The other day I went to Barnes and Noble to find a book on a topic I wanted to learn more about. I normally buy books on Amazon but this situation was ideal for a brick and mortar purchase. I wasn’t exactly sure which book to buy and had compiled a short list of those I wanted to review.

So I wandered into the store and walked around for a few minutes until I found the desired section. I then spent a few more minutes looking for the space where my first book should have been located. And of course, it wasn’t there. So I searched through neighboring books to see if perhaps it was put on the shelf in the wrong place. No luck. I repeated the same process, with the same results, for the second book I was hoping to browse. My search for the third and final book was successful.

While I found that last book to be interesting, I was really hoping I’d have at least a couple of choices. So I walked over to the check-out counter just a few feet away and approached a Barnes and Noble representative who was unoccupied as there was nobody in line. I asked him if he could look up a couple of books to see if they were in stock. His response: “Customer Service is upstairs.”

Why did I go to Barnes and Noble? It certainly wasn’t out of convenience. I could easily search and in fact browse (at least a few pages for most books) online at Amazon (or even Barnes and Noble’s own online store). I could also look at reviews to help in my buying decision. I went to Barnes and Noble because I wanted an old fashioned book buying experience. I actually wanted to look through shelves and pick up a physical book to review. I wanted help from a knowledgeable person. I wanted to walk out of the store with my new book in hand. Perhaps grab a cup of coffee and start reading right away.

But that entire experience was ruined with those four words: “Customer Service is upstairs.” Perhaps I shouldn’t be but I was shocked by that attitude. I had always remembered Barnes and Noble being pretty customer friendly. But at this store on that day, the corporate culture clearly did not value the customer relationship.

There are certainly a couple of lessons here. Nothing revolutionary but always worth thinking about. Clients do business with us because they have a specific positive experience in mind that they expect will be delivered upon. They have many choices for all of their product and service providers, including their insurance professional, but they have chosen you specifically because of the experience they plan on receiving. That experience cannot be delivered haphazardly and it cannot be delivered by only certain members of your team. Similarly, customer service is not a department, and it cannot be located “upstairs”. It must be core to your company’s culture and embraced by everyone who comes in contact with a client.

But most importantly, you need to proactively create a positive and repeatable experience for your clients. Put yourself in your clients’ shoes and describe on paper and in detail the experience you wish to create - from the time you first meet them, through the planning and product implementation phase, through the ongoing service that will be provided. And then, go out and ask your best clients to describe for you their ideal experience with your firm. Mesh those together and you have a unique process in place that will ensure delighted clients and many referrals for the rest of your career.