I recently came across a powerful quote from my friend Lorie Guest that made me stop and think. She said, “Leaders often believe that if they hire good people, their employees will know how to treat customers.” Then she added the kicker: “Wrong. The basics must be taught, enforced, and reinforced to create the ultimate customer experience.”
This resonates deeply with me because I’ve seen this misconception play out countless times in organizations of all sizes. Many leaders operate under the false assumption that hiring “good people” is enough to ensure excellent customer service. While having the right people is certainly important, it’s only the starting point.
Define Your Customer Experience Vision
Everything begins with clarity about what you want your customers to experience. Most companies will say, “We want our customers to be happy.” That’s fine as a general goal, but it’s far too vague to be actionable for your team members.
You must define specifically what it takes to make your customers happy. What does that look like in your business? What actions, words, and behaviors create that happiness? Without this definition, you’re essentially telling your employees, “You’re a good person. Go out there and do the right thing” without explaining what “the right thing” actually is.
Your team needs to understand your version of the right thing—the specific behaviors and standards that align with your brand and customer expectations.
Training Is Not a One-Time Event
Once you’ve defined your customer experience standards, the next critical step is proper training. But here’s where many organizations fall short: they treat training as a one-time event rather than an ongoing process.
I firmly believe that training isn’t something you did—it’s something you do. The most successful companies understand this distinction and build continuous learning into their culture.
Even your best employees need regular reinforcement of what makes a great customer experience. Why? Because:
- People naturally drift from standards over time without reminders
- Customer expectations constantly evolve
- New situations arise that weren’t covered in initial training
- Reinforcement helps turn good practices into automatic habits
This ongoing training doesn’t need to be formal or time-consuming. It can take many forms, from quick team huddles to sharing customer feedback to celebrating examples of excellent service.
Good People + Good Training = Great Results
The beauty of this approach is that when you hire good people AND provide them with clear expectations and ongoing training, they’ll consistently deliver exceptional experiences. Good people want to do well—they just need to know what “well” looks like in your organization.
Without proper guidance, even the most well-intentioned employees will create inconsistent experiences based on their personal interpretation of good service. This leads to unpredictable outcomes and confused customers.
But when those same good people understand exactly what’s expected and receive regular reinforcement, they’ll deliver on your customer experience promise consistently and enthusiastically.
Make It a Priority
If you want to create truly amazing customer experiences, make defining and reinforcing your service standards a top priority. Don’t assume your team knows what you want—be explicit about your expectations and continuously reinforce them.
The companies that excel at customer service aren’t just hiring better people than everyone else. They’re taking good people and giving them the tools, knowledge, and ongoing support to deliver exceptional experiences every time.
Remember Lorie’s wisdom: hiring good people is just the beginning. Teaching, enforcing, and reinforcing the basics is what transforms good intentions into the ultimate customer experience.
