My dad used to tell a story about a fine restaurant.
He walked in, and the place was nearly empty. The best tables were by the window, where you could enjoy the view and the evening. The staff seated him next to the kitchen door, close to where they were working, because it was easier for them.
He had another one. He asked a waiter what time it was, and the waiter told him it was not his station.
Neither story is about a disaster. Nothing was broken, and nobody was rude on purpose. That is what makes them stick. The restaurant had been set up for the people working there, and he could feel it.
It still happens, everywhere. From the small things to the large, so much today seems built to be easier for the people providing the service, not for the person receiving it. The phone tree that keeps you from a person. The chat window that answers a question you did not ask. Telling your story again to someone new. More and more of it is automated now, and I understand why. But I do not go to a restaurant to be automated so the staff have less to do. I go to be taken care of.
The small things are what make people leave. It turns out there is research on this, and it says the same thing my dad did.
Effort, not delight, decides who stays
Customers who became more disloyal, by how much effort the service took
The effort they measured is not dramatic. It is having to contact a company more than once about the same thing, being moved from the website to the phone, being transferred, repeating yourself, getting a generic answer from someone who does not know you. Each one is small. Together, they are the table by the kitchen door.
Most people do not leave after one bad experience. They leave after several.
Americans who would walk away from a company they love
Nobody leaves over one small thing. They leave over the fifth one, when it is clear nobody is going to own it.
Technology was supposed to help with this. Too often it is used to keep people at a distance. In a Gartner survey of 5,728 customers, the top worry about AI in customer service was that it would make it harder to reach a person, and more than half said they would consider switching companies over it. Gartner's own conclusion was that putting barriers between customers and people does not even save money.
The test we use. Every process we build, every tool, every piece of automation, gets one question: is this easier for the client, or easier for us? We use technology so the person who answers already knows who you are and what is going on. We do not use it to keep you from that person.
That is why the plan works the way it does. You have a small team who know you by name. Whatever you bring us is ours until it is finished, even when it is not the thing we were hired for. Nobody here says it is not their station.
When I went to a restaurant with my dad, we never sat at the first table we were offered. We waited until he felt it was the right one. I find myself doing the same thing now. Once you have seen the table by the kitchen door, you cannot stop seeing it, and yes, it can be irritating. I used to wonder if that made me hard to please. Now I think it is the job. Most people sit where they are put, feel that something is off, and come back anyway until one day they do not. Someone has to notice for them. When a client calls us, I want them at the table by the window.
Technology is invisible. The people are not.
Questions people ask
Do you use AI or automation?
Yes, behind the scenes, so the person you talk to already knows your setup and your history. Never as a wall between you and a person.
What happens when my usual person is out?
Someone else on your team picks it up, and they already know your office. You do not start over.
What if what I need is not technically IT?
Ask anyway. If it is ours, we take it. If it belongs to someone else, we help you get it to the right person instead of saying it is not our station.
