Many companies use terms like “guest” and “partner” to convey the intimacy they have with their customers but the reality is that most employees, when given the opportunity, do not behave as though they are serving a valued guest.

If you’d like to test this assertion, simply show up at your choice of retailer after it has closed for the day. Assuming you can make eye contact with an employee through the locked glass door, see if she is willing to do more than point at her watch and mouth the words, “We’re closed.”

Now, this is where corporate types jump in using words like: policy, procedure, overtime, security, protocol, etc. While all of their points are valid, it doesn’t mean they’re right.

To illustrate, imagine that you had planned a baby shower at your home from 1:00 to 3:00pm and that one of your guests was delayed for some reason and didn’t arrive until 3:15pm—after the event had officially ended and the other guests had left.

Would you refuse to open the front door and simply make eye contact with her through the glass side light panel, point to your watch, and mouth the words, “The party’s over”?

Of course not.

Then why is it acceptable to treat “guests” like that in a business setting?

If you’re going to cite the above list of policy, procedure, overtime, security, protocol, etc. as your justification for this behavior, at least stop referring to your customers as “guests.”

Instead, call them what they really are to your closing staff: a nuisance—an interruption; someone we accept money from during business hours but whom we’d prefer not to see after closing time until the next business day.

Just last week I was in Logan, UT. Being a coffee enthusiast and having read about the mountain grown, Triple Certified coffee at Caffe Ibis, I made it a point to stop by on the day of my arrival.

I showed up at 6:45pm and learned that the store closed at 6:30pm. I peered through the glass door and made eye contact with an employee who pointed to her watch and mouthed the words, “We’re closed.”

Before I returned to my car, however, an energetic employee named Natalie unlocked the front door and engaged me.

I mentioned that I was in town for one night from Denver and had hoped to try a cup of Caffe Ibis coffee that I had read so much about and pick up a pound of beans to take back home.

She said, “The machines are off and the register is closed but let me see what I can do.”

A few minutes later, she appeared with a steeping (literally) cup of coffee and a pound of Double French Roast Blend coffee beans.

I thanked her, paid her $15 in cash, and enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee back in my hotel room.

The following day, on my way out of town, I returned and spent another $28.05 on a latte, ground Espresso Roast Blend, and a Caffe Ibis t-shirt. That’s $43.05 in revenue from a guest that many employees would have labeled a nuisance—an interruption in their day.

And my purchasing hasn’t stopped. I’m back in Denver but enjoyed the coffee so much that I’m planning a repeat purchase of Double French Roast Blend coffee beans from their website. My potential future value to Caffe Ibis is significant.

If the first employee was my only impression of Caffe Ibis, I would have left empty-handed, kept my $15, and may or may not have returned the following day to spend another $28.05. And if I hadn’t experienced its coffee in Logan, I certainly wouldn’t be ordering it by the pound on-line.

This is key: Did the first employee do anything wrong? No. She was following policy. I get that. She was also behaving in a way that is usual, ordinary, and expected by most customers.

Natalie, on the other hand, treated me like her guest. She behaved in a way that was beyond what is usual, ordinary, and expected by most customers. She was refreshing and unique. As a result, she not only made a positive lasting impression, she made a sale!

More key points:

1.) Natalie recognized that, while her job function was to complete the closing checklist, the essence of her job—her highest priority—was to serve her guests.

2.) Her decision to open the locked door and engage me, unlike the completion of the closing checklist, was optional.

3.) And finally, her willingness to go the extra mile cost her employer nothing—it was free! In fact, it resulted in $43.05 in additional sales (and counting…).

Natalie created a promoter (that’s me).

Promoters are customers who not only buy your products/services, they wear your t-shirts, are less price sensitive, and recommend your business to others (as I’m doing now).

While the first employee’s service was ordinary, expected, and made me feel like an interruption in her day, Natalie’s was extraordinary, unexpected, and made me feel like a valued guest.

Care to comment? Be my guest.

Personal importance is often misunderstood at the frontline service provider level in the hospitality industry. I’ve had participants in customer service classes who challenge the notion that anyone should be treated any differently than anyone else. Some see acknowledging one’s personal importance or “Elite” status as favoritism. Others see it as an affront to their own social status, as though they are of a subservient class.

My response to these participants is that by personal importance, we are not suggesting a social hierarchy whereby customers are treated as more important people. Personal importance implies the acknowledgment of their importance as customers and the value they bring to the business through personal spending, loyalty, referrals, etc.

The best illustration of personal importance that I’ve come across lately comes from the book, The New Gold Standard by Joseph A. Michelli:

A guest of The Ritz-Carlton wrote a letter to the company president, Simon Cooper. In the letter the guest recalled:

“One of your employees and I got on an elevator in your building. I pushed the sixth-floor button and he pushed none. Instead of getting off with me on the sixth floor, your employee simply said, ‘Have a nice day.’ Upon exiting the elevator, I asked, ‘Where are you going? Aren’t you getting off here?’ Your employee replied, ‘No, I’m going back down to the fifth floor.”

The guest goes on to write, “I couldn’t believe it—how do you find people who are so invested in placing the needs of their guest above their own?”

The opposite of placing the needs of customers above your own is to place your needs above theirs. This happens all the time when companies cite “policy” as the rationale for not meeting the needs of their customers. Other times, customers may perceive that they’re being treated indifferently—like they don’t matter—and feel as though their business is being taken for granted.

One survey revealed that 68 percent of customers quit doing business with a company because of perceived indifference towards them as customers. That’s shameful!

So, ask yourself these questions: What might my staff and I be doing that may be, perhaps unwittingly, communicating indifference towards the customers we serve? And, what actions can we take immediately to acknowledge the personal importance of our customers?

Honestly, I never thought I’d be writing a positive customer service story about a cable company in my lifetime. Cable companies, in my mind, have always been grouped together with poor service heavyweights like the postal service, IRS, and DMV.

My Twitter conversation last month with @ComcastBill changed all that. For the uninitiated, Twitter is a social networking website where you can post short messages of 140-characters or less. You can choose to follow the Tweets (short messages) of other Twitter users, and they can choose to follow yours.

Below is the chronological series of Tweets that made up our Twitter conversation. Note that my initial message at 8:59 AM on Feb. 26th was addressed to no one. I just launched it out into the Twittersphere. Fortunately for me—and the productivity of the remainder of my day—@ComcastBill was “listening.”

8:59 AM Feb 26th from txt
Comcast is out at my home. Tried resetting modem. No luck. Forced to find a good cup of coffee and Internet connection elsewhere.

9:06 AM Feb 26th from web in reply to enthused
@ComcastBill @enthused can i look into for you

9:11 AM Feb 26th from web in reply to ComcastBill
@ComcastBill Wow! Didn’t expect that. I just arrived at It’s a Grind in Aurora, CO and accessed my Twitter account. I’ll DM (means “direct message” in Twitter speak) you w/ details.

9:17 AM Feb 26th from web
@ComcastBill Not able to DM you. Can you DM me or send e-mail to info@stevecurtin.com? Thanks!

9:19 AM Feb 26th
@ComcastBill There, got you. I phoned Comcast (local service #) and an auto attendant lead me through the process of resetting my modem… (cont.)

9:20 AM Feb 26th
@ComcastBill (cont.)… No effect though wireless signal is strong!? My home # is (home telephone #). Thanks for any help you can offer from Pennsylvania!

9:29 AM Feb 26th
@ComcastBill @enthused I think the connection just came back up, can you confirm? I am showing everything good.

9:31 AM Feb 26th
@ComcastBill I’ll check it out in ~an hour when I return home. Either way, excellent service! And if you’ve been to my site, you know I’m a critic! ; )

9:33 AM Feb 26th from web
@ComcastBill @enthused having DNS issue in CO right now try changing your DNS to (DNS #) and (DNS #)

12:21 PM Feb 26th
@ComcastBill Yes, up and running…Thanks! Can Social Media Improve Customer Service? I think yes! A blog post in the making.

12:55 PM Feb 26th from web
@ComcastBill @enthused were trying

Wow! Did you also notice that @ComcastBill’s initial reply was within 7 minutes of my original Tweet—even though that message was addressed to no one in particular? That’s responsiveness! The issue was addressed, diagnosed, and resolved within 30 minutes of my original message!

My experience with @ComcastBill has transformed the way I view customer service and responsiveness by Comcast. Rather than being a critical detractor of Comcast customer service based on the negative reputation of the industry and my own personal experience, I am now—as evidenced by this blog post—a promoter!

I wonder when the postal service, IRS, and DMV will begin Twittering?