Mind your own business

Moments of Truth by Tracy Armstrong

My good friend and fellow coach Tracy Armstrong is an expert in customer service. She spent over 20 years at Marks and Spencers, a company renowned for its professional approach. Tracy was one of their top trainers and was responsible for the training of several hundred staff. She’s kindly agreed to write for us about ‘moments of truth’.

A Moment of Truth is “any instant when a client or customer comes into contact with an organisation and forms some kind of impression”.

All moments make an impression and even small moments can make a very big difference. Our clients are forming impressions of us and our organisation all the time so it is essential to get things right. If we leave moments to chance then things can, and often do, go wrong. Let me share with you a recent example.

I had arranged a business meeting in a local hotel. My client and I were going to be spending all of the morning in our meeting and then end with lunch in the hotel restaurant.

Upon arrival, I entered the hotel reception area, looking around for a suitable place to hold our meeting. There was no obvious place, so I thought it best to ask a member of staff. There was no one on the reception so I hovered around feeling slightly lost. Several members of staff walked past me and didn’t make eye contact or offer to help.

Eventually someone appeared at the reception area and by now, several people needed assistance, and we duly formed a queue. I waited patiently whilst the other customers were dealt with but unfortunately, when my turn came, it was a change of shift and the receptionist asked me to wait for a while until her colleague could take over. Again, I did this and was eventually greeted by another receptionist who told me to wait for a few minutes whilst she sorted out a query over the phone.

Meanwhile, my client arrived and I had not greeted him either as I was too busy waiting in the queue to be seen. Finally, a suitable room for our meeting was suggested and we started our meeting.

During the morning, we ordered several cups of coffee, which again, seemed to be a major mission. Our coffee was served with little or no eye contact, exchange of dialogue or even a smile! At £2.95 per cup you would think that this was the least they could do!

In summary, the whole poor experience has left a lasting impression on both my client and I and we would not hurry back to the venue or indeed, recommend it to anyone else.

So what’s the message? This example not only demonstrates how easy it is to get the moments of truth wrong but equally, and with very little effort, how easy it is to get them right. We need to manage the experiences people have.

It is important, both in a business and personal context, to be aware of the moments of truth and also, how the accumulation of moments, both good and bad, will form a lasting impression. Try to ensure that each moment is a positive one. Be aware of the impression that you make on others and create a consistently positive experience.

Read other articles >>>