Be Amazing OR Go Home
I am an ardent & a dedicated follower of Shep Hyken on Twitter for the past many months and like many other Hyken followers & fans I have always found myself consistently curious about what he says,writes or feels regarding how to deliver “Amazing” customer service,be it through his tweets,or articles and write-ups or entertaining yet insightful artwork depicting the very basics of creating “Amazing” customer experiences .
So Imagine my delight when I discovered one day on Twitter itself that Shep was giving his fans & followers a special opportunity to download a free copy of his ‘soon -to –be-launching’ book, at that time – Be Amazing or Go Home- through Amazon !
And Voila! Ever since I have downloaded a copy of this book, I often find myself quoting anecdotes or instances from it every now & then in my various training programs, especially during new employee induction training, when fresh graduates, straight out of college , join our teams .
So while there are many precious gems in this book which I would love to write about and share with you all,but today,I would like to share with you a summary of a very interesting story that Shep has penned in his book – Be Amazing or Go Home .
The reason for sharing this particular story ? Because this story truly resonates with the changing face of our dynamic customer service world in which one of the core differentiator is ‘personalization’ .
Shep Hyken has cited the story of the legendary American country guitarist Chester Burton ‘Chet’ Atkins. He writes that when Atkins had fallen violently sick and was not going to be in the world for long, an anxious fan sent Atkins an inexpensive guitar through a common friend so that Atkins could autograph it. When the guitar returned with Atkins’ autograph,that common friend also told the fan that even though Atkins was on the hospital bed , he still tuned up the guitar and played it a little bit . The fan was stunned and asked his friend why Atkins did that. His friend said that he had asked Atkins the same thing to which Atkins had replied that he had been doing that for years and added that as long as he was going to personalize the guitar with his autograph, it only made sense to personalize it by actually playing it too. If someone’s going to hang the guitar up on a wall somewhere, he wanted it to be an instrument that just didn’t have Chet Atkins written on the outside but had a little Chet Atkins on the inside too.
Shep Hyken terms this kind of interaction as the “Atkins Authenticity”. It’s all about adding a sincere & an authentic personal touch.
A great customer service lesson, simple yet powerful – Whatever we do for our customers, make sure that it reflects who we are. Make sure it’s authentic.
In the book- Be Amazing or Go Home- there are several such gems which are waiting to be uncovered and Atkins Authenticity is just one of them.
The story of Chet Atkins and his stellar sincerity truly makes one wonder that while the service sector is talking about “Power of personalization” being one of the key differentiators to win loyal customers , yet , how many customer service brands truly understand that the actual “Wow” of personalization is all about the sincerity & authenticity with which it is delivered.
So while we can train our teams and teach them various ways in which they could “personalize” experiences for our customers,yet,the true impact of that personalization depends on only one thing – with how much sincerity & authenticity would our teams care to deliver that ‘personalized’ experience for the customer.
The key takeaways from this story ?
- If you create a personalized experience for someone, make it memorable. Make it authentic.
- · Get creative. Find new and more sincere ways to put your unique signature which differentiates you from your competition.
- · Make it genuine and do whatever you do with joy and enthusiasm. Make it real.
The philosophy of Atkins Authenticity needs to be exemplified in our daily working lives because it’s a quality which cannot be demonstrated on ‘one time basis’ in isolation in few,specific situations , instead , it is something which has to come from within and therefore should reflect in everything that we do at work whether at the ‘front of the house’ or the ‘heart of the house’.
Note – Shep Hyken is a customer service & experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. He is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author for a number of his remarkable books.