Happy National Cheeseburger Day:

Let’s celebrate with a story I bet you’ll love…

Ryan is a bartender at one of our favorite restaurants.  It’s a new spot.  An upscale new-American joint we go to every couple of weeks and sit at the bar.  (Where else would one sit?)

First off, he’s excellent at his job.  He knows his drinks; the menu comes alive when describing preparation or a special.  The wine list is short, but solid, and he offers up a good sense of what you’ll be getting whether by-the-glass or a bottle from their reserve list.  Ryan (and colleagues) do a very nice job of balancing his care of the bar patrons (8 seats) and preparing drinks for the servers.  Since it opened about four months ago, I bet we’ve been there four or five times.

With that context, here’s what happened after our last visit…

…after our meal, Ryan walked out from behind the bar and hugged me!   Let me repeat that - after dining a couple of weeks ago, Ryan made his way from behind the bar, hugged me and said, “Thank you, good to see you again!”

No wisecracks when I admit to readers, I’ve been to 1,000’s of bars and had pleasant exchanges with virtually all, but this is OVER THE TOP.

Why is this story worth sharing?  It serves as an important reminder:

PEOPLE

MAKE

THE

DIFFERENCE

Everyone knows this in both our hearts and minds.  I can even cite research that proves it.

If you operate or run a consumer-facing business, the public one-on-one interactions (I always think of Jan Carlzon’s book – Moments of Truth) CAN be magic, just like Ryan’s hug.  When they occur at least two good things happen:

1.  You have a customer for life; and,
2.  That customer acts as an “ambassador” who typically retells “their” story about a zillion times.

The most frequent complaint I hear – certainly in newspaperland, but in every industry – is “…finding people!”  To some extent that means bodies to fill open positions, but what leaders REALLY want is to hire someone like Ryan who creates “wow” encounters that bring customers back again and again.

What are you doing to attract wow-makers?  Are they actually given the ability and are they inspired to wow?  Do you have a wow story to share – I’d love to hear it!

P.S.  I invite you to visit one day and I’ll take you to meet Ryan!