A few weeks ago, my shower started backing up. Not really enjoying showering in ankle deep water, I tried snaking the drain. After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally caved and called a plumber.

Actually, I called two plumbers: Gem Plumbing, who is pretty much ubiquitous for plumber in Rhode Island (where I’m originally from), and another big-name plumbing company, who for the sake of this post, I’ll call PlumbGood (which is not their actual name, so my apologies if this is the name of your business).

Both companies are comparably priced, and the quality of their work is equally good. So why would anyone choose one of these companies over the other?

What sets Gem apart is their superior customer service. And that’s driven by their HR programs.

How can I make you smile today?

When I called Gem, that’s what the person who answered the phone asked me. She was incredibly pleasant, and considering my morning shower was not, it was a great way to be greeted. This was not a one time thing. I had to call Gem back later that day, and another person answered the phone the same way.

When I called PlumbGood, I got the typical, “Hi, this is PlumbGood. How may I direct your call?” Don’t get me wrong – that’s a perfectly acceptable way to answer the phone. It’s also typical, expected and average. If you want to be better at customer service than your competition, who is exactly like you in every other regard, you can’t just be average. You need to be remarkable.

That means training your employees to answer the phone in a remarkable way. Specifically, one that aligns with your organization’s UVP (unique value proposition).

In addition to unremarkable greeting, the actual call with PlumbGood was decidedly unremarkable. Once my call was routed to the person who schedules plumbing appointments, I was greeted with a hurried individual who’s voice came through with a clutter of background noise. He was clearly in a call center.

In addition, PlumbGood tried to sell me their drain cleaning products before they even came out to my house.

My call with Gem was warm and courteous, with a noise-free background and someone who did not seem in a rush to get me off the phone.

When I called Gem, I spoke to an incredibly warm and friendly person who booked me a same-day appointment and wished me well. They did not try to sell me anything.

For all I know, the person at Gem might have been in a call center, too. But it didn’t feel like it from my perspective. How are your employees work areas structured? Does it allow them to do their best work? Does it interfere with the customer experience (both external and internal)? These things matter, and they’re HR’s responsibility.

And you went with Gem?

After my phone experiences with both companies, I decided to go with Gem. I quickly called PlumbGood back and told them I wanted to cancel my appointment (which I had made just minutes before).

PlumbGood: “OH NO! Is something wrong!?”

Me: “No. I just need to cancel my appointment.”

PlumbGood: “Ok… well… if you ever need anything, call us back. We can definitely help.”

On the surface, this seems like a pretty tame phone exchange. In real life, PlumbGood dripped with insincerity. It’s not enough to get your people to say the right things. They need to say them with conviction. And saying them with conviction requires actually meaning them.

This stems from organizational culture and performance management. Are you evaluating people on how quickly the can hustle through phone calls, or how satisfied they leave the customer? Most call centers seem to focus more on the former metric than the latter.

Back to the story, Gem gave me a “We’ll be there in a half-hour” courtesy call, and arrived right on time. They had the problem fixed in about 15 minutes. The plumber even gave me a coupon from his truck to use towards my bill.

He went out to the truck to write up the invoice and said he’d be right back. A few minutes later, my doorbell rings. I think, “That’s odd. He could have just walked back in.” I open the door.

It’s a plumber. A different plumber, to be specific. I look at the uniform. PlumbGood. I look outside. His truck is parked right in front of the Gem truck. Uh oh!

I explained that I had called to cancel several hours ago. He looks me dead in the eyes and says, “And you went with Gem?” It was funnier because he said Gem like it was a swear-word or something. Then he asked me how much they charged me. I told him, and then he left.

Clearly it wasn’t the driver’s fault that he got sent to my house. The people deployment system at PlumbGood obviously needs some work, and that may not always fall under HR’s umbrella.

But was his response how you would want your employee to handle that situation? Does that say, “Next time, choose us?” I don’t think so. It was an awkward situation – two rival companies standing mere feet from each other – and instead of apologizing, he made it more awkward.

That is an HR problem.

How do your HR policies and programs influence your employees’ behaviors? Do they support your business goals or hamper them?