Have you ever walked into a restaurant bathroom and found paper towels scattered on the floor or an overflowing trash can? What immediately crossed your mind? What did you think about
the restaurant?
Most of think, “If they can’t keep the bathroom clean, what is the kitchen like?”
I call this the Bathroom Experience, a powerful metaphor for how seemingly minor details can dramatically impact customer perceptions of a business. A clean bathroom goes unnoticed because it’s expected; however, a dirty one?
That sends customers a message that the restaurant might be neglecting other details.
This concept extends far beyond restaurants. Before moving into my current office, I toured the building and specifically checked the bathrooms on multiple floors.
How the building maintained its bathrooms told me what I needed to know about how the property management company handled details throughout the rest of the building.
The concept also extends beyond restrooms. Recently, I checked into a higher-end hotel, and as I was relaxing on my bed, I noticed thick dust coating the air vents. I found myself wondering what I would breathe in throughout the night.
We could refer to this as the Vent Experience!
These mismanaged details are oversights that create a ripple effect. When a customer picks up a rental car and discovers the glove compartment won’t stay closed, they might wonder, “If they missed this, I wonder if they checked to ensure the brakes were working properly.”
Many years ago, my assistant sent a performance agreement to a client who booked me for a speech. The client called me to discuss cancelling the booking.
It turned out the agreement had several typos and punctuation errors. I was shocked and embarrassed. It turns out my assistant accidentally sent the draft she was working on instead of the final version. I apologised and explained what happened.
Fortunately, the client accepted the explanation, but I’ll never forget his comment, which made me realise how important little details are.
He said, “I am hiring someone who is supposed to be a good communicator. The document you sent had so many errors; I questioned your ability to do the job.” Ouch! That hurt, but he was 100 per cent correct.
Here’s the point: Details that seem insignificant to you might concern your customers. For some, these examples cause customers to make assumptions about other things they can’t see.
So, what’s your version of the Bathroom Experience? What small detail is your staff overlooking that customers notice and use to judge you and your business?
Finding and fixing these details doesn’t just solve minor problems; it prevents customers from imagining bigger ones.
Everyone needs your first time energy
While this isn’t formal research, I’ve asked many people the question, “What do you think is the most common question that customers ask employees?”
I pointed out that this isn’t about calling customer support; it’s a people-to-people interaction. Almost everyone answers correctly: “Where’s the bathroom?”
If you were asked that every day, sometimes multiple times throughout the day, at what point would you start to act frustrated with any customer who asked you that question?
Here’s the point: The 50th person asking you where the bathroom is does not know they are the 50th person. For them, it’s their first time asking you, and your response should make them feel that way.
This reminds me of my days performing magic shows at trade shows. One of my clients hired me for 10 straight days, during which I performed twelve 20-minute shows daily – that’s 120 shows!
After the final show, my client asked, “How is it that after doing all of those shows throughout the week, you seem to be just as fresh as the first show?”
I hadn’t thought about it, but with not much thought, I said that I think about each audience. Everyone in the audience deserves my best effort and energy, as if they were my first. If I came off as bored or tired, I’d be letting them down, not to mention letting my client down.
So, even though I may have performed the same tricks and delivered the same lines for every show, each audience, even the 120th after 119 shows, deserved my best effort – my first-time energy.
When a server at a restaurant recites the daily specials for the 12th time that night, do you want to hear them delivered with enthusiasm or with the boredom of repetition? Or maybe it’s a chef who has been asked 20 times a night for many years to prepare a dish that earned him a reputation and keeps customers coming back again and again.
The best employees, chefs, athletes, and entertainers understand that repetition is their challenge, not the customer’s problem. They find ways to keep their responses and reactions fresh, be it the first or 500th time.
This mindset transforms an ordinary customer experience into something extraordinary. Every customer deserves your first-time energy.
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