{"id":289,"date":"2013-02-18T16:23:30","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T16:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/?p=289"},"modified":"2016-07-13T22:26:50","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T22:26:50","slug":"are-you-serving-broccoli-chocolate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/are-you-serving-broccoli-chocolate","title":{"rendered":"Are You Serving Broccoli and Chocolate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Broccoli\"<\/p>\n

Give Customers What they Need So They Stay for What They Want.<\/h2>\n

If you were to ask your child what they wanted for dinner, would they say broccoli or chocolate? Chances are it would not be the broccoli, although as parents we know they need it. Most businesses get lost in trying to deliver the “chocolate” when delivering customer service, and get distracted from their customers\u2019 core needs<\/em> (the \u201cbroccoli\u201d) \u2013 the needs that made a customer decide to come to you in the first place. <\/p>\n

Take travel for instance. When a customer buys a ticket for a flight or a train ride, they need to move<\/strong> \u2013 to be transported! You can give all sorts of bells and whistles along the way, but that train or plane better get a customer to where they’re going. If they\u2019re not moving, the next thing they absolutely need is to be informed<\/strong>. Just look down the aisle of any airplane at 9:02 when it should have left at 9:00. The entire plane is looking around at the flight crew wondering what is going on. They are thankful when the staff make an announcement with an update and they all go back to their reading. Keeping customers moving and informed is what I call the \u201cbroccoli\u201d of providing customer needs in this industry. A business must know their essential service and not lose sight of it.<\/p>\n

Think also of fast food restaurants. As customers, we need efficient, affordable and clean places to eat with working and “clean” bathrooms. Miss these fundamentals (the \u201cbroccoli\u201d) and the customer will probably go elsewhere. Businesses should understand their absolute musts (the \u201cbroccoli bits\u201d) of their business to meet customer needs so they and their teams can make decisions and prioritize \u2013 especially when things don’t go as planned.<\/p>\n

The \u201cchocolate\u201d, on the other hand, are your extras, often known as the things that set you apart or the cool stuff. The whip cream or swirl on top of your coffee; the sleeve so you don’t burn your hand from a hot cup; the pickles; the type of dishes; the decor; a pillow or blanket on a flight. The options are endless, and every business knows what they need to constantly update their “chocolate” to stand out in the crowd. However, those companies who have longevity don’t lose their focus on the \u201cbroccoli bits\u201d that their customers need before dishing up the \u201cchocolate\u201d to keep them coming back for more.<\/p>\n

If you need a customer service keynote, customer service training, or assistance defining or being reminded of the \u201cbroccoli\u201d and the \u201cchocolate\u201d of your business, send us an email to find out how we can help. info@elaineallison.com<\/a><\/p>\n


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Give Customers What they Need So They Stay for What They Want. If you were to ask your child what they wanted for dinner, would they say broccoli or chocolate? Chances are it would not be the broccoli, although as parents we know they need it. Most businesses get lost in trying to deliver the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate-training","category-customer-service-tips","category-customer-service-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":703,"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions\/703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elaineallison.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}