My son is a college student and recently took a position as barista at a local coffee shop. It would be easy to dismiss this transient position as just a throwaway job, useful only for the cash it yields and little else. But every barista has great leverage because s/he meets people every day, eight hours a day, which translates into interfacing with thousands of people every month! Think of all the opportunities to make a great first impression!
My counsel to my son is simple: every encounter counts – treat every customer encounter, every skinny vanilla latte served up as a job interview. Why? Because with each customer he meets, with every coffee transaction he has a chance to demonstrate his character, his poise, his diction, vocabulary, manners – everything necessary to make a good first impression. The next person he serves may be someone who owns a business, someone who is a manager in an enterprise who just happens to be in search of a personable, social, customer service professional, and what better way to make a good impression than to do it real time serving up a vente caramel macchiato with room for cream?
Here’s an example of what not to do: we had retained a real estate agent to sell our house. In the process of looking for another house, the agent, we’ll call him Jerry, texted my wife several times saying: “Call me”. Call me? Really? No explanation, no details. What do you mean, “call me”? Is that the best customer service behavior that a real estate agent has learned over the years? Why should we have to educate a (very successful) real estate agent about telephone courtesy and etiquette? Putting it another way, if someone said to me: “I’ll give you $18,000 if you do some work for me,” you can rest assured that I won’t be texting my new client saying: “Call me”. I don’t text like that even to my children! But wait, there’s more. On several occasions Jerry arrived to show us a property wearing just an old t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. My wife said, “Jerry, don’t you have anything else to wear?” He said, “Well, I’m tired of coat and ties. In fact, I don’t own a tie. If you invite me to a party that requires a tie, I just won’t go.” Well, that’s it; that crossed the line. I’m sorry, but Jerry feels that he’s entitled to the $18,000 fee, without even bothering to dress for the occasion. He failed to honor the client relationship. Not only did Jerry lose us as clients, we simply can’t refer anyone to him. He doesn’t realize that every encounter = a job interview.
Every encounter counts. Every person you meet = job interview. And I don’t mean just a literal job. Every time you meet someone there is a chance for something different, something better, something greater than what we have or where we are.
Every. Encounter. Counts.
Luis, I couldn’t agree more with your counsel to your son. I have in the past encouraged a person that served me in a retail store to apply for a position that was available at the time where I worked. The professionalism and customer first attitude the person demonstrated was just what we were looking for to serve our customers. And guess what – that person was hired!
Comment by Stevan — October 20, 2011 @ 5:07 pm
So true Luis. Sometimes people dismiss temporary jobs just because they don’t plan to be there long, saying they will make the effort when the time comes to interview for the “real” job. But your real work ethic is reflected in every job you do, whether it’s temporary or not, paid or as a volunteer.
Comment by Kelly Mullaney — October 21, 2011 @ 1:33 pm
Luis,
Excellent posting and great lessons for your son. I could not agree with you more – both about the opportunities being presented with each customer to your son, and the real estate – not having a clue and entitlement certainly do come to mind as descriptors.
Also, want to say how great it was great working with you and the other coaches at the recent NSHMBA national conference in Anaheim. The feedback received has been ‘over the top’ positive and the participants expressed a high level of gratitude for the opportunity to work with such talented executive coaches.
Finally, I had the chance to review your most recent book – volume 2 of “Getting There”. I highly recommend it to anyone, either at the beginning of their career, or any point of career transition. It is rich context and reality based advice.
Saludos,
Michael
Comment by Michael Negrón — October 22, 2011 @ 10:56 am
Michael, that’s very kind of you. My son gets it and he will one day trade his green apron and continue his career journey (I remember cleaning out grease traps at 2am in Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was in grad school). I’m glad to be part of the NSHMBA team, and humbled by the expertise among the coaches.
Comment by Luis A. Martinez — October 23, 2011 @ 7:47 pm
Thank you, Kelly, and I look forward to continuing to work with you as my social media coach.
Comment by Luis A. Martinez — October 23, 2011 @ 7:48 pm
That’s right, it comes back around, good and bad. Great to hear from you, Stevan!
Comment by Luis A. Martinez — October 23, 2011 @ 7:49 pm
Luis,
I met you in the airport in Atlanta at the Starbucks after I ordered a skinny vanilla latte. Thank you for your card and I really enjoyed this blog. I am a cocktail server at a hotel and this blog is very relevant. I don’t particularly like my job, so being ridiculously good at it maybe my ticket out! Thank you!
Comment by Niccole — October 31, 2011 @ 10:07 am