Permission to WOW
Permission to WOW
If you give your team a script, you’ve already told them you don't trust them.
We spend thousands of dollars training our customer care teams, only to hand them a 50-page manual of approved phrases. Then we wonder why our loyalty scores are stagnant.
The truth? Scripts kill empathy.
The Ceiling of a Script:
A script ensures that your service is okay. It prevents
disasters, but it also prevents magic. No one ever told their friends about the
time an agent read Paragraph 4, Sub-section B perfectly.
The Floor of Empowerment:
When you give your team Permission to WOW, you change the
game.
Look at the Ritz-Carlton. Their Ladies and Gentlemen have a
$2,000 discretionary budget to solve guest problems on the spot. No manager
approval. No red tape.
Look at Zappos. They don't track Average Handle Time. They track Personal Emotional Connections. They know that a 10-hour call that creates a fan for life is cheaper than a 2-minute call that ends in a cancellation.
Why Empowerment works in 2025:
- It
creates Owners, not Renters: Empowered employees take responsibility for
the outcome, not just the process.
- It
scales Empathy: AI can handle the What. Only humans can handle the Why.
- It
builds Invisible Care: When agents are free to think, they spot problems
before the customer even asks for help.
The Bottom Line:
Your customers don't want a consistent experience if that
consistency is mediocre. They want to be seen. They want to be heard. They want
to be wowed.
Stop managing for the 1% of employees who might make a mistake. Start empowering the 99% who want to be heroes.
Give them the budget. Give them the trust. Give them
permission to WOW. #CustomerService #Leadership #Empowerment #CX #Zappos
#RitzCarlton #Loyalty
Comments