Saying you “do customer service” or that your clients are your biggest priority is one thing.  Walking it out is often a very different beast, and for some companies, the actual experience rarely stands up to the promise.

I don’t think that’s because companies and their people don’t care. I think it’s because companies sometimes make it tough for people to care. Whether it’s workload, liability fears, lack of training or mixed messages, employees often fall short. There’s a lot of “not my job” in how they interact with customers on a daily basis, and honestly, it’s often management’s creation.

But when an employee is free to actually hear what the customer needs and deliver it, it can create a cascade of value for both the customer and the business. Let me give you a tangible example.

I got a recall notice for my sport utility vehicle, and the first time I could take it into the dealership was about two weeks ago. Because of some business travel, I needed to drop it off on a Sunday night, be out of town for a couple of days and then pick it up first thing Wednesday morning before a day of meetings and in-town travel.

I had been assured that one of the courtesy shuttles could pick me up on Wednesday morning so I’d be at the dealership by 7:30 a.m. when it opened.

On Tuesday, from Chicago O’Hare International Airport, I called the dealership to verify my pickup that next morning. The first guy I talked to said there was no way the shuttle could be out in Waukee (where I live) by 7:30 a.m. because it didn’t even leave the shop until 7:45.  When I explained that would make me late for a meeting, I got transferred to someone else.  (Buck passed.) Three transfers later, I asked for a manager.

By now, you can imagine my frustration. I had planned my entire day around the promise that I’d be in my vehicle and on the road to my first meeting by 7:45 a.m.

When I got transferred to a manager as I requested, it turned out that I got transferred to the used car manager, Oscar. There was probably no one in that dealership who had less responsibility to help me. As he was about to transfer me again, I explained that he was the fourth person I’d spoken to and I was pretty sure there was no one left to accept my transfer.

At that moment, he had a choice. The same choice the earlier three employees had. He could either pass the buck, or he could care enough to make my problem his problem to solve.

Long story short, Oscar personally picked me up Wednesday morning around 7:15 a.m. and drove me to the dealership so I could be there when the service department opened at 7:30. He solved my problem. Not because it was his job to do so, but because he took the time to care.

Would one of your employees, literally or figuratively, pick up one of your customers? According to research, “getting an issue resolved quickly was by far the most critical factor (82 percent)” for a positive customer experience, and “having the issue resolved in a single interaction is key (56 percent)” as well.

Does your company’s culture, training, rewards system and processes encourage that level of customer care? Disney’s does. Ritz-Carlton’s does. Apple and American Express too.

In this age of consumer-controlled media where word of mouth via social channels is louder than ever, you’d better get it right. I might even be so bold as to suggest that how you treat your customers should probably be your No. 1 marketing priority for 2016.