Years ago, when he was President of Scandinavian Airlines, Jan Carlson wrote a best-selling book called Moments of Truth. The premise was simple: a brief moment of contact between a customer and an employee gives an instant, powerful impression of how the business is run. Based on a single encounter of fifteen seconds, a customer may decide that a business cares about customers, or not. That it is well run, or not. That it is clean and well-cared for, or not.
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These ‘moments of truth’, as Carlson dubbed them, can make or break your business. If you have heaps of customers getting a good impression, your reputation and profit soars. On the other hand, if you have heaps of customers getting a bad impression, your business can hit the skids so fast you’ll find yourself bankrupt before you have time to wonder how it happened.
Some years ago a new florist opened up near our office. On the day they opened, they sent someone around to deliver a single long-stemmed carnation to every female in every office in the area. Great marketing idea! It should have won them all sorts of business. Unfortunately, I doubt that it did. The ‘moment of truth’, that first encounter in our office, did not go well.
The fellow they sent around wore a torn shirt, a tatty pair of jeans and rather smelly sneakers. He should have looked smart and professional – the type of person we’d like to talk to. He should have made the most of that thoughtful gift by making further offers, maybe six poppies for the price of three, or a free dried flower arrangement for regular clients, or an offer to be part of their birthday club.
But it was when he opened his mouth that he defined this ‘moment of truth’. One of our team members asked where to find the shop. His answer, “Across the road next to the wog shop”, indicated a degree of racial intolerance – and certainly a sublime indifference to how his words affected others. We decided to give the new florist a miss. Their ‘moment of truth’ could have been great. Instead, it was a dismal failure.
Generally, you get only one moment of truth with a customer. Make it work!
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