When one thinks about big box stores, we tend to think of slick corporate offices, employees who want you in and out as quickly as possible, pallets full of name brand inventory. Cold and impersonal efficiency.

But one big box store, whose business has taken off because of the Covid crisis, has flipped the switch on that idea. 

Instead of a “greeter” at the door, they have now instituted an employee to sanitize each cart before a customer entering the store takes one. After a customer thanked the staff person, he replied that it was his job to keep customers safe. He genuinely meant it and he saw his role as a very important one – to the customer, to the business, and to himself standing at the front door. He understood that we are all dealing with the same challenges and customers are living in 2020 just as the business is.

Respecting the safety of each individual customer, one-by-one, is what customers are looking for right now. Treat them as if their lives have value and they will value your business.