We have great pizza

I took my daughter to work this past week. She wanted cheese pizza for lunch so I took to one of the pizza joints in the Pioneer Square district of Seattle. There are two pizza places very close to each other only a few block from our offices. I decided to visit the one I’ve not tried before.

As we walked in the door we were greeted by a man who was helping other customers. He said, “We have great pizza!”. My first thought was this guy is a bit crazy, but he seemed so sincere. He took my order of two pieces of cheese pizza. As he grabbed two slices that had just come out of the oven he said, “You are in for some good pizza”.

And you know what? He was right. The pizza was good. But what made the visit memorable was that his man (he could have been the owner) was thrilled with his product and wanted to share that with his customers. And compared to the other pizza place around the corner, this man seemed to be enjoying his job! Have you ever done business with some who clearly hates his or her job? Or the employee who starts to mop the floor under your feet while you’re still eating so they can get out of there the minute the store closes? It’s not right to put chairs up on tables when you’re open for another 30 minutes.

When I shop at Target or Starbucks I can count on running into employees that are happy to see me. They greet me as I walk in the store and say thank you when I depart. They smile. They look me in the eyes. They guide me to the product I’m looking for.

So maybe this guy serving pizza is on to something. Do your customers see you as someone that’s genuinely happy when they walk into your door? If so, you probably don’t have to worry much about that competitor around the corner.