Episode Summary
What if the reason your customer experience strategy isn’t working… is simply because nobody can remember it?
The best processes in the world don’t matter if your team can’t recall them when a customer is standing right in front of them.
In this episode, I’m diving into one of my favorite (and most overlooked) tools for creating consistent customer experiences: mnemonic devices. From “righty tighty, lefty loosey” to Starbucks’ LATTE service recovery model, I’ll share why simple frameworks stick—and how the world’s best brands use them to help employees make better decisions under pressure.
Then I’ll walk you through my own five-step STICK framework so you can create memorable, actionable systems tailored to your business. Whether you’re training new employees, improving service recovery, or looking for a way to make your customer experience more consistent, this episode will help you build processes your team will actually remember—and use.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why most customer experience frameworks fail (even when they’re good)
- How mnemonic devices make training more memorable and repeatable
- Real examples from brands like Starbucks, Apple, Marriott, and McDonald’s
- My five-step STICK framework for creating your own memorable customer experience systems
- How to turn complicated processes into simple habits your team can execute with confidence
Because if it doesn’t stick… it doesn’t scale.
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Transcription
Brittany Hodak: [00:00:00] Okay, pop quiz. What are the five Great Lakes? If you answered with HOMES, Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior, then congratulations. You’ve just proven the power of today’s episode. I’m Brittany Hodak, and this is the Creating Superfans podcast. Today, we’ll be talking all about mnemonic devices, what they are, and how they are so powerful to help you and your team make customer experience a superpower.
I’m gonna share a few really cool mnemonics with you and give you a framework you can use to create your own for your team. But before we dive in, just take a couple of seconds and hit subscribe if you haven’t done so, so you never miss a new episode of this podcast. Okay, let’s dive in. A few days ago, my sons were asking me to turn the water hose on because they wanted to play in the sprinkler in the backyard, and my eight-year-old overheard me saying, “Lefty loosey,” as I was turning the, uh, faucet.
And fairly, he was like, “What in the world did you just say? What does that mean?” And I told him that righty tighty, lefty loosey [00:01:00] has served me for decades. It’s the way I remember which way to turn the faucet in any situation. And I probably should have progressed past that at this point, much like holding up my hands to see which one is makes the L for left and which one doesn’t, but I still use that more than I should probably admit.
I’m a 1980s kid, so my first exposure to the concept of mnemonics or the word mnemonic actually came via Stephanie Tanner on Full House. She was working really hard one episode to win the school spelling bee, which honestly I totally related to, and her Uncle Jesse taught her various riddles and tricks and tools to remember tricky words, and in the episode, he said to her, “These are mnemonic devices.
We’re gonna take something simple, and we’re gonna use it to help us remember something complicated.” What he didn’t tell her, unfortunately, was how to spell the word mnemonic, and in the ultimate cruel twist of fate, she was eliminated at the spelling bee by not knowing that the word mnemonic [00:02:00] had a silent M at the beginning.
She was devastated, which was totally fair, and a whole generation of kids just like me learned a vocab word and an important life lesson that has stuck with us. I’m a huge fan of mnemonics. Why? Because they work. There’s actually a lot of cognitive science and research behind them. See, our brains are a lot better at remembering information when it’s organized into little meaningful chunks instead of just, like, big, long, disconnected lists.
That’s why things like songs or rhymes or acronyms and other little memory tricks stay with us for years or even decades.
So the word mnemonics, like so many of our words, comes from ancient Greek. The word mnemonikos, which meant mindful or relating to memory, and there’s several types of mnemonics. Like some are more popular than others. One of the first types that most of us are exposed to are music mnemonics, so things like learning the ABC song to memorize the order of the letters of the alphabet.
Uh, there are also rhymes, so if you’ve ever said like, “30 days hath [00:03:00] September” or, “Righty tighty, lefty loosey.”
Another type of mnemonic devices are called acrostics, and that’s where every word in a sentence or phrase is designed to help you remember something else.
So maybe you learn the order of the planets by reciting, “My very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas.” Well, kids don’t learn that one anymore because, you know, RIP Pluto. Heartbreaking for Pluto, but, you know, that’s another episode altogether. Now, closely related to those acrostic mnemonics are my favorite type of mnemonic, and perhaps the most popular, and that’s the acronym.
So sometimes acronyms are names. Maybe you memorized ROYGBIV for, uh, the rainbow. Um, and sometimes they’re just words like HOMES for the Great Lakes. Shout out to you if you got that trivia question right at the top of the episode. Now, as somebody who wrote a book called Creating Superfans, all about an acronym SUPER, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that acronyms are [00:04:00] my very favorite kind of mnemonic device.
By the way, if you’re not familiar with the SUPER model, it’s S-U-P-E-R. Start with your story, understand their story, personalize, exceed expectations, and repeat. And if you use that framework, you will understand how powerful it is to be able to refer back to that to say, “Are we being super or are we being standard?”
If you want superfans, be super. It’s that simple. Most frameworks don’t fail because they’re bad. They fail because no one can remember them, and you can’t implement something you can’t even remember. So to quote the wisdom of another acronym, keep it simple, stupid. KISS. Memory researchers and scientists show that breaking that complex information into the smaller, meaningful pieces is how we’re going to retain it.
And just like mnemonic devices helped you in school, they’re helpful tools for employees, learning systems, processes, checklists, important things that they need to remember. Now, speaking of school, in 10th or 11th [00:05:00] grade, my friend Jamie got her very first job at the gas station, and she was really nervous ’cause she had never had a job before.
And the gas station owner said, “Just remember gas, the word gas. Greet the customers, ask if they found everything they needed, and smile.” G-A-S. And, you know, maybe that’s not, like, the most sophisticated or all-encompassing acronym in the world, but it was shockingly effective. So effective that she told me about it once, probably in the cafeteria, and I still remember it decades later, and that’s the power of a great mnemonic device.
Now, McDonald’s visionary Ray Kroc used to talk about QSC&V all the time. He drilled it into the leaders of McDonald’s. Those were their four pillars. QSC&V stand for quality, service, cleanliness, value. So everybody who was opening a new franchise, everybody who was going through McDonald’s University, that’s what they were drilled on, QSC&V.
Great pillars, but not super [00:06:00] memorable, right? You’re like, “What is the third letter? Where does the other one go?” So what some companies have done is they’ve taken it to the next level and they’ve said, “How do we create a mnemonic – device that’s going to help our employees, but actually be really simple for them to remember because of our brand?”
One of my favorite examples is Starbucks. They actually train all of their baristas on service recovery, which is fixing something when it goes wrong, by using the word latte, L-A-T-T-E. So the L stands for listen to the customer. A is acknowledge, so whether that’s the complaint, the problem, something that went wrong.
The first T is take action to resolve the issue. The second T is thank. You’re going to thank the customer for bringing the problem to your attention. And then finally, that E, you’re gonna explain why the issue occurred, or sometimes they say ensure satisfaction. But you’re basically closing the loop to make sure, hopefully, if it’s like a system problem, you fix it so that it doesn’t happen again.
So latte, L-A-T-T-E. It’s a really great [00:07:00] framework because it’s simple to remember. Honestly, there are so many great frameworks for service recovery. Um, this one I really do love though. Whether you’re selling coffee or cars or copy machines, which is probably a terrible example. I don’t know if anybody still buys copy machines.
But regardless of your industry or role, latte is solid. Now, Apple took a similar approach. At their Genius Bar, they train their Geniuses by using the word Apple. I think this one is a little bit wordy in terms of a steps of service framework. I think it would be hard to remember, but I guess they are working with Geniuses, so like may- maybe the Geniuses can remember it.
But this is what they use, Apple. A stands for approach. You’re gonna approach customers with a personalized, warm welcome. The first P, probe politely to understand the customer’s needs. P, the second P stands for present a solution for the customer to take home today. That’s the timeliness of it. L is listen for and [00:08:00] resolve any issues or concerns, and E is end with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.
So A-P-P-L-E. It’s a lot to remember. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it is a great framework because it – sets expectations and says, “This is how we do things at Apple,” which is what all great frameworks should do. Another slightly more simple example is the word HEART. This is used a lot in hospitality.
I’ve had friends at Marriott say that they teach all of their team members this, and the word HEART is hear, empathize, apologize, respond, and thank. So again, it’s around the idea of service recovery. So hear means you’re gonna listen, you’re gonna let the guest explain what went wrong, you’re gonna give them a chance to talk about their issues.
The E is empathize. You’re going to show them, “I understand.” You’re gonna acknowledge why they’re frustrated, show genuine concern, and talk about what you’re gonna do to resolve it. The A stands for apologize, a sincere apology for that inconvenience. One of my favorite quotes, [00:09:00] Benjamin Franklin said, “Never ruin a good apology with an excuse.”
We’re not making excuses. We’re saying, “I’m sorry,” full stop. Owning it. That R in HEART or, uh, usually stands for respond. Sometimes people say resolve. But it’s about fixing it. You’re taking the action to resolve what happened, fix the problem. And then finally, the T stands for thank. We wanna thank them for bringing it to our attention, for being our customer, et cetera.
Now, maybe you’ve noticed something interesting about these past three frameworks. None of them said, “I want my employee to memorize a 400-page playbook. I want them to remember 100 SOPs in the moment.” They said, “We’re gonna reduce something that’s complicated, something that’s complex into a framework that’s hopefully easy to remember in the moments that it matters most.”
They took this, like, broad idea of, hey, be nice to your customers, and they turned it into something that an 18-year-old kid on their very first shift can actually remember under pressure, and [00:10:00] something that hopefully becomes so drilled into the culture that the team members remember it in those moments, and they remind their other employees about it.
“Hey, we’ve gotta use HEART. Hey, LATTE. Hey, what was that L in APPLE for?” Now, not every acronym has to be a complete operating system. Some, like my super model, are big-picture frameworks, but others are designed for one specific moment. And I would argue those ones that are designed for specific moments are the ones that are more powerful when you customize within your company.
Because when you’re creating an execution tool for your team, the narrower that moment that you’re zoning in on, the more useful and the more memorable that mnemonic or acronym is going to be, because it triggers in their brain, when X happens, I do Y. So if you don’t have your own service acronym, , you may be experiencing FOMO by now, but don’t worry, I have got you covered.
In addition to all of the ones that I’ve shared already, feel free to adapt and use those as- if you want, I’m going to [00:11:00] now share a proprietary framework that I put together for you so that you can create one that’s uniquely yours. You can build a word around something that’s meaningful to your team and become something that not only fits your brand, but helps every one of your acting chiefs of experience in the moments that matter most.
I call this framework STICK, because that’s exactly what every solid service system should do. It’s gotta stick. So not surprisingly, it’s going to be an acronym, S-T-I-C-K. The S is select the moment. As I mentioned, you shouldn’t try to take everything that your frontline team is in charge of and try to put it into one acronym.
That’s not going to stick. So you’re gonna pick one specific moment that happens over and over and over again. Maybe it’s a complaint, maybe it’s a return, maybe it’s the first 30 seconds when somebody calls you on the phone. Because the more narrow the moment, the more useful and memorable that acronym is going to be, the more likely it is to stick. [00:12:00] So select your moment. Up next is the T, and that stands for track the behaviors. Now, in this step, before you think about, like, what is the word that I want, what is something that’s really cute and on brand, just make a list of what do you want them to do step by step.
Like, when X happens, we do Y. You really wanna focus on the behavior here, not what you want them to believe, not what your company values are, not your vision statement, but, like, what do I do? Write down those behaviors. Next up is I. I is when you identify a meaningful word. So you can think about a word that naturally fits those behaviors, that inspires it.
The best acronyms are gonna be something that already means something in your company. So, like, Starbucks didn’t just pick a random word that meant nothing. They said latte. That’s a word that’s very tied into the culture of their company and what their baristas are doing.
Same with Marriott using HEART, right? It’s hospitality. It’s about the love. It’s about the caring. So if your word that you [00:13:00] choose reinforces your brand or the situation, it’s not only gonna be easier to remember, but it’s gonna be more meaningful, and it’s gonna feel less like it was just, like, plucked from some random book or podcast and something that actually is part of the culture of your company.
So C, now we’re at C, S-T-I-C. You’re going to choose action verbs. This is very important. I told you in step number two, T, to track the behaviors. C is about choosing the action verbs. Every single letter should represent something somebody can do. Listen, welcome, think, explain. The reason is because verbs are coachable.
They’re observable. They’re repeatable, right? Abstract ideas like be a professional or care are important, but they’re much harder to train for, and they’re much harder to think about in an acronym. That’s why I think the APPLE one becomes a lot to remember, right? So choose an action verb. And then finally, K stands for [00:14:00] keep practicing.
The reality is you’re gonna wanna change this over time. Before you print this on posters or hit send on an email to everybody at your company and roll it out and say, like, “This is what we’re doing,” loud and proud, role play it, practice it, ask for feedback. See if your new employees can remember it, and if not, maybe simplify it.
Now, if you start with those action verbs, it’s gonna be pretty simple and pretty dialed in already, but maybe you have the wrong word. Maybe you need a four-letter word instead of a six-letter word. But just keep iterating, keep practicing. And that’s the framework, S-T-I-C-K. You’re gonna select, track, identify, choose, and keep practicing.
If your team can’t remember the system when a customer is standing in front of them, it doesn’t matter how beautifully documented it is. If it doesn’t stick, it doesn’t scale.
What is a moment that you can absolutely crush with an acronym that sticks?
Here’s my challenge for you. I want you to choose one moment that is just begging for [00:15:00] its own mnemonic device. What’s a perfect word, maybe it’s a rhyme, maybe it’s a song, that’s gonna help people remember? Let me know in the comments or tag me on social media
And now as a little bonus, here are some of the fun mnemonic devices I came across while researching this episode. If you can never remember which way to spell the word gray, G-R-A-Y or G-R-E-Y, just remember A is for America and E is for England. Now, if you do the okay sign with your hands, this is actually how my boys learned to spell the word bed, um, or the difference between the lowercase B and D in kindergarten, ’cause they would mix them up a lot.
When you do your hands like this, it looks like a bed, which is useful. But there’s a trick for adults, too. When you are trying to figure out where placings go on the dinner table, B is for bread. The bread goes on the left. D is for drinks. The drinks go on the right. You can also remember that the forks always go on the left because left and fork both have four letters, and the knife and the spoon, which have five letters, go on the right, which is five letters.
And finally, I [00:16:00] promise this will be the only time I use the word fanboys on this podcast, but you can use the word fanboys to remember the seven coordinating conjunctions in the English language: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. If you are a fan of this podcast, which I hope you are, please take a few seconds to leave a review or send it to your friends, because as the saying goes, sharing is caring, and those are the things that help me dedicate even more time to making this podcast for you.
I’ll catch you right back here next time.
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