I have often been impressed by the commitment that companies are making towards getting to know their customers and visitors.  Organizations are spending oodles of money on Aesthetics, Analytics, SEO and Paid Listings Management and yet totally ignoring their first line of introduction…employees who meet the public.  It is easy to forget who are company is to our customers.   I am often reminded of the example of a company such as Lab Corp.  They are a sophisticated clinical laboratory.  Thy have a wonderful website, hundreds of medical research professionals, a strong customer service staff and excellent marketing.  If you have had a blood test recently, there is a good chance that the sample went to Lab Corp.  So who is Lab Corp?  Their customer is really the physician practice that orders the lab test.  To their customer Lab  Corp is the courier that picks up the samples and delivers supplies.  These people should be cleanly dressed, polite and knowledgeable.   To the customer they ARE the company!

You are probably wondering where I am going with this?   Well, in the last couple of weeks I have seen bad examples of company representatives.   One day I was driving on the highway to a major city.  The traffic was awful and tempers were rising.  I noticed a truck weaving in and out of the HOV lane.  Not only was it illegal it was extremely dangerous.  It was a truck that would be familiar to anyone who buys anything.  When people honked at the driver he flipped them off.   Did I mention that his company name and website was clearly painted on his truck?   That morning several thousand potential customers got a new impression of his company!!!!!  By-the-way, so did the police officer who pulled him over and put him in handcuffs.  People actually cheered as they drove by.  That cost the company tens of thousands of dollars that morning…not including the traffic ticket.

The next example took place on the phone.  I received a bill from the “phone” company.  I had changed some services and there was a mistake on the bill.  I was actually charged three times for one item.  I called the “800” number and was directed to customer service.  Customer service passed me on the accounts receivable where they stated that the customer service person did everything wrong.  I was to pay the bill in full and they would credit me for the overpayment on future invoices.  If I just paid what was owed, their “system” might charge me a late fee each month until it was correctly adjusted.   Of course this would be reported to the credit bureau as well.  Gee, you would think they were the only phone company in town.  I don’t care how nice their websites are!  How many customers would not look for an alternative to their services?

The other morning on the way to the office I stopped at a convenience store for a snack.  While waiting in line at the cash register the two guys in front of me were wearing shirts from a company that we do business with.  Their shirts were torn and dirty and so were their jeans.  It appeared that they hadn’t been close to a shower for several days.  If dirty and smelly were not enough they were both talking on their cell phones and complaining to each other about a customer they had to go visit.  The customer was around the corner so I am sure that someone from that company was in line as well.  To top it off their language was full of “F-Bombs” and there were several young children in line as well.  You can’t buy negative marketing like this.

OK, I’ve vented!  The point is that you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.  You can spend $millions on web marketing and throw it all away because you forgot who you are to your customer.  Someone needs to take the charter of becoming the Director of First Impressions in these and your companies.  A few years ago I was involved in a Six Sigma Black Belt project for a computer company.  In this project we had to define each customer touch point.  You don’t need a Six Sigma initiative for this.  Take a look at who your customer sees first or most often in your organization.  You will be surprised.  It is not the sales force or even customer service.  It could be your receptionist, operator, elevator operator, truck driver or even the delivery company.