Imagine the day when you'll no longer be forced to battle the challenges your front line presents for you today;

- when none of your cashiers, salespeople, or customer service agents are a minute late to work, call in sick, or take a day of vacation.

- when you never again have to confront one of them because of a dress code infraction.

- when you no longer have to fear that one of them might be rude to your customers

- when employee theft is non-existent.

Imagine no more. A new breed of front line employee is either available for duty, or will be very soon. However, what may at first appear as the hallelujah solution for you could be a major source of consternation for your customers.

In today's world, consumers routinely make purchases at the supermarket, process complex banking transactions, pay highway tolls, book airline travel, and rent home movies, all without human contact. There is absolutely no need for other people to help us do these things anymore, now that RoboStaff are on the job.

With user-friendly touch screens, voice recognition technology, and magnetic strip readers intact, sophisticated RoboStaffers have invaded the point-of-purchase, and they are multiplying in droves. Like vending machines on steroids, they authorize us to fill up our gas tank, hand us our boarding pass, and ring up our nuts and bolts at the neighborhood Home Depot.

Even McDonald's, once renowned for friendly service by well-trained teenage employees, now has restaurants open where customers place and pay for their own orders through RoboStaff. Simply swipe your credit card and your chip-enhanced buddy will take it from there.

Although RoboStaff could eventually solve many of the nightmarish personnel problems you face, they will likely create an enormous gap between your products and your consumers, just as they have between you and the places you used to shop.

After all, haven't you been eBayed, Amazoned, and Pricelined to death? Aren't you fed up with endless touchtone voicemail queues and one-size-fits-all automated solutions that really don't fit at all? Over the course of your day, aren't there multiple times when you feel like screaming, "Dear God, let me speak to someone with a brain and a pulse!"

Your customers feel the same way. The futurists were wrong when, a decade ago, they prognosticated that technology would soon supplant the need for people on our front lines. The reality is, although they may shop for products and compare prices online, studies continue to prove that consumers demand personal attention before, during, and after the sale. In fact, they will go out of their way and pay more to get it.

Like you, given a choice between transacting business with a competent, knowledgeable, friendly person and RoboStaff, your customers will pick the one with a heartbeat every time. But if your front line is anything but competent, knowledgeable, and friendly, an automaton on your competitor's front line will take their order without thinking twice, or even once.

The bad news here is that customer service in America has become cold, lifeless, and robotic.

The good news is that if you can train your front line to consistently deliver top-quality service that is as good - or better - than that of a RoboStaffer, you're going to win the business over any and all RoboStaffed competitors.

How Can You Train Your Front Line to Outperform RoboStaff Service?

As the adage goes, you cannot give away what you've never had. The 16-to-24-year-olds standing between you and your customers have transacted business more times with RoboStaff than with humans. They don't remember the 'service with a smile/the customer is king' era of days gone by. They've never experienced good service as a consumer - so how can they deliver it as your front line employees?

• Make absolutely certain that your young talent knows what excellent customer service looks like in your business. Have them study the star service provider in your company and in your industry. Take them on a field trip to a quality restaurant and have them comment on each phase of the service they receive. Suggest they visit a Nordstrom's or similar store to try on some clothes and experience legendary customer service. Have them call Land's End where they'll be greeted warmly on the first ring by a competent, knowledgeable, and friendly service provider. Show them some of the highly rated customer service training videos that are now available as training aids.
• Get them involved. Role-play with them the basics of customer service in the various situations and scenarios in which they might find themselves. Let an experienced employee play the role of the worst customer they've ever had and then talk about the various approaches to diffusing the situation. And when they're out in front representing your company to the customers you cherish so dearly, make certain that you recognize and reward those who provide great service-and do so on the spot!
• Above all, make certain that you're providing the same degree of service that you expect your front liners to model, because that is what they're most likely to do. Don't tell them how to do give great service; show them.

The Choice is Clear

If every one of your front liners were punctual, accurate, honest, courteous, respectful, customer-focused, and competent, eSoldiers would never be a consideration in your business. (Then again, if every one of your front line staff performed to that degree of perfection, perhaps your own position would appear on the endangered list.)

The truth is your customers prefer to do business with a real person of competence possessing a kind heart, a willing spirit, and smiling face. Unfortunately, your emerging front liners don't come pre-wired to these specifications, so you've got your work cut out for you.

You can commit yourself to the arduous and unending task of training skills and shaping character, or decide to do away with personal service and compete on price by arming your front lines with the ever-expanding variety of RoboStaff automatons.

Eric Chester, President of Generation Why, Inc., is an award winning keynote speaker and the author of Getting Them to Give A Damn: How to Get Your Front Line to Care About Your Bottom Line. He can be contacted through the website www.GenerationWhy.com or by calling 303-239-9999.