Just Empower Your Employees, Please!

1015916_traffic_sign_39 So I was at a local Panera Bread yesterday, waiting on a client. I got to the location an hour early, and planned to use the time to catch up on some work and deal with some emails.

We had chosen the location because of the free Wifi. But after 30 minutes, my internet went down, and I thought it was one of those atmospheric glitches that happens to my machine every now and then.

But soon I learned that I was in “lunch hour” range, and was limited to 30 minutes only. I guess they don’t want people like me taking tables from people ordering lunch.

Never mind that I had planned to order lunch too…

This couldn’t possibly be right, I thought. And I went up to the main counter and asked about it. The young lady confirmed the policy, and then moved right into asking what I wanted to order. She didn’t seem worried that I was upset.

So I left. I went and had lunch elsewhere.

Now, what makes me mad here isn’t Panera’s silly policy of limiting access to wifi during lunch hours. I personally think it is goofy policy, but I suppose I can understand why they don’t want “LUNCH ORDER” tables filled with people on the internet.

The little help I got from the young lady didn’t make me mad either. She clearly was just trying to move people through the line and get as many lunch orders taken as possible.

What made me mad was that she was clearly not EMPOWERED to take action and help a customer solve a problem. Surely there is a code I can use to get full internet access. If someone like me complained about not having online access after 30 minutes, there must be a way to work around it.

Or maybe give me a free cup of coffee, and 10% coupon, a free roll, a pre-printed sheet explaining the goofy policy and instructions on how to engage with corporate to question it. I don’t know. But something.

She was given NO ability to address my problem. To ease my pain. To make me want to stay. And that is the most frustrating thing of all. I had plans to order lunch there, but didn’t. It cost them.

If you have employees that interact with customers on a regular basis, you MUST give them the ability, the power, the freedom – to take immediate action to help a customer deal with a problem situation. And far too often, employees are not. Are the employees not trusted? Does management not care?

If you don’t, it might cost you. In this case, I just won’t go to Panera anymore to meet clients if I need to access the internet.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Am I overreacting?

Tagged as: Atlanta Marketing, Customer Loyalty, Customer Service

http://www.rockinrobync.wordpress.com Robyn Cobb

Todd
Interesting post. I am wondering why Panera hasn’t empowered their employees? And then I got to wondering was it the employee? Did she just not want to deal with it? Either way you bring up an interesting point, in this day the customers really do define the brand. And if a company is not providing an irresistible environment not only will customers stop going there, it’s easier than ever to broadcast that info. I totally agree with you and appreciate the food for thought this morning. And I probably won’t be scheduling any lunch meetings at Panera around lunch time either.

Robyn
http://www.tpstrategies.com Steven Winokur

I found it interesting what annoyed you. I agree there is an issue, I’m just not sure I agree with how what annoyed you.

Let me back up a bit – I am in complete agreement that employees need to be empowered. Without a doubt that is one of the biggest problems companies have as it relates to customer service. However, in this case, I think the bigger problem is that of empathy or understanding your customer.

At the time, you were not a paying customer. I don’t necessarily think that a free cup of coffee or a coupon makes sense. What I think she could have done was empathized with your situation and tried to work with to come up with a solution. I also think she needed to explain the rationale behind the 30 minute policy.

I’ve often wondered about the advantages of having wi-fi. If I’m a small coffee shop, I do want people coming in. The problem is, what happens to those people who come in, get a cup of coffee and sit there for 3 hours taking up a table. It’s an issue – one that Panera has to deal with because if there are people taking up tables and not ordering, then there are less tables for paying customers.

I think that the policy isn’t necessarily the problem, its how its communicated. I imagine most people understand that to use their wi-fi, you should be a paying customer. Why not print out the day’s password on a receipt? Put the 30-minute policy on a poster or table-top. Something to logically explain the policy.

Your statements on the empowerment are dead-on though Todd – you couldn’t be more right. But you first have to make sure the employee cares enough to try to solve the problem. In this case, it sounds like the employee could care less.
Todd Schnick

Robyn and Steven – thanks for your comments. Both of you seem to wonder if the employee I interacted with was not empowered to deal with this situation, or didn’t really care.

It’s probably a good question. The fact remains, she did nothing to deal with my concerns and frustration. And even if she had been “empowered” to deal with this – she did not.

I interact with employees every day in other businesses where they do handle themselves accordingly, or they are out of a job. And I find those are happier employees anyway, and enjoy their job more.

As for the wifi question, if you don’t want people hanging out, then don’t offer wifi. Or make them pay for it. But I think this is a mistake. I hadn’t ordered lunch yet, but I had gotten coffee, so I was a paying customer, although one cup of joe might not qualify me in their minds as a “customer” – I don’t know.

Thank you both for your comments!
http://www.andyhanselman.com Andy Hanselman

Todd

Nice post – She’s what I call a ‘Sales Prevention Officer’ – it’s not necessarily her fault. It could be the systems, the policies, attitudes, the ‘mananagement’,whatever. The point is, it stops you ‘buying’ and even worse, stops you going back. It’s actually worse than that – you also tell others (and I’m over here in the UK!!!).

Anyone running or managing a business should be on the look out for their Sales Prevention Officers and the things that cause them. They then need to eliminate them (the causes, not necessarily the individuals!!!). It’s a simple thing, but a great question is ‘How easy are we to buy from?’. Work out what irritates and annoys customers, and prevents them getting the service they want, and then stop doing it!

We often look enviously across to the US as ‘role models’ when it comes to customer service, and my experiences there are that generally, you are a lot better at it – glad to see you that you have Sales Prevention Officers too! I know that didn’t help you get your lunch, but it certainly makes me feel ‘normal’!
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