Where Does Company Growth Start?

Want your company to get bigger? Think smaller. The man who runs one of the most successful quick serve restaurants in the country, Chick-fil-A, says growth starts at the customer level.

Dan Cathy, has advice about how to make your company…a bigger company.

#1: Think smaller. Not in size, but in the way you treat your customers.

At the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Pacesetter Awards, Cathy spelled it out. He offered insight into how Chick-fil-A grew from one location at the Greenbriar shopping mall in the 1960s…to a $3 billion dollar company today.

Dan Cathy’s team looked at what customers get for $20 bucks at Olive Garden compared to $6 dollars at Chick-fil-A. It wasn’t three times more food.

The difference was the customer experience.

At fast food restaurants, you order it yourself, you take it to your table, then when you’re done, you take it to the trash.

Chick-fil-A started putting fresh flowers on each table, had employees offering free refills at your table, taking your tray and even walking out to your car with an umbrella when it’s raining.

None of that requires much investment. What you see is a culture focused on the customer experience that allows Chick-fil-A to charge more than most quick serve restaurants.

Dan Cathy’s point was — instead of focusing first on growing revenues, what can your company do to improve the customer experience? The revenues will follow.