A Business Lesson from Our Server at @Texas Roadhouse

It was a busy Friday night at our favorite casual steak restaurant. We were seated, and after a few minutes, a middle-aged woman came up and introduced herself.

“Hi, I’m Heidy, your server for the evening. I have to warn you…tonight is my first night on my own without my trainer shadowing me,” she said. “I’m a little nervous. I left my desk job so this is really a different environment for me.”

Her transparent words caught us off guard, and we immediately softened. “Don’t worry, we’ll be your easiest table of the evening,” I assured her. “You got this!”

A pretty simple interaction, but it made a world of difference.

• Do you think every customer that night became more understanding and more supportive of her?
• If she made a mistake with someone’s order that night, or took longer with drink refills, do you think her customers were annoyed, or forgiving?
• Do you think her customers tipped her less than average, or more than average that night?

I’m willing to bet that her transparency during her introduction humanized her and turned every customer into a partner helping her succeed. She went beyond the usual name and standard greeting and shared a little vulnerability. I bet she made great tips that night.

It’s the same situation when you’re behind a really annoying driver, going 50 in the fast lane on the highway. As soon as you see the ‘student driver’ bumper sticker, you’re (hopefully) a little more understanding. That’s the moment that the other driver went from an annoyance to a human with whom you could empathize. No doubt it conjured memories of yourself nervously gripping the wheel at 16.

In this era where people don’t trust businesses, we must do everything we can to humanize ourselves every step of the way. It’s easy for a customer to ignore a business; it’s less easy for a customer to ignore a relatable human being.

Take a look at your marketing materials: your website, your newsletter, your emails, your social media posts. Do they read like marketing materials full of buzzwords? Or do they read like a friend speaking to another friend?

It doesn’t matter whether you sell boats, houses, or candles. Humanizing your business and the people in it will produce far better results than trying to be super professional (which is so pre-pandemic). Three things to consider when humanizing your business:

1. Rather than professional headshots on your website, business cards, and LinkedIn profiles, capture employees doing something they love – like fishing, reading, or holding their baby. Nobody thinks twice about a professional headshot, but people take notice when an HVAC company or a bank shows that their employees are real, relatable human beings with lives, interests, and families. It softens prospects and customers, turning them from wary adversaries into future ambassadors.
2. Intersperse your social posts with videos of employees talking about why they love working at your company, or how they helped a customer solve a problem, or giving advice like insider tips for saving money or avoiding a headache on your next project. Real humans talking like real people will always build trust better than the best-written marketing post ever could, and videos are more compelling than text.
3. Keep in mind that marketing today is less about building brand awareness and more about building trust. Are you repeating tired slogans and sales pitches, or are you stopping the scroll by adding humanized content to your channels?

Not sure how to get started or what’s appropriate? Reach out so we can set up a time to connect.