J.C.Penney…who knew? 

At my mall, parking always seems easy outside J.C. Penny's store entrance and going through it causes me to go through their store on the way to my mall store choices.  I was on the hunt for a particular shade of royal blue jewelry so I thought I might as well do a slow walk-through of their fashion accessories on the way to my real destination.  I had barely slowed down and half-heartedly spun a round rack of sparklers, when a saleswoman approached me, fully focused on me… and not just going through the prescribed “kin I hep ya?” motions...and offered her assistance.  My auto-response is generally “no thanks” even if I truly am looking for something specific, like a particular shade of royal blue jewelry.  But the way she asked me, her tone, her body language all told my subconscious that she truly desired to offer her assistance…so I shared my needs and together we reviewed their inventory and choices.       At  J.C. Penney.

On past the clothing towards the exit led me to the wonderful world of…the mall.  Stopping to feel the fabric of a blouse, another salesperson appeared out of thin air and her tone, body language and words all communicated true care and desire to assist.  Again, I thought that odd at Penney's, a store I categorize as “average” in its customer service delivery: never wowed me; never offended me.  Years ago they had centralized their check-out stations, perhaps creating more functionality but removing the cash registers from the individual departments also removed the helpful associates who were running those registers.

I continued through to the mall, then circled back to leave through Penney’s when another associate walked by me, her badge full of pins and ribbons.  She smiled in that type of way where you think someone recognizes you and is coming to greet you.  It took me a split second to realize she was just going out of her way to make me feel welcome.  OK, so here’s where I had to say “Hold on, time out…what’s going on here?  Is there a customer service message and focus being emphasized behind the scenes?   Because…I’m noticing a difference.”  I told her she was the third associate to give me that extra special welcome, even with just her big smile and eye contact.  At J.C. Penney?

She affirmed that yes indeed, there was a renewed focus to be known for their customer service.  So often the focus and directive comes from “corporate” and really never translates effectively to the face-to-face service providers.  To effectively change your front­-line people, you need buy-in, encouragement, training, consistent messages, to lead by example, to catch people doing something right and recognizing them, to take all the small steps toward the big prize.  I know it’s not an easy task to get a corporate ideal into implementation.

Well this associate was SO HAPPY to hear my words of acknowledgment that she invited me into the Store Assistant Manager’s office down a maze of hallways where I could repeat my report.  The Manager also was SO HAPPY to hear back that their customer service implementation was working…and planned to share my feedback at their next morning meeting.

Here are the two things I highlighted from this experience:

1.       Your corporate directives are empty and meaningless unless your front-line people put them into action.  It doesn’t work until they make it work.  And when they make it work it will come from inside them and be real.  Customers know real desire to assist and serve and easily separate that from half-hearted attempts.  You can’t fake it.

2.      Recognize positive behavior and it will get repeated.  Take the time to stop and appreciate helpful actions.  A small acknowledgment will mean the world to someone else…and create a ripple of joy that reaches others.  Be the catalyst for continued positive change.

And maybe…give J.C. Penney’s another chance to earn your business.