Last Wednesday, I learned that a friend of mine was traveling from California to Marriott’s Marco Island Florida Resort & Spa to attend a coaching conference.

Christopher and I both invested the early part of our careers working for Marriott and, knowing that he would not call ahead to request any sort of favors—unbeknownst to him—I called the hotel while he was en route.

When my call was answered, I asked to speak with a front desk manager. The person I reached informed me that all of the managers were busy serving guests and suggested that, as a supervisor, perhaps she could assist me with my request.

I then introduced myself, gave her a little background about my friend Christopher’s Marriott experience, told her of his impending arrival at the hotel, and then asked if she had any flexibility to upgrade him to a room on a higher floor or with a better view.

As our conversation continued, I sensed that I was more interested in the opportunity to recognize Christopher at check-in and provide him with a pleasant surprise than was the supervisor.

She said, “I’ll see what I can do.” I thanked her for her time.

The following day, I emailed Christopher to check on the quality of his arrival experience.

Here’s his response:

“Interesting that you asked. The clerk was young/newer yet was truly committed to ensure that she gave me her all. She was earnest and genuine in wanting me to have a great check-in experience.

She had trouble finding a room for me and wanted to meet my in-the-moment realization that a high floor and view was more important than a King-size bed (which I had requested in my reservation).

Where it fell apart was when she asked for help from her manager because he came over to help in his very “I have role power” kind of way and didn’t look at me/speak to me and it derailed the spirit of service that she created.

She acknowledged the purpose of my stay and asked if she could show me where I needed to start my day with the conference in the morning. She used my name, thanked me and offered assistance should I require it. She did fantastic! Her name was Danielle.”

From this response, I’m not sure my phone call to the supervisor had any effect on the quality of his arrival experience.

The irony here is that hotel companies are always looking for ways to capture “insider” knowledge about guests—their dislikes, preferences, tendencies—and leverage this unique knowledge to pleasantly surprise and delight them throughout their hotel stays.

Seriously, how many phone calls do you think the hotel received last Wednesday that provided the kind of “insider” information about a hotel guest that I shared during my call?

My hunch: One.

Although I could be wrong. Perhaps there were two such calls? Or possibly three? My point is that these types of calls are uncommon. They are exceptions. And exceptions create a unique opportunity to provide exceptional customer service.

Consider the possibilities that were available to this supervisor:

• Pleasantly surprise Christopher with an upgrade to a room on a high floor with an ocean view
• Recognize his Marriott experience at check-in
• Inform a senior manager of his arrival (As large a company as Marriott is, I’ve yet to meet a senior manager with whom I don’t share at least one mutual connection.)
• Deliver a welcome amenity (e.g., crackers, cheese, and/or fruit) to his room accompanied by a hand-signed note

Any of these actions would have achieved the hotel’s objective to delight its guest while providing a memorable arrival experience. And, with the exception of the welcome amenity, there would have been no extra charge to perform these actions. They’re free.

So, if these actions help to achieve the hotel’s customer satisfaction goals and cost little or nothing to provide, why didn’t they occur?

My hunch: Because they’re optional.

And since they’re optional, the supervisor chose not to perform them (and Christopher was denied what could have been a superior arrival experience).

Perhaps she was busy answering phones, checking-in guests, securing valid methods of payment, and issuing room keys. After all, in her defense, these job functions are mandatory.

So that brings us to the conclusion of our story. It’s not a sad story really. I’m sure that Christopher was satisfied with his arrival experience and guest room at the resort. I’m just not convinced that he was in any way delighted by his experience.

And that, Marco Island Florida Resort & Spa, was a missed opportunity to capitalize on some sweet “insider” information.

Over the years, I’ve had conversations with hundreds of frontline employees in the service industry. All of these employees were passionate about something but, more often than not, their passion had little to do with their job roles.

Many described their jobs as boring, routine, and monotonous.

These conversations have inspired me to explore the question, “Why is it that frontline employees in the service industry oftentimes appear apathetic about customer service and indifferent toward their customers?”

While there are many variables including: company hiring, training, and retention practices; the existing customer service culture; the effectiveness of the employee’s immediate supervisor, etc., one key contributor that most companies miss is to clearly distinguish between an employee’s job functions and job essence.

Job functions are the duties associated with one’s job role. Performance of these functions is mandatory. It’s what the employee was hired to do. It’s what the employee is paid to do. It’s the criteria upon which his performance is judged.

Job essence is the employee’s highest priority—which, for most employees, is to create a delighted customer: one who will repurchase, is less price-sensitive, and will recommend the company/brand to others.

In contrast to job functions, job essence is frequently ignored by both employers and employees. Here’s why: Employers tend to focus on that which can be documented and measured—things like job descriptions, policies, procedures, and checklists. All of these pertain to job function. And employees tend to focus on whatever their managers focus on.

For instance, suppose a restaurant manager tells a newly-hired hostess that customer service is his top priority. (Most do.) But when the hostess’s side work (e.g., folding napkins, filling salt and pepper shakers, etc.) suffers due to her consistent presence out front greeting guests as they arrive, he questions her priorities by asking, “Why aren’t there more napkins folded?”

She will quickly learn the manager’s true priority is folded napkins (job function), not delighted customers (job essence).

You see, whereas performing job functions is mandatory, demonstrating job essence is optional—employees don’t have to do it. And most don’t. And unlike job functions for which employees are paid, there’s no additional cost to the employer for employees to demonstrate job essence. Companies don’t pay their employees extra to care, take initiative, or accept responsibility.

Both job function (competency) and job essence (passion to serve) are required to create delighted customers. Customers won’t appreciate passionate, service-oriented employees who are incompetent. Nor will they respond to capable employees whose customer service they would describe as apathetic or indifferent. In other words, restaurant guests appreciate being greeted warmly and having a clean, folded napkin.

The opportunity to create delighted customers lies at the intersection of job function and job essence.

I have identified seven customer service behaviors that are available to frontline customer service providers at this intersection. These behaviors will enable them to elevate their personal customer service from typical, routine, and expected, to unique, refreshing, and unexpected.

In so doing, they will create delighted customers—loyal customers who will brag about the company/brand to others.

Here are three of the behaviors:

1. Express genuine interest: To express genuine interest in a customer is to go beyond that which a customer typically expects during a customer service interaction. For example, most customers might expect a supermarket cashier to smile, make eye contact, and add a bit of enthusiasm to her voice. These qualities may not always occur but they are the basics of a face-to-face customer service interaction.

To go beyond the basics might mean posing a question or two to the customer.

For example, I once observed the transaction ahead of me while in line at an Albertsons supermarket. As the cashier scanned a bag of dog food, she simply asked, “What kind of dog do you have?”

With that, the cashier and the customer had an enthusiastic exchange about their mutual love of Labrador Retrievers. It wasn’t long—maybe all of 20 seconds while the customer swiped his bank card and signed for his purchases. But an impression was made. A connection was established.

2. Share unique knowledge: To share unique knowledge with a customer means to go beyond the job knowledge that is ordinarily expected of one’s job role. For example, most restaurant guests expect for servers to possess basic job knowledge such as the evening’s specials, the soupe du jour, information about food preparation, ingredients/allergens, availability, pricing, etc.

Unique knowledge goes beyond job knowledge. It is interesting, memorable, and unexpected. It has character and substance.

It’s the difference between: “Tonight, our featured appetizer is the Pâté de Foie Gras” and  “Our chef trained at the prestigious Restaurant School in Philadelphia and apprenticed at Le Bec Fin. She also traveled to France to refine her knowledge of French delicacies such as truffles, escargot, and foie gras. In fact, our Pâté de Foie Gras is our featured appetizer. May I tempt you with an order?”

Seriously, which of these two approaches would make an impression on you? Which might motivate you to order the appetizer?

3. Deliver service heroics: To deliver service heroics means to go beyond the customer’s expectations in providing him with an exceptional customer service experience. Sometimes, this will require an employee to go above and beyond the call of duty. He may be challenged to perform beyond the scope of his job description.

I won’t provide my own example here. Instead, I’ll ask you to reflect back on your own experience as a customer. Everyone reading this post has a vivid example of a time when a frontline hourly employee went above and beyond the call of duty to provide exceptional customer service.

Perhaps you wrote a letter to the employee’s boss or maybe you gave him or her a substantial gratuity? If not, I’m confident that you have at least shared the story with many others. An impression was made—one that you won’t soon forget.

Each of these behaviors shares the same set of characteristics: they demonstrate the essence of an employee’s job—his or her highest priority—to create a delighted customer; they’re optional—which is why, as customers, we don’t often experience them; and they’re free—companies don’t pay their employees extra to express genuine interest, share unique knowledge, or deliver service heroics.

By recognizing and communicating the difference between job function and job essence, then guiding employee performance by sharing and rewarding customer service behaviors that go beyond that which customers typically expect, companies will differentiate themselves on the basis of customer service quality.

While most of their competitors will be providing the customer service status quo, these companies will be providing Service Elevated!

The other day I took a cab from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to my hotel on The Strip.

About 10 minutes into the drive, I struck up a conversation with the cab driver about the purpose of my trip—to speak to an insurance group about customer service.

He asked me a question or two about customer service and one of the comments I made was that exceptional customer service is not usually the result of one big thing. It’s often the result of many little things done exceptionally well.

To illustrate my point, I said to him, “For instance, while you settled into the driver’s seat, I slid the door open and then, once inside, had to reposition myself in order to reach back and pull the door closed. I managed but my point is that you missed an opportunity to provide exceptional customer service. Had you opened and closed the van door for me, I would have noticed.”

I went on to say that if he chose to take my advice and perform this one extra service (i.e., open and close the sliding van door for his passengers), then I believed his tips would increase by 20 percent.

He appeared interested.

I asked him if he kept a record of his tips and he said that he had only been driving a cab for about four weeks. He said that previously he was a commercial truck driver but was terminated after his third driving incident.

I buckled my seatbelt.

He estimated that he made about $40 a day in tips. I told him to apply my suggestion for a day and see whether or not his tip average increased.

I said, “Now, you still have to be competent. Customers won’t appreciate that you got their doors if you drive them around in circles. You must demonstrate knowledge of the area, drive safely, and be polite.”

He asked why I thought passengers would tip more for a little thing like opening and closing their doors.

I said, “People notice and appreciate it when others go out of their way to serve them. Most passengers wouldn’t expect for their cab drivers to get their doors for them. In fact, they’ve been conditioned to not expect it. This means that, when it does happen, it’s unexpected. It stands out. It makes an impression.”

I gave him my business card and asked him to email me with the results of the experiment. Stay tuned…

It’s happened to most of us. Your appointment ran a bit longer than expected. You check your watch. You know it’s going to be close.

There is a sense of urgency as you plan your route to your car, weaving in and out of pedestrians on the sidewalk as you look ahead to the next crossing signal. It’s flashing. If you hustle, you just might make it…

A minute later, as you approach your parked car, you notice the piece of paper pressed beneath your windshield wiper and you think, “I’m too late…”

Out of breath from your gauntlet, you tug the notice out from beneath your wiper blade and prepare for the worst.

When this recently happened to my wife while on business in Cheyenne, Wyoming, she removed the notice and read the following:

Howdy Pardner!

WELCOME TO CHEYENNE

The Patrol Officer has noticed that you have violated one of our parking ordinances. This ordinance OVER STAYING THE ALLOTTED TIME is usually punishable by hanging, but seeing as how you are a visitor to Cheyenne we want to make your stay here as enjoyable as possible, so the offense will be overlooked this time. (Besides we couldn’t round up a posse in time for the hanging.)

If we can be of any assistance during your stay in Cheyenne, please call 637-6331. If you have any comments, please fill in the area below and mail by pony express or stop by the main ranch house at 2101 O’Neil Avenue and take a look around.

What a relief! How delightfully unexpected! This may be the first time that a patrol officer brought a smile to my wife’s face by leaving a notice on her windshield.

I recognize (as does the city of Cheyenne) that humor doesn’t offset the expense of running a city. But it does provide a laugh and makes a lasting positive impression on visitors to Cheyenne who will likely share this positive experience with others.

Whether you received a parking citation and fine or this “Howdy Pardner!” notice, you will likely remember the event either way—for evoking feelings of frustration, anger, and loss in the case of a ticket or delight, relief, and surprise in the case of this refreshing parody.

How do you want to be remembered by your customers?

What can you do in your place of business to transform something that may be creating predictably unpleasant memories into something that inspires smiles and lasting positive impressions?