Great customer service equals return business
Bob McIntosh
?? I’m on the frontline fighting The Good Fight against unemployment ◆ Career Coach ◆ LinkedIn Trainer ◆ Candorful Volunteer ◆ LinkedIn Contributor ◆ Avid Walker ?? LinkedIn Top Voices #LinkedInUnleashed?
Lousy customer service equals no return business.
Ever since my kids were young and confined to the back seat—because of their height—I have been harping on customer service. Going through the drive-through of any fast food or coffee business was a lesson on customer service. "Now that was great customer service, kids."
"Why, Daddy?" they would ask.
"Because the woman took my order properly and greeted me enthusiastically. Great customer service keeps people coming back. Bad customer service makes them leave."
"Oh."
Other times they would hear me say, "Now, that was lousy customer service."
"Why, Daddy?"
"Because the man was rude. He asked me to repeat my order three times, and he still got it wrong. Lousy customer service drives people away."
"Oh."
On other occasions, my kids would ask, "Was that good customer service, Daddy?" They were catching on.
Recently I had a great customer service experience, but my kids—who can now sit in the front seat—were not there to witness it. Too bad, because a man who waited on me at a noodle restaurant exercised good judgement, and as a result kept me as a customer instead of sending me away to talk about the foreign article I found in my food.
As I was eating my noodles, I noticed something that could have been mistaken for shrimp shell. Upon further investigation, I discovered that it was a piece of plastic. I continued to eat my food—it was quite delicious—but obsessed about the piece of plastic I found in my noodles, hoping there would be no more plastic in my food.
When I got up to leave, the aforementioned man came to my table to collect my dish. He asked me if I enjoyed the food, and I told him that it was very good. "But," I began, "you should really tell your cooks to be careful about what they drop in the food."
He examined the plastic, looked concerned, and muttered something that sounded like, "I'll get you a new...." I assumed he was off to berate his cooks. I was pulling out of the parking lot, when the man came running out of the restaurant waving a card in his hand. "Wait," he said, "You forgot your free dish." Ah, "dish" was the ending of the sentence.
Before you think I was fishing for a refund, let me say I was going to leave the place after enjoying great food—albeit plastic buried in it—and maybe, probably, definitely not return again. I wasn't fishing for a refund; wouldn't ask for one, but I was expecting acknowledgement. That's just my nature. Poor customer service equals no return business.
A valued connection of mine, Brian Ahearn, wrote what I consider a great post on his outstanding experience at a Starbucks. (5 Reasons Why Starbucks is so Persuasive) In it he talks about the total experience, not just the food, but the whole package. Beginning with the ambiance a great company creates to the employees who seem to enjoy what they're doing to ease-ability (Starbucks' app.), Starbucks has it going on.
One reason why my experience today left such an impression on me is something Brian would agree is something all employees should have the ability to do; that is the authority to make wise decisions, just like the one the man made. When the company for which you work screws up, make it right.
Like the day Brian wrote his timeless post, I'm sitting in Starbucks moments after my pleasant experience at the noodle restaurant. And like the pleasure he describes at being in Starbucks, I'm experiencing the same. Starbucks will always be number one in my mind.
Kids, if you read this post, thank your ole man for droning on and on about customer service. It is the cornerstone of business.
Top Photo: Flickr, Lucrezia Coralia
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Bob McIntosh, CPRW, is a career trainer who leads more than 17 job search workshops at an urban career center, as well as critiques LinkedIn profiles and conducts mock interviews. Jobseekers and staff look to him for advice on the job search. In addition, Bob has gained a reputation as a LinkedIn authority in the community. Bob’s greatest pleasure is helping people find rewarding careers in a competitive job market. For enjoyment, he blogs at Things Career Related. Follow Bob on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bob_mcintosh_1; connect with him on LinkedIn, https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/bobmcintosh; read his blog, https://www.thingscareerrelated.com
Operations Manager at Atos Global IT Solutions
9 年Nice Article... Quality plays key role in Customer service. Whether you are delivering from people (in terms in reactions or responses) or from product.
Founder, Digital Marketing Stream | Marketing Executive | Helping Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Drive Sales through TV Streaming and Digital Marketing | IBM & Polaroid Alum
9 年Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Customer Retention are critical to any business, whether it be a small business, or a large company. VoC (Voice of Customer) is so important, and if a business does not get the feedback from their customers, then it is hard for them to realize they would have a retention problem. Customer voices need to be heard, whether it be at point of sale, or through other means of communicating with customers such as surveys. Great article Bob.
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9 年Absolutely!
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9 年Interesting! learnt handful things from the short but captivating article on imbibing a good customer service etiquette . Bob McIntosh, CPRW, MBTI thanks for sharing!