World War II hero Eddie Rickenbacker became CEO of Eastern Airlines in the early 50’s. He believed that a critical factor in managing customer relationships and motivating staff was the way we manage ‘moments of truth”. He defined such moments as, “any opportunity a customer (or potential customer) has to form an impression about a company, product, or service”.
A couple weeks ago I had such a moment as a customer. I had purchased a pair of casual pants from a well-known retailer in the area. One day, when putting on my pants my toe caught an adjustor strap right at the cuff. The cuff tightened, and when I tried to loosen it, I couldn’t.
A couple days later we took the garment to the service desk of the store where we made the purchase. We explained the problem to the person behind the desk. We could quickly see that she had no idea of how to help us, and she went to the back room and brought the store manager back with her. As soon as the manager saw us, she smiled and quickly diagnosed our problem. There was a special button that needs to be pressed and she demonstrated it to us as she released the tension on the strap. The problem was solved! We had a good laugh and before we left we spent over $100 on additional items. We had just experienced a moment of truth that was managed successfully with tangible results. Take the number of employees you have times the customer interactions each one has per day, and you have the moments of truth. If you learn to consistently manage these instances well, your efforts will pay off royally.
