On the surface, our two newest clients couldn’t be more different. One is a community bank in Illinois. The other’s a chain of coffee and donut shops in Alberta. They do, however, have at least two things in common:
- They’re extremely successful.
- They hate trash.
Leaders of both organizations take it upon themselves to pick up trash in and around their places of business. I’ve witnessed it.
This small action signals no one in the company is above the most menial tasks. It also shows everyone that passion breeds care. Doing little things like this demonstrates to customers how much you value their experience.
You know what other leader famously hated trash? Walt Disney.
The old story goes Walt had such a commitment to a clean experience for his guests that not five minutes would go by before any piece of trash would be cleaned up. Walt wanted his properties so clean guests would feel guilty dropping something on the ground.
Are your company’s leaders willing to get their hands dirty, too? I hope so.
Because it’s a beautiful thing.
I recently ordered a pound of ham at the deli counter of a store. After the gentleman sliced it, I watched him place it upon the countertop scale to check his accuracy. The top of the scale and the other 2 scales next to it were covered in the fragments of previous orders. Not the worst offense in the world, but it did make me wonder how sanitary everything else in the deli is if they can’t take 30 seconds to clean off the top of the scale.
Picking up litter and trash on your property and in front of your store is the first thing to do. How about retailers cleaning up the things that are not so obvious like leaves, winter sand, spider webs and replacing burnt out bulbs on exterior lighting. Nothing says you care like a cared for entry!
Agreed! There’s actually a term for that – micro-associations. A former airline CEO once said, back in the old days, that if a passenger saw a dirty ashtray, he’d assume the engine was faulty.
YES!! http://timmilesandco.com/smoking-kills-curb-appeal/