I love subs. Those five-dollar footlong subs. But the last time I went to the nearby five-dollar-footlong-sub store (the one named for an underground train), they were all out of tuna fish. The last TWO times I stopped in they were out of green peppers. And during my last THREE visits there were no onions in the joint.

Frustrating? You bet! Especially when you’re a tuna / green pepper / onions sorta’ fella like yours truly. But what really toasted my bread was that, each time, the “sandwich artists” who broke the bad news to me could not have demonstrated less concern over my customer experience. In fact, they were borderline rude about it.

Now, I understand that on the list of the world’s real problems, my onion-free subs barely crack the top five. Okay, maybe the top four. But if you own a sub shop — or any other business, for that matter — it should be mighty important to you that your employees not only empathize with your customers when things go wrong, but that they’re empowered to take a step toward making things right, even if that step is merely offering a sincere apology.

This latest brush with employee apathy – and the resulting damage to the sub chain’s brand equity – reminded me of a recent blog post from Drew McLellan. The subject was “Where should business owners invest their money in 2009?”

Drew writes:

As business owners and leaders look back on ‘08 and either shudder at the memory or exhale a sigh of relief that they survived it, it’s easy to assume that the plan going forward should be to lower prices or cut the marketing budget.

The reality is, both of those are the wrong answer. Cutting prices and slashing your marketing budget will only put you deeper in the hole as the economy rights itself. So what should you do with your money for ‘09?

Spend it on your employees. Make sure they understand your brand, your brand promise and how you want them to treat your customers. Don’t hold an annual meeting where you devote 5 minutes and a PowerPoint slide to your brand.

I’m talking make an investment. A real investment.

Talk about how you want your brand to come alive every week. In managers’ meetings, on all staff retreats, in your HR reviews. Make it a part of your interview process, your exit interviews and everything in between. How much time do you spend on how each and every employee delivers on the brand promise in your new employee orientation?

At Disney, no matter what position you are hired for, from street sweeper to a manager of a division, the first thing you’d do is attend a 3-day orientation that talks about absolutely nothing except the Disney brand and how you, the new recruit, are expected to carry on that tradition.

Think about it. Who interacts with your customers? When your customer has a concern or a complaint, who deals with them?

Especially in an economic time when every client matters and you can’t afford to lose any ground, isn’t this the year you should earmark some of your marketing dollars for the very people who deliver your brand every day?”