Customer Service Articles:

THE 'DELORES' FACTOR?

SOMETHING’S CRAZY IS HAPPENING AT 7-11

At the 7-11 location in Shirley New York, there is something that is happening that’s different from every other location in the country. For some reason, this 7-11 location sells 2,500 cups of coffee a day; far more than the 500-600 cups that other locations sell. But why? The President, Joe DePinto, went undercover as a new hire to find out the answer.

THE PRESIDENT IS HERE

It didn’t take long for Mr. DePinto to discover why they sell so much coffee. Arriving for his first day of work, he met Delores. She was a sixty-something fireball of energy that ran the 7-11. Everyone that came into this location knew Delores. To some she was a surrogate mom, friend, grandmother. But to everyone, she was the face and voice of this location. Greeting customers with hugs, smiles and quick-witting responses, the President of 7-11 had his answer for the volume of coffee being sold. It was Delores.

After the President revealed his identity to Delores, he said this to her: “people are not buying 2500 cups of coffee a day from 7-11…they are buying 2,500 cups of coffee from Delores.”

He was right. She was the reason that so many people chose this location to get their coffee.

GREAT SERVICE CREATES CONNECTIVITY

While the ‘Delores’ factor is a reminder that your organization has their stand-out team members. She is also a reminder that people long for connectivity. Delores provided this with every cup. What are you doing to connect with the customers that we serve?

THE 3 WAYS YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM THE ‘DELORES’ FACTOR

There are three additional steps that organizations can take to get the most out of the ‘Delores’ factor with team members.

1. Recognize! Recognizing higher performing service team members is the first, and most obvious, step. Whatever gets rewarded gets repeated.

2. Research! While it was clear that Delores is a great customer-facing team member, what specifically was this team member doing that created such a great response

3. Replicate! This is where many organizations stop. They look at someone like Delores and say, ‘she’s the best…there’s no one like her.’ While your similar rock star team members are great, you need to see what you can replicate with your other team members.

While reading this, you have likely been thinking of a team member that is your ‘Delores.’ The big question is, will you follow these three steps to recognize, research, and replicate these efforts? You don’t have to be in leadership to apply these three steps. Who can you recognize in our organization as a ‘Delores?’

This is the ‘Delores’ factor

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