The Answer is "YES"!
"Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most will never bother to complain. They'll just walk away."
— Marilyn Suttle
It was an hour before the show, we were sitting in an Irish Pub in downtown Indianapolis. We had just ordered our food and I noticed that my phone battery was low. I needed a charge!
There was a young lady walking by. She greeted us when we entered the restaurant and so I motioned her over. I asked, “Do you have an iPhone charger?” She looked at me and said, “No, sorry”.
I waited for the next part of her customer service training to kick in. The part where she states something like “But I’ll find one, or let me ask,” or something resonate of customer service.
But alas, all I had from this young lady was a blank stare. She didn’t know, she didn’t know to go the next step and so I said: “Thank you”.
If you own a company, send these words to your staff, if you happen to own an Irish Pub in Indianapolis, post this on the employee billboard.
When a customer asks, deliver. When a customer asks a reasonable question, find a way to deliver what they are requesting.
The only thing separating you from the next restaurant down the road is your customer service. The food quality can be the best, but if your customer service is average or worse, clients will not return to your restaurant.
There are several stories about customer service. One of my favorites and most simple is the young man that orders a Pepsi in a restaurant in downtown New York, City.
The server takes the order, drops the ticket and runs next door to the convenience store, buys a Pepsi with their own money and delivers it with the rest of the drink orders.
Later the young man hears someone ask for a Pepsi and overhears another server say “we only have Coke products”. When the young man’s server returned he asked the waiter “I just heard you only have Coke products”.
The server smiled “we do only have Coke products. But you ordered a Pepsi.”
That’s customer service. When a visitor, client, or prospect asks for something, do your very best do provide a solution? Blank stares, answering NO without giving another solution, is not just crass, it’s lazy “I don’t care service”.
There is a restaurant in Muncie Indiana called Amazing Joe’s. The owner’s name is Mike Robinson. I’ve known Mike since I was 16 years old. Our life paths have crossed many times. My ex-wife met Mike’s wife when our sons were very young. I had the pleasure of watching Mike’s kids grow up.
When the server walked away last night and my friend and I was in stunned disbelief at her complete lack of awareness of basic customer service, my friend said “Mike Robinson”.
I knew what he meant. Mike’s mantra is “The answer is yes”. No matter what you ask at Amazing Joe’s the staff is trained to say “Yes”. That’s it, yes.
Average Joe’s is packed nightly. Mike’s a good business man, he knows his demographic and has created an environment that fits the Muncie community well.
The food is great, but the service is based upon “The answer is yes”. If you get a chance, visit Amazing Joe’s. Be like Mike. Talk to your employees creates a culture of customer service.
Customer service is alive and well in this year 2016. It is! There are restaurants like Amazing Joe’s where an owner was taught or learned or was coded with DNA that enables then to train their people and create a culture of excellent customer service.
It’s 5:33 am and I just got a text. It’s from a friend / client, his name is Dave. Dave owns tire stores and over the years, I’ve told stories of Dave and his level of customer service.
One night Dave was leaving his store in Mooresville, IN. A man drove up and needed something. I can’t remember if it was tires, a battery, or windshield wipers. He was in little dire straits, needed some attention, but it was closing time. The guy came to the door and noticed they were closed and walked back to his car.
Dave ran out, said, “Can I help you”. The man replied, “I really need some help “Dave worked with the man, gave him what he needed, but since the register was closed asked the man if he would come back tomorrow and pay.
The guy was in shock. “You are trusting me to return tomorrow to pay?” Dave laughed “I’m the owner, its fine. Just come back tomorrow and tell Josh what you did, I’ll leave him a note”. The guy drove off in disbelief. The business was closed, but the owner helped him AND THEN trusted him to come back the next day and pay.
About a week later, Dave was in the store and a young man came in. “Pastor Martin said I needed to come see you about tires.” Dave, puzzled said “Pastor Martin”? The young man replied, yes, he gave a sermon on you and your business. He said we are here to serve others and that’s what you do”.
The next few weeks Dave’s store was filled with people from Pastor Martin’s church. They wanted to see what the buzz was about. I’ve told this story to many groups across the country as an example of customer service. I can’t verify this, but I would bet in the last 30 days, someone has visited Dave’s Big O Tire store in Mooresville or one of his other 2 locations because of Dave’s simple act of customer service and trust after his business was closed.
Be like Mike. Be like Dave. Train your customer service people to get a Pepsi when you only have Coke products.
My waitress found me a charger and I used my phone after dinner to take a few photos of David Coverdale of Whitesnake. The show was amazing and I’d like to thank the first young lady, the one that gave me the blank stare, for reminding me to remind you, my beautiful-lovely-amazing reader, to get back to basics. Train your people, when a customer asks, the answer is “YES!”.
"Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most will never bother to complain. They'll just walk away."
— Marilyn Suttle