If you have, support, or serve a customer of any kind, sign up for Jill Griffin's Making Loyalty Happen Tip of the Month and read her books. She is a prime Responsibility Redefined resource (and my friend of almost 20 years). Here's her August 2006 tip as proof, reprinted by permission.Your Customer Is Watching
by Jill Griffin best-selling author of Customer Loyalty and Customer Winback.

It's 5:30 pm on a Friday and I'm standing in line at my neighborhood video chain store. It's been a long work week. I'm clutching the “Walk The Line” DVD and anticipating a much needed chill-out evening immersed in the story of Johnny and June. I'm in one of two lines being served by check-out reps. There are several folks in line in front of me. I wait (patiently) for 3-4 minutes, while those ahead of me are served. Finally, my turn comes and I gladly move to the counter.

That's when the rep informs me that he's 'closed' and I will need to move to the other available cashier. I'm surprised and disappointed, but I obediently move to the other line and wait. But this time I replace my “customer” eyes with my “loyalty-maker” gawkers. I notice that the rep who says he is closed, also wears a “Manager” badge on his shirt. I watch him shuffle through a stack of papers and then carry a piece paper to an adjoining desk four steps away. My eyes follow him as he returns to his post and files a piece of paper in a three-ring binder. I sense the customer behind me getting antsy. I turn to her and she shares in hush tones that she's feeling slighted and ill-served. We wait. The manager feels our eyes. He looks up. He motions me over, says he can help me now, that he “just needed to tidy-up some things.” He takes me through my transaction. He takes my cash. He asks me if I'd like to try the chain's online service. I say no. He says, “It's free, for a month.” I say no again, as I silently ponder… if a customers can't come first when she's literally standing in front of you and you are the MANAGER, what would service online be like when I'm a lowly email awaiting a response, or stuck in a phone cue on a call center line awaiting a rep? Thanks, but no thanks!

Loyalty Lesson: Our customers are constantly watching to see if we practice “Customer First”. Customers are drawing countless conclusions and, in turn, making important repurchase decisions based on what they experience with us. Key: What we as service providers perceive as inconsequential service details are, instead, seen through the customer eyes as BIG moments of truth. Bottom line: Act as if customers are always watching. Your business success depends on it.

Find Jill online at http://www.loyaltysolutions.com/