By Scott Ford, Forbes Councils Member
July 28, 2026
I recently joined a small local gym.
That sentence does not sound like the beginning of a leadership lesson, but stick with me on this.
I went to a larger gym for years. It was crowded, the equipment was often taken and the overall environment was not the right fit for me. I mentioned this to a friend, who recommended a smaller gym. It cost significantly more each month, but she told me it was cleaner, calmer and less crowded. So, I signed up online and downloaded the app without ever walking through the door.
That alone says something about modern business. I did not talk to anyone. I filled out the form, entered my credit card, downloaded the app and became a recurring revenue customer before anyone at the business knew who I was.
Then I walked in for the first time. It was just before 8 a.m. The only employee in the building was sitting at the front desk. I scanned my barcode, and before I could disappear into the gym, she looked up, smiled and said she had not seen me before. She asked if I was new and if I wanted a tour. I declined, mostly because I am naturally introverted and wanted to get started without making a big deal out of it.
Then she asked my name. It was a small thing. But it changed the entire experience.
The Difference A Worker Makes
Over the next few months, I noticed that same employee greeted everyone by name. She encouraged them. She complimented us on our consistency. She made the place feel more personal.
However, after 8 a.m., the shift changed. The next employee was fine. In fact, technically, that employee was doing the job well. People were greeted, the front desk was covered and they made rounds regularly, ensuring towels were stocked.
But the experience was completely different. The first created a relationship. The second did the job description.
That distinction has stuck with me because, as business owners and leaders, we know this matters. We say it matters. We talk about customer service, culture, relationship-building and client experience. But the uncomfortable question is whether we measure it and build our companies around it.
Most businesses have a version of this shift change. It might happen the moment a sale closes and the client gets handed off to someone to “do the job.” It might happen when the account manager who sold the relationship is replaced by a technician who delivers the product or service.
What Really Builds Loyalty: The Experience
A few days ago, I walked into the gym, and the morning employee was not there. My first thought was, “I hope she didn’t quit.”
That should get every business owner’s attention. My first thought was not about the equipment or the app. It was not about the lighting, the cleanliness or the membership price.
When a customer notices the absence of a frontline employee that quickly, that person is not merely covering a shift. That person is carrying part of the brand.
In business, we often obsess over the model. We focus on software, systems, processes, marketing and key performance indicators. Those things matter. A business cannot survive on friendliness alone.
But customers do not build loyalty to marketing. They build loyalty to an experience. Many times, that experience is created by someone in a role leadership may not treat as highly strategic.
That is the blind spot.
In my business, we do highly technical consulting work. Knowledge, accuracy and deadlines matter. But I have also learned that clients remember how they felt during the process. A client’s project might be only one of hundreds on our internal workflow. But to that client, it might be the most important thing they are dealing with right now. If we treat them like just another customer, they feel that.
That does not mean every client needs excessive hand-holding. That is not the point. The point is that clients want to feel seen, heard and valued, just like gym members. They want to know that the person on the other end understands that the work matters to them.
We often call these “soft skills” but that doesn’t capture the meaning. There is nothing soft about their effect on retention, referrals, reputation or revenue.
Finding Your Own Shift Changes
Some people are excellent technically but not naturally relational. Some are analytical, precise and immensely valuable behind the scenes, but they might struggle in a client-facing seat. Others have a natural ability to remember names, ask the right question, soften a tense conversation and make people feel comfortable.
The mistake is assuming that because someone can perform the task well, they are the right person to own the customer’s experience attached to that task.
Leaders should look for the hidden shift changes in their own companies. In many businesses, the customer is sold by one person and served by another. The salesperson may be warm, confident and relational. Then, the customer is handed to a technical employee who may be competent but transactional.
That gap can quietly erode trust.
The hard part is that great frontline employees can be hard to measure. A poor experience creates complaints, so leadership hears about it. A great experience often prevents complaints. No angry emails are sent. No event is triggered. No dashboard lights up. The customer simply keeps coming back.
A business can buy better software, upgrade equipment and redesign the website, but the person who makes a customer feel known is just as much part of the strategy.
Because when a customer walks in and hopes a certain employee has not quit, that employee is not just part of the operation. They may be one of the reasons the customer stays.
