Hire People Who Care & Enable Them to Apologize

In my new Daily Dose video series, I explore the topics that chief customer officers must grapple with on a daily basis. Join me as I discuss what I’ve learned over the course of my 35-year career, so that you can more effectively do the work that needs to be done.

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the video below.

In my latest book, Would You Do That To Your Mother?, I talk about how Make-Mom-Proud companies know that hiring people with the ability to care is key to how they will grow. That topic hits close to home in today’s video.

I shot this “Daily Dose…of Reality” on my way to Brazil, where I gave a keynote in front of 4,000 people, because something happened to me as I was going through the CLEAR line. I really want to talk about it, because it’s about the importance of apologies and about hiring people that are human and who act with humanity.

Your Front Line Represents Your Brand to Your Customers

What happened for me today is I went through the CLEAR line, and the gentleman who was checking me in stamped the wrong boarding pass. He stamped the boarding pass to Brazil instead of my boarding pass to Atlanta, which was my layover. I was very concerned about it and he said, “Oh it’s fine.”

As I walked away, I heard him making fun of me: “Oh, just stamp the boarding pass to Brazil.”

I turned around—of course, the Italian in me—and I said, “What? You’re making fun of me? Do you want to apologize for that?”

He said nothing. He shrugged his shoulders and then he walked right past me, eyeball to eyeball.

And I said to him, “I’m going to give you a chance. Do you want to apologize?”

He said, “No. I’m not going to apologize to you.”

Who You Hire and How You Enable Them to Apologize Means Everything

So, here’s the important thing:

#1: Realize that these people on your front line they are your brand to you. I’m thinking about canceling CLEAR because of that one interaction.

#2: It always has to start with who you hire and how you hire.

#3: You need to have a caring heart as a leader. I did have a chance to talk to the manager of the CLEAR at my departing airport in Sea-Tac and she was devastated. She said, “Do you want me to have this gentleman apologize to you?”

I said, “No, because, it’s not going to be sincere.” But the fact that she cared so much helped me start to get over it.

So, realize: who you hire and how you enable them to apologize means everything.

#1: Realize that these people on your front line they are your brand to you. #2: It always has to start with who you hire and how you hire. #3: You need to have a caring ear as a leader. #CX #CustExp Share on X

For another video on the importance of hiring, be sure to watch this earlier episode of Jeanne Bliss’ Daily Dose…of Reality.

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How would your company act if every customer were your mom?

How do we cut through the rigmarole of business to give customers the treatment they desire, and employees the ability to deliver it?

In her latest book, customer experience expert Jeanne Bliss recommends making business personal to get the traction you need by focusing on one deceptively simple question: “Would you do that to your mother?”