Forget Expressions Of Lofty Aspirations: It’s Customer Expectations And Employee Delivery That Define Your Company’s Identity

Everyone has a mission statement. Most companies think theirs should be about things they believe, things they stand for, statuses they hope to achieve (“the very best company in the X business”) or the way they hope customers will feel about a transaction (“the most satisfying Y-buying experience you’ve ever had.”)

While these types of mission statements sound good on their face, they’re ultimately of limited value for two reasons:

• They don’t help employees decide what to do, day-in and day-out, and
• They leave too much to the imagination of customers in terms of what they should expect from the company and its employees.

A Guidepost For Employee Decisions

No matter how much talk there is about “leadership” at all levels — big strategic moves made by senior management to enter this business or exit that one, to acquire this company or divest that one, to reorganize this or that department — the company’s success rises or falls on the hundreds of on-the-spot decisions made by the people in the trenches every day. Management can’t be there every second, so the single most important thing they can do is to give associates guiding principles to serve as a framework for those decisions.

A Blueprint For Customer Expectations

There are two pieces to customer satisfaction: Expectations and delivery. Everyone knows about the second one — the product or service actually delivered by the company. But the first one — what the customer expects — is often given short-shrift or left to chance.

The smaller the gap between the customer’s expectations and the actual delivery by the company, the greater the customer satisfaction.

That’s why it’s absolutely critical to get a handle on setting and managing customer expectations. And the mission statement is a great place to do it, although it’s often relegated to the status of a high-sounding rhetorical artifact.

One of the best examples of action-oriented mission statements is from Pret A Manger, whose stores provide high-quality, ready-to-go sandwiches, soups, salads and beverages. They faced a daunting challenge entering the quick-food market in this country. We like to see our food being prepared. Heck, we love to watch them make our sandwich at Subway, and even McD’s gives us a peek at what’s going on in the back.

Pret faced this challenge head on. Their products are packaged and displayed so you can see them. But Pret already knows you’ll have two questions: How long have they been there and what happens if nobody buys them? So they answer those questions right away with a sign for all to see:

• “Our sandwiches, salads and baguettes etc are made using fresh ingredients which get dropped off to each shop before dawn. We don’t have a huge factory. Our food is freshly made throughout the day in each and every Pret kitchen.”
• “Fresh food shouldn’t have a nightlife (made today, gone today). But we also think throwing leftovers in the garbage at the end of the day is just madness. So we donate them to charity instead.”

Pretty clear, right? Any other questions, like what it’s like working there? Look at their website under Doing The Right Thing where you’ll find this statement:

“Our people are one of our most important ingredients. We pay them as much as we can afford rather than as little as we can get away with. We’re always on the lookout for dedicated, passionate people to join our team.”

Again, there’s nothing left to the imagination. Notice that the focus is what they actually do, not just what they believe or stand for or how they want to make you feel. They know if they do what they’re supposed to do, your customer experience will take care of itself.

USE IT NOW: Time to haul out your mission statement and read it over. Look at what goes on in the places where your associates actually interact with customers. See how, with a few words, you can provide them with a framework for decision-making, while letting your customers know what they should expect when doing business with you.