A pair of young men have started a service in our neighborhood to help fund their college education. They will do nearly any chore for $15/hr. I’ve engaged them to transport furniture, clean out my gutters, move all the furniture out of 3 rooms for floor refinishing, then move it back, trim bushes, wash my car and myriad other tasks.

They have a can-do attitude and never complain about the yuckiness of a task.

However, they aren’t great about details. So I have to remind them to give me receipts and sweep up their mess. Recently, after completing a job, I found the debris in my yard. When I next saw them, I discussed the importance of cleaning up after themselves. I said,”You want your customers to want to kiss you, not curse you.”

It made me think how easy this saying would be for front-line employees to remind them to do what makes the customer happy, not unhappy. It’s a simple phrase, but how many don’t bother to follow through and think of the customers’ experience *after* they’ve had an encounter with the business. Whatever “cleaning up afterwards” means in your business, it would be easy to adapt. That could mean sending the promised information, fixing the invoice, ordering the part, or any follow through that is needed.

Are your staff good at following through, making sure the customer is happy after any interaction? Do your customers want to kiss them, or do they curse them? Do you have a way to find out, like a customer survey, or someone calling them periodically to see how happy they are? If not, you need to get this started today. Your business depends on it.