Target Didn’t Discover a New Customer-Experience Strategy. They Rediscovered Manners.

Why This Isn’t Revolutionary — It’s Remedial.

Target’s new 10-4 rule — look up at 10 feet, greet at 4 feet — hit the Today Show like someone had unearthed a long-lost customer-service secret (complete with a line about Target “making employees smile.”).

It’s not revolutionary.
It’s a reset.

Hospitality professionals have been teaching this forever. A greeting is fine, but it’s the shallow end of the pool. It gets you moving, but it doesn’t build loyalty, trust, or emotional connection.

The Today Show even ran a TikTok clip of a guy saying, “I don’t want a whole dissertation from an employee. I just want to get in and get out.”

Great. Same.
And this is exactly why we teach people how to read the room.

You greet everyone.
You pursue no one.

If someone clearly doesn’t want help, your greeting is a signal — not an invitation to latch on. That’s the part of customer interaction that gets skipped: situational awareness. Adjusting to the person in front of you instead of treating everyone the same way.

And if you’ve ever wandered around a big-box home improvement store when you’re genuinely lost, you know exactly why this matters.

You’re staring at a wall of fittings wondering if you need a flange or a doohickey, and every employee is “studying” their handheld scanner like it’s a NASA control panel — anything to avoid eye contact. That’s when 10-4 goes from “cute rule” to “basic human dignity.”

Meanwhile, if I get frustrated enough, I’ll leave and head to Ace Hardware — where someone actually helps you. Should’ve just gone there in the first place. That’s the cost of not greeting people: your customer walks out.

So yes, 10-4 matters.
But if you want loyalty, you need more.

Discount Tire Does the Real Version of This

If you want to see what real customer connection looks like, walk into a Discount Tire.

You don’t get a script.
You get taken care of.

It’s immediate.
It’s calm.
It’s confident.
And it’s consistent.

Every employee behaves like your safety, your money, and your time matter. No buzzwords. No performance. Just a culture built on genuine care and real expertise.

And you feel it in seconds.

My husband is wildly loyal to them — and not because of a marketing campaign. His loyalty comes from policies that actually protect the customer. Their warranties cost next to nothing. When something goes wrong, they handle it fast, without drama. You never feel upsold or blamed.

They’re also closed on Sundays — and I used to joke that if I had a flat on a Sunday, he’d leave me on the side of the road before he’d take me anywhere else. That’s how deep the trust runs.

And that’s the point:
Loyalty doesn’t come from a greeting.
It comes from trust.
Trust comes from care.
Care comes from culture.

You can’t slap a 10-4 sticker on a breakroom wall and expect people to magically deliver that.

10-4 Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling

A greeting rule is a starting point. Retail needs consistency. But if your goal is loyalty — the “I tell everyone about this place” loyalty — you need depth.

Here’s what people actually want when they walk into your business:
• To feel safe
• To feel understood
• To feel like they matter
• To feel like they belong
• To trust that you know what you're doing
• And for someone to read the room

Some folks want help.
Some want space.
Some want efficiency.

Connection isn’t about forcing interaction — it’s about recognizing what the person in front of you needs right now.

Hospitality has always known how to do this.
Discount Tire absolutely knows how to do this.
Ace Hardware knows how to do this.
Target is trying to relearn it.

But you don’t rebuild trust with distance markers alone.
You rebuild it by teaching people how to care.

Ready to teach your team how to build real connection — not just follow a greeting rule?

Want Loyalty Instead of Scripts? Let’s Build It.

If you want to create a service culture that makes people feel cared for the moment they walk in — not just greeted at four feet — that’s the work I do.

Visit kellyhaynie.com or reach out to talk about building a team that connects with customers in a way they can actually feel.