Goodwill Ambassador

My aunt and uncle were in town visiting last week. We couldn't decide where to go, so we asked Uncle John. He didn't hesitate - Mary Mac's Tea Room.

Mary Mac's is a bit of an icon here in Atlanta. The food is traditional Southern cooking (many kitchen staff are second, even third, generation Mary Mac's) but the atmosphere leaves a little to be desired (described as an old-folks home by one reviewer). They have specialties that are just like grandma made (fried chicken), but the vegetables are sometimes also made just like grandma did them (cooked with grease for a very long time).

All in all, it's comfort food with some dishes you just crave. Great sweet tea. Homey atmosphere.

So why did a man from New Jersey hop on the chance to visit Mary Mac's (where we had taken him years before when they were in town)? It's a one word answer: Jo.

Jo is a former waitress whose body is getting to the point where waiting tables all day is too hard on the joints. She's worked at Mary Mac's, in one capacity or another, for over 20 years. She's been our waitress there many, many times. We request her every time we're there. She knows our families because we take them to MM every time they're in town.

Jo is the definition of customer service. Not that she's super polite (she calls my father-in-law a hillbilly - takes one to know one). It's that she knows what every great hostess knows: it should be a pleasure to serve the guest. Service shouldn't require forced politeness. Service is gracious and done with pleasure. That's how Jo works and the loyalty works for her and the restaurant.

Kudos to the owners for recognizing her role. After many years on the floor, Jo had to give up waiting tables. So the management made her a hostess. When health and family got in the way of a regular schedule, the management made her the official Goodwill Ambassador. Gave her business cards and everything.

What's a Goodwill Ambassador do? Anything she wants. When she came to our table, she gave us each a back-rub as we caught up on what was going on in our lives. We added a child since we'd seen her last, told her all about my hillbilly father-in-law (he and Jo are from the same part of West Virginia), and recounted some of the better stories we had from previous visits with her.

Just so you know: Jo doesn't really remember us. She doesn't have some disease, and her age doesn't affect her memory. It's just that there are so many people like us, people who come back again and again, bringing family and friends each time, that she couldn't possibly remember us all. And other servers have the same loyal following (honest to goodness, there's a Flo that is Jo's alter-ego: true Southern Belle who has been there just as long).

Jo has that rare ability to make you feel welcome, like you've been missed and like she was just about ready to give us a call to see when we'd be in again.

Imagine what that kind of loyalty does to profits. Increased customer frequency. Increased party size. Fierce customer loyalty that breeds the ultimate in marketing: positive word of mouth.

If you're not the Goodwill Ambassador of your store you need to look in the mirror to discover why not. Are you too busy? Too worried about business issues to be truly gracious? Are you one of those people who believes that great products and competitive price are good enough? Do you treat customers like guests in your home, or people with whom to do a business transaction?

I'll leave you to ponder that. Right now, I'm going to go get some fried chicken. I'll tell Jo you said 'hi'.