Dear Meredith -

I hope I'm not disappointing you by making this post my "Friday Afternoon Activity". I just read how much you hate that, but I'm pretty sure you'll get over it.

So, as I sit here sipping a nice large glass of iced coffee from Dunks, I'll attempt to tackle the following questions from the Starbucks Experience.

1. Is your business giving your members those memorable welcomes?

During the membership SOF presentation last week, I was really excited to hear Joe stop and express the importance of the customer experience. We are, after all, a membership organization and without the commitment of our members where would we be? For the most part, I' think that the SHM staff is very respectful and helpful in their customer interactions, but as fore MEMORABLE? I can't quite say. Our onsite events and face-to-face interactions are without a doubt highly memorable. The majority of our interactions however take place via phone, and for those I'd say....probably not so memorable. So what do we do to fix this? I think the Membership Franchise has taken a big step with the creation of the Reference Guide.


2. How can you help your team members bring their unique brand of welcoming to your business?

Practice. Practice. Practice. With the exception of Christine who on most days never puts her phone DOWN, many of us have very little interaction with our members. If you're not easily able to jump into to conversations, the thought of talking to members may cause anxiety or unsettledness. There will be a day when that enevitable call will be transferred to you from the front desk and here is my advice (which i actually stole from the book Fish!): SMILE! Believe it or not, when you smile while on the phone, the listener can actually feel it! At this point you've already created a pleasant enviornment and the rest is a breeze.


3. Look around. Whom can you welcome today?

I'm welcoming all of YOU to share your comments to this post. :) And maybe I'll even flash you a smile as I pass your desk today....anf if you're luck enough to get them YOU'RE WELCOME!