The Writing Life

A thought hit me recently while going through the drive through at a local fast food restaurant.

The person I talked to had it together. She spoke clearly and at a normal speed, making it easy to understand her over the microphone. She repeated the order back, and gave me my total. I pulled up, she took my money, handed me change and food, and thanked me for my business.

Not too abnormal.

Except, there was a friendly and professional attitude that I rarely see among food service employees. She was polite and upbeat without being annoyingly giddy. Her professionalism left no doubt that my order was taken correctly.

It was a good experience.

We've all had those. And we've all had the opposite - experiences where for one reason or another, we decide "this is the last time I ever got to XXXXXXX."

Beyond any doubt, this type of professionalism is the very best public relations you can do, in terms of guaranteeing repeat business. We tend to forget about such things when marketing our businesses, but make no mistake - whether you are selling a $1 hamburger or trying to ink a multi-million dollar deal, professionalism matters.