How does Chick-Fil-A get away with spending about a third of what McDonald’s does on advertising (as a percentage of sales)? Because Chick-Fil-A focuses relentlessly on every aspect of customer service. And when people are served surprisingly well, as they often are at Chick-Fil-A, they can afford to spend less on advertising, because word-of-mouth is doing more of the heavy lifting. What’s one thing you could change to improve your service? Do you hire with service in mind? How do you measure service? (Incidentally, there was a time when McDonald’s focused relentlessly on every aspect of customer service.)
