence.

This is what happened at The Ritz-Carlton after guests remarked that nearly every employee they encountered responded to requests with, “My pleasure.” At first, it was fresh and unique, conveying professionalism while expressing genuine interest in serving the guest (job essence). Over time, however, it became a bit rehearsed and predictable—and it lost its uniqueness and charm.

Now, in order to convey more sincerity and spontaneity, Ritz-Carlton encourages “ways of being” as opposed to “ways of doing” by suggesting that employees vary their replies to guests’ requests (e.g., “My pleasure,” or “Absolutely, “ or “Right away,” or “Certainly”), recognizing that these responses are always preferable to “No problem.” (Which is like nails on a chalkboard to me—not at the Apple Retail Store but certainly in a luxury hotel or a fine dining restaurant.)

Can you think of any other businesses that have managed to effectively capture job essence within a function of the employee’s job role?

Last week, I worked in Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama for a client in the insurance industry. Over lunch she questioned whether or not the essence of an employee’s job could be captured in his job function.

My reply was that job essence and job function were separate and that there is a very real danger to combining them.

To clarify, the essence of an employee’s job is his overarching purpose—his highest priority. Job essence for employees at most companies is to create promoters—enthusiastic customers who will recommend their products and services, are less price-sensitive, and have higher repurchase rates.

Job function refers to the duties associated with one’s job role. For example, a job function of a receptionist is to greet customers who enter the reception area. Some companies script this greeting to ensure employees’ professionalism and maintain consistency.

Scripting and legislating customer greetings may appear to be an effective way to capture job essence (expressing genuine interest in the customer) in a job function (customer greeting) but that may not always be the case.

When I think of ineffective greetings, two companies come to mind: Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza and Best Buy. Both organizations have taken a behavior that is intended to make customers feel welcome in their stores and, by scripting and mandating the greeting, have marginalized its effect on customers.

Oftentimes when I enter Papa Murphy’s to pick up my pizza, employees hear the door chime and say, “Welcome to Papa Murphy’s” but don’t even bother to look up from behind the counter.

Best Buy “greeters” are, interestingly, positioned with their backs to customers as they enter the store. If they’re not busy inspecting customers’ bags, they may look over their shoulder and say, “Welcome to Best Buy.” It makes me wonder what their real function is—greeting customers or preventing theft?

As with the Papa Murphy’s example, this greeting has become institutionalized in the stores. It’s mandatory. It’s expected. It’s monotonous. It’s robotic. And it’s ineffective at making customers feel genuinely welcomed.

A sincere greeting is one that expresses genuine interest in the customer and conveys authentic enthusiasm for serving her. Unless it’s over the phone, it certainly includes eye contact, a visible smile, and, in every case, energy in the greeter’s voice.

While it’s efficient to provide greeters with scripts, it may be more effective to ensure that they recognize the essence of their jobs is to create delighted customers—promoters—and then rely on them to convey this in their own words and actions.

What do you think?

Last January I was one of those people who bought a new wall-mounted flat screen television set just in time to watch the Super Bowl on 52 inches of high definition eye candy.

I only have about 500 words, so I’ll spare you most of the gory details of my experience with Best Buy. Problems began when, after missing a four-hour installation window, my salesperson ignored repeated messages requesting an update that were left on his cell phone. Even more shocking, the store itself was not answering its phone at 3pm on a Friday!

Without being able to learn the fate of the Geek Squad installation crew, I took to Twitter and eventually heard back from @Coral_BestBuy. Although she was responsive, I got the impression that unless I could reach my salesperson or a store manager, the system would not be installed that day—and may not be installed in time to watch the game on Sunday.

After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally reached a store manager who lit the necessary fires to have an installation crew to my house by 6pm in order to complete the installation by 9:45pm.

In the days following the installation, as charges began to appear on my credit card, I noticed pricing discrepancies totaling $270.

I brought this to the attention of the same store manager with whom I spoke the Friday before and she said that she’d look into it and get back to me. That was on February 9^th.

On February 14^th, I exchanged Valentine’s cards with my wife but was feeling no love for Best Buy. I detailed my experience in a letter (old-fashioned, I know…) to Best Buy CEO, Brian Dunn and VP, Customer Care, Lisa Smith.

That was over a month ago and I have yet to hear back—not even a form letter. Either they have a tremendous backlog of customer complaints to respond to or they are simply indifferent toward customers. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s the former.

In reflecting on my Best Buy experience, I would rate my touch points and employee interactions as follows:

• In-store salesperson (pre-sale): Helpful
• In-store salesperson (post-sale): Fail
• Phone calls to store: Fail
• Twitter rep (@Coral_BestBuy): Responsive
• Store manager (regarding installation): Helpful
• Geek Squad installation crew: Outstanding
• Store manager (regarding pricing discrepancies): Fail
• Corporate headquarters: Fail

When half of your interactions with a company result in failure, that’s not good. The other insight I gleaned from this experience is that, if Twitter is your customer service strategy, you’re in trouble.

A responsive Twitter rep will not compensate for a salesperson’s refusal to return a call, a manager’s failure to resolve a pricing discrepancy, or corporate headquarters’ indifference toward a customer’s letter.

Regardless of whether your company has an engaging Facebook or Twitter presence, if you’re going to succeed with customers, you still must honor commitments, return messages, answer phones, resolve disputes, and respond to letters.

Otherwise, like Best Buy, you’ve failed.

Last December, because my blog is listed on Guy Kawasaki’s media website, Alltop, I received an exclusive email offer to preview an advance copy of his upcoming book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions (Released on March 8^th).

Enchantment delves into the art and science of influencing others to pursue a particular course of action. This may sound manipulative but it’s not. Guy is very clear that if your motives are not pure (or if your product or service sucks), then the ideas in his book won’t help you.

After reading Guy’s book, I contacted him and posed several questions. My background is in hotels and a number of my readers work in that industry. For that reason, a couple of the questions are specific to hotels.

Steve: In a traditional, customer-facing role, what do you see as the greatest single obstacle to delivering “enchanting” customer service?

Guy: The single greatest obstacle is the CEO who doesn’t appreciate the value and joy of providing great customer service. As the saying goes, “When a fish gets rotten, the head stinks first.”

Steve: Readers learned the story behind your preferred airline, Virgin America. What is your preferred hotel chain and why?

Guy: How about if I describe the perfect hotel room? Sure, I’d like a suite so that there’s a place to work and a place to sleep, but the little things are just as important. First, for crying out loud, a desk with more than two electrical plugs—both currently used by the lamp and router. I’m carrying a MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and Sprint MiFi device. I need lots of outlets. Second, an Internet connection faster than AOL dialup five years ago. I need at least 5 megabits speed. Third, powerful shower pressure. There’s nothing worse than wimpy water pressure. Fourth, flexible late checkout. If the checkout time is at noon, it’s not like the maids are rolling in at 12:01. Sure, if everyone requested late checkout, the hotel would be in trouble but most people won’t check out late.

Steve: If you managed a hotel, what is the first action you would take in order to enchant more hotel guests?

Guy: Free Wifi. I cannot understand why hotels that cost $100/day provide free Wifi and hotels that cost $500/day charge you for it. When you couple this with the fact that the Wifi I’m paying for is slow, it makes me crazy.

Steve: If you managed a new group of people tomorrow, what is the first action you would take in order to enchant them?

Guy: I would communicate that I will not ask them to do anything that I wouldn’t do. In other words, I will suck it up and do what it takes to succeed—and I expect them to do that too.

Steve: If you wrote a customer service blog and had a chance to interview yourself about Enchantment, what question would you ask that I did not? And how would you respond to that question?

Guy: I’d ask, “How do I enchant my boss so that I can have the freedom to do what I want to do for our customers?” And my answer would be that the key to enchant your boss is to drop everything else and do what your boss asks for. This might not sound like it’s optimal for you or the organization, but that’s what it takes. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to do what you should do.

Steve: One could argue that this “yes” manager you are endorsing, from a productivity standpoint, would be less effective than his counterpart who would ask the boss, “Which of my current priorities would you prefer that I set aside in order to devote the time needed to accomplish this (most recent) request?”

Guy: I understand the intellectual basis for this response, but in the real world, you’re increasing the workload of your boss. Now he or she has to analyze the tasks in front of you to decide on your priorities. In other words, when your boss asks you to do something, the enchanting response is not to effectively say, “I will do that if you tell me what not to do instead.” That’s creating more work for your boss. Suck it up. Do everything. I never said enchanting people is easy.

If your interest in Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment has been piqued, I encourage you to pick it up today. Here is the link to purchase the book directly from Amazon.

Disclosure: I do not receive any sort of compensation for recommending books. Heck, because of Colorado state tax laws, I cannot even take part in Amazon’s Affiliate Program.

What can I say? I’m just enchanted by Guy’s new book. And when you’re enchanted by something, you can’t keep quiet. You’re compelled to tell others about it! Enjoy!

I recall saying to a client across the conference table, “Exceptional customer service is always optional.”

Upon hearing this, his eyes narrowed, he leaned forward, and his voice lowered as he responded, “Not around here. Around here, exceptional customer service is mandatory.”

I disagreed but, in his defense, most general managers would say the same thing: “Of course exceptional customer service is not optional. We don’t permit employees to provide substandard customer service!”

In theory, they’re right. But in practice, they’re kidding themselves.

The reason that you and I, as customers, rarely experience the “exceptional” customer service these business leaders claim is mandatory, is because it’s optional.

An employee chooses to make eye contact, smile, or add a bit of enthusiasm to her voice.

Can you recall a recent interaction you’ve had over the phone or face-to-face with an employee who you sensed was apathetic, bored, or indifferent towards serving you? Of course you can. It happens all the time—even in work environments where exceptional customer service is “mandatory.”

Employers can mandate many aspects of an employee’s job role: the protocol required to complete a task; the employee’s wardrobe and grooming standards; or the time the employee begins or ends her shift.

But they cannot mandate the attributes that influence whether or not customers receive exceptional customer service.

An employee’s personality, disposition, uniqueness, creativity, or engagement level is determined by the employee, not her employer. She chooses to smile. She chooses to refuse to banter with a coworker in front of a customer. She chooses to go the extra mile to serve a customer.

While employers cannot mandate these attributes, they can hire for them. That’s why the companies that consistently produce the highest levels of customer satisfaction also invest the most in their employee selection efforts.

Leaders at these companies are not kidding themselves.

They recognize that employees choose to provide exceptional customer service (or, as is often the case, choose not to) and they establish their employee selection criteria accordingly.