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Heroic Customer Service!
posted: Friday, September 4, 2009
We have talked often about the idea that we all make mistakes, that a professional salesperson learns from their mistakes and then moves on. No matter how hard we try, there are going to be times that we are just unable to satisfy the customer. However, what I want to tell you today is a story that is about a customer who was 90% satisfied but the salesperson still went the extra mile and went above and beyond the call of duty.
My nephew recently sent flowers to his girlfriend for her birthday, which was on a Monday. He set the delivery for Monday through the internet; however, they are not open on Mondays. Through some hole in the system, the on-line ordering does not recognize that the flower shop is closed on Mondays. Because of the glitch in the system, they were delivered on Friday. His girlfriend does not work on Fridays, so the flowers sat in her office for 3 days before she got to see them.
Now the flowers were still gorgeous and his girlfriend was ecstatic, however my nephew still wanted to call, not to complain, but just to inform them that they may want to fix that hiccup in the ordering system. He later received a call back apologizing for the mix up and was told that his girlfriend would be receiving another bouquet of flowers, on the house. Now remember, he was never upset or dissatisfied at all with the service or the flowers. This company still felt it was important to totally satisfy the customer and that they did.
The point is this, it is obvious when a customer is very upset and there are going to be times when you have to attempt to rectify those situations. In this case, though, the salesperson had the opportunity to take an already satisfied customer and turn them into a completely satisfied customer. By making a simple gesture like the one the flower shop did in the example above, not only did they completely satisfy the customer this time but they also did two other things. One, they now have a repeat customer. Two, they also have two people who I'll bet will tell a lot of people this story that I am telling you.
They say the squeaky wheel always gets the grease, just don't forget to apply a little grease and look for opportunities to provide heroic customer service.
FINAO - Brad Huisken - President, IAS Training
My nephew recently sent flowers to his girlfriend for her birthday, which was on a Monday. He set the delivery for Monday through the internet; however, they are not open on Mondays. Through some hole in the system, the on-line ordering does not recognize that the flower shop is closed on Mondays. Because of the glitch in the system, they were delivered on Friday. His girlfriend does not work on Fridays, so the flowers sat in her office for 3 days before she got to see them.
Now the flowers were still gorgeous and his girlfriend was ecstatic, however my nephew still wanted to call, not to complain, but just to inform them that they may want to fix that hiccup in the ordering system. He later received a call back apologizing for the mix up and was told that his girlfriend would be receiving another bouquet of flowers, on the house. Now remember, he was never upset or dissatisfied at all with the service or the flowers. This company still felt it was important to totally satisfy the customer and that they did.
The point is this, it is obvious when a customer is very upset and there are going to be times when you have to attempt to rectify those situations. In this case, though, the salesperson had the opportunity to take an already satisfied customer and turn them into a completely satisfied customer. By making a simple gesture like the one the flower shop did in the example above, not only did they completely satisfy the customer this time but they also did two other things. One, they now have a repeat customer. Two, they also have two people who I'll bet will tell a lot of people this story that I am telling you.
They say the squeaky wheel always gets the grease, just don't forget to apply a little grease and look for opportunities to provide heroic customer service.
FINAO - Brad Huisken - President, IAS Training
