Don’t Overlook the Details

May 10, 2010

Imagine this scenario:

It’s your typical workday morning. You hit the snooze button a few times and struggle to pull yourself from the bed in time to shower and groom and dress yourself before heading off to the office. You think about making some coffee before you leave, but you don’t quite feel up to the task and you’ve got a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket, so you decide to stop somewhere to get a cup of java.

Before getting to the office, you stop at your local coffee shop. You’re greeted as soon as you walk in the door. The people behind the counter are full of energy, happy and smiling, and eager to make you the perfect drink to kick your day off. You make a special request — something not on the menu — and the barista just smiles and accommodates. She makes sure that your drink is made just the way you want it. And she delivers it to you — still smiling — and thanks you for stopping in and wishes you a good day when you walk out the door. You say thank you back and head out the door and rush into your car, hoping that you make it to the office in time.

Now imagine this scenario:

Before hopping in your car, you realize that you don’t have as much money as you initially thought, so you decide to stop at the local convenience store for your cup of joe. When you walk in, the attendant doesn’t acknowledge you. He’s too busy texting on his phone. You walk up to the coffee pot. Before pouring a cup, you ask the attendant how fresh the coffee is. He just shrugs and mumbles something that sounds like “I don’t know,” but you’re not sure. You decide to take a chance and pour a cup and you walk to the counter. The attendant rings you up, all while never looking up from his phone. He never makes eye contact, never smiles. When he takes your payment card, he doesn’t even ask if you want it to be run as debit or credit! And you have to ask for a receipt. You walk out the door, annoyed and angered. And the attendant can’t even look up from his phone to thank you for your time and business.

I’m sure we’ve all had experiences like both of these scenarios. When we experience the first scenario, chances are we don’t think much about it. At least not consciously. We’re not angered, so there’s not much to say.

But in that second scenario, you notice everything the attendant does. Or doesn’t do.

Which brings me to my point: People might not notice what you do, but they will notice what you don’t do. The little details — those little things that take a little bit of effort — might not be recognized. You might not get a lot of praise for them. But what if you don’t do those little things? What if you cheap out with your time and effort and give people the bare minimum? Well, maybe you won’t hear about it then either. But you can be damn sure that everyone your customers associate with will hear about it.

Don’t overlook the details. People might not notice what you do, but they do notice what you don’t do.