You Had Me At “Hello”..

Service Counter

That amazing line spoken at the perfect moment by Renee Zellweger in the movie Jerry McGuire to Tom Cruise sealed the deal on the relationship between the two characters who had been somewhat non-committal with each other due to each others experiences with previous relationships. Renee’s character had a youngster from her previous engagement while Tom’s “Jerry”, was once a much heralded sports agent that wanted more out of his job than just “selling meat”, which is what Jerry’s clients were to him. I could go on, but this isn’t a Ebert and Roeper movie review.

I’m using this story to emphasize the word “Hello”. Just as Rene’s character used it to let Jerry know that she’s was captured when he uttered it, I was caught with the same word in a completely different setting. How did I get caught? I was hungry!

The other day, I had some paperwork to complete but I could only get it finished by traveling to another town and working with the person directly. Faxes, phone calls and emails just wouldn’t help. I accomplished my task in a short period of time, but I realized that I hadn’t eaten lunch and my stomach was starting to talk to me. Driving back on the same route as I had come in on, I started watching for places to eat. Left, right it didn’t matter, I’m hungry. There was numerous places to stop in, but it depended on what I wanted to eat. Burgers, sandwich, chicken, tacos or soups. I happened to catch a Quiznos sign and my mental rolodex starting flipping through the memory to remind me that my last and only experience with Quiznos wasn’t that bad. It also flashed me the latest TV commercials that showed an enticing menu. “Ok, I’m sold”, I told my self and parked the car.

As I got out I noticed that there was some good taste bud competition to the left and right of Quiznos. Chinese take out, fresh subs and Mexican food. I like them all and either of them was going to be my second choice if I didn’t find Quiznos selections worthy. I never made it out of Quiznos.

I walked in the clean and inviting store, (although empty…it was past the normal lunch hour) looked for the menu board and double checked the exit door just incase I wanted to bail. All of this recognition and environmental analysis took seconds to complete and register. But, I got stopped right where you reach the point when you know you have to make the critical decision of “should I stay or should I go.”

What stopped me? Out of the right side of the counter, a place that I couldn’t see, came a manager/waitperson with that famous word, “Hello”. She followed quickly by, “Welcome to Quizno’s!” She had me. I couldn’t run or hide into a crowd. The door was a foot or two behind me, but I couldn’t leave. She had me at “Hello.” I ended up enjoying a great sandwich that satisfied the taste buds, enjoyed a great conversation with a very motivated manager, and came away realizing how powerful a simple “hello” can be to win a client over. I mean, I had choices, but stayed and purchased just because I got the initial greeting by a smiling person.

How is your staff greeting your clients? Is it a friendly, warm “Hello”? Or do they just make eye contact and hope your client speaks first? Are they pro-active at the counter or re-active in the greetings. Little things mean a lot in the customer service business and your front counter is your front line to profits. Make sure you get your client at “Hello.”

To The Whole Of Your Business,

Greg Buckley