Is Customer Service Being Redefined?

I'm a stickler for customer service, and probably a little tougher than most on what I expect from customer service.  So when I experience service that really goes above and beyond, I want to tell people about it.  In this case, I've had two situations that really impressed me.

• Earlier this month, I took a trip with some friends to go snowboarding in Colorado.  Getting out there involved a lot of traveling - a very early start, three flights, and a few hours of layovers.  When we got to the Denver airport though ... wow!  If you've never been there, it's one of the cleanest and prettiest airports I've ever seen.  Lots of lights, clean and bright, very easy to get from point A to point B ... so there's three guys, three boards, two board bags and we're all tired.  All the bags show up at baggage claim, but the boards do not.  Ugh ... kind of important when you're going snowboarding!  When we approached customer service at baggage claim about the bags, we weren't real optimistic we'd be getting them - past experience told us otherwise, and we'd forgotten to take the baggage claim ticket with us.  Two strikes.  But the woman at the desk happily listened to our problem - well, it LOOKED like she was happy - then plugged our names into her computer.  Within seconds (which really suited my instant gratification fix) she told us where our boards had been shipped, and told us that they'd be arriving on a different plane in 20 minutes.  Then, for our "trouble", she offered us a free meal anywhere in the city of Denver that night ... we were so dumbfounded by her response that none of us actually thought to say yes!  Sure enough, 20 minutes later our boards came through a baggage claim 50 yards away, and we were off on a great trip!  But think of it - thousands of bags are lost every day, no one's ever happy about it, and here this woman deflected our frustration with a pleasant attitude, an explanation and a resolution.  I wish I had gotten her name, but she worked for United - three cheers for United customer service at Denver International Airport.


• Experience #2 just happened recently.  My wife and I just moved into a new house, and we needed to set up high-speed internet at the house.  When I called Comcast - the only cable internet provider in our area - they said it'd take four weeks for a site engineer to determine whether we could have service at the house, since we're in a neighborhood where there's new construction going on.  Never mind the fact that neighbors all around us have high-speed internet ... venting my frustrations, I went to Twitter (more on what Twitter is here) and complained.  MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, within minutes I had a response from a user named @ComcastCares who explained that it was possible a site study wasn't needed, and if I'd email him my address he'd look into it.  Here's a major cable company, who's just been pounded for years over their awful customer service (just Google "Comcast Customer Service Reviews"), addressing MY concerns in a very nontraditional forum - I like it.  I emailed him my address, within 24 hours I had a response from an engineer stating that they could service my address, and then 24 hours LATER I had a phone call from their scheduling center.  It was installed today.  While I'm not a huge fan of Comcast the company, I'm pleased by their response and their initiative to see what people are saying about them and respond in a pleasant and helpful way.

Which gets me thinking ... how am I serving my clients?  Is my Team doing all it can to listen, to converse, to serve?  Am I - as the leader of that Team - doing all I can to serve my Team?  If I have to be honest I'd say no, but I've found inspiration from two very unlikely sources, and I'll be working on that in the future.  How about you?  Are you doing all you can to serve your clients, your friends, your family?  It doesn't matter what your business is, how can you be the best customer service agent there is?  I'd be interested in hearing some of your awesome customer service stories, and how they've influenced you.

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Comments

[Mike Ziray]

Lots of people share their bad experiences, thanks for sharing your good ones!

As for customer service, even after the sale I still talk to my realtor. I ask her about HOA stuff, problems with neighbors and how to resolve those in a civilized manner, getting things fixed that were suppose to be fixed when I bought the place but weren't and anything else that comes up. I'm a first time buyer so I had a few questions going into the sale a year ago, but I had even more questions months after the sale. So I think it's awesome that she's there doing this stuff for free for me, even though she's not getting anything out of it, except maybe a referral down the road.

I've worked in sales before and the thing that always won people over was me telling them I wasn't just selling them a product, but that I was also, personally, supporting that product and would be there personally if anything were to happen to it. I worked as an Apple campus rep for VT, and Apple has the highest customer ratings for 6 years in a row, according to Consumer Reports. So customer support is more important long after the sale than before it and letting people know its there is comforting to them.

[Jeremy Hart]

Thanks Mike - I'm harder than most when it comes to that stuff, I think, and I was so struck by both circumstances I had to tell somebody! We should be doing things for people - your REALTOR example, for instance - not because we hope to get a referral out of it, but simply because it's nice to do. Apple succeeds because they don't jerk their customers around, and they create raving fans. It's the right thing to do, and both your REALTOR and Apple are proving you come out on top by doing just that!

[Missy Caulk]

That is so exciting, I follow comcastcares too.

[BawldGuy Talking]

We stick to our clients from their first transaction with us 'till they retire. Still, we can all do better, can't we?

It's still surprising at times when a client perceives a glitch in service. We jump on it like a frog on a fly, but sometimes end up shaking our heads in amazement. The 'great service' approach can't be beat, but it also sets up some unintended consequences.

Just ask Nordstroms about all the abuse they take with returns. We have that at times. It almost always occurs after they've been with us long enough to expect everything to be seamless, which is of course, a lofty standard, but humanly impossible.

It's a good news/bad news joke. You set the gold standard -- good news. Clients expect you to measure of to that gold standard perfectly at all times -- bad news. :)

Good stuff, Jeremy -- thanks.

[Jeremy Hart]

Missy - anytime a company is willing to do something special to earn your business, they're worth talking about, don't you think?

Bawld Guy - we're human, we'll make mistakes and people will tell others about those mistakes. When we set the standard and raise the bar, it's rarely discussed, and that's okay - we're still doing the right thing, and that's the absolute best job we can for our clients. In the end, THAT's customer service. Thanks for commenting, always enjoy your thoughts!

[Jim Rake]

Great info - you gotta love this blogging stuff. You hit the nail on the head...in this case, with a positive - no - with two postive accounts of great customer service and/or response time. First, thanks for sharing a good story; Second, maybe there is something to that "Twitter thing"; Lastly, thanks for reminder - What are we doing to improve the way we're operating? Reminds me of the old saying, "If you're not moving forward, you're probably moving backward."