Saturday, February 20, 2010
Babysitting
My wife is a wonderful woman. She routinely babysits for friends and family. On Thursday of this last week she was watching some of our friends' children for them. Our oldest son needed to take a nap. He and our friends' oldest son are the same age. As my wife put our son in bed his little friend came running back to play. My wife looked up and when he saw her he realized that it wasn't play time. My wife instructed him to go back to the family room and that she would be there in a minute. He quickly turned around and, with his eyes still on our son, began to rapidly (he ran) return to the family room. He took a couple of steps and ran right into the corner of the doorway smacking his head. My wife said that it left a pretty nasty mark all across the side of his face. He was alright, it was just a typical little kid injury but she wanted to make sure that his mom was aware of what happened. She picked up the phone and called her to let her know. Our friend was appreciative that my wife had the courtesy and took the time to call and let her know what happened and that everyone/everything was alright. Perfect example of outstanding customer service: going the extra mile.
Answering Machine
A few weeks ago I had an appointment with a local doctor's office. Because of inclement weather the appointment needed to be rescheduled. They called my cell phone and left a message (I wasn't able to answer at the time) informing me that their office would be closed that day and that we needed to reschedule. They asked that I call them back to do so. Later that afternoon I gave them a call and recieved the answering machine. The message was a typical doctor's office message "You have reached Dr. So and So's practice. Our normal business hours are 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday. If you are calling during our normal business hours and receive this message we must be on the phone or assisting another customer..." Then the recorded message ended and I waited for a second expecting to hear a beep after which I could leave a message. Instead of a beep a computerized voice said "This system is unable to accept messages please call again." I was blown away. At first I thought that this was a bad joke that some bored receptionist tried to play with the patients so that she wouldn't have to return any phone calls, so I waited another few seconds. Then the line was disconnected. I was hung up on by the doctor's office.
An important lesson in customer service was reinforced to me on this day: Do unto others as you would have done unto you (it is also known as the "Golden Rule"). Why did the office ask me to call them back to reschedule if they knew I wasn't going to be able to leave a message? Well, maybe there was just a problem in the system that day. It's possible, sometimes it happens. But there is just as good a chance that it is always like that, you simply can't leave a message. If the receptionist that called me to cancel the appointment would have told me not to call that day as they would not be there and I wouldn't be able to leave a message I would have thought it strange but appreciated the courtesy. If I were consulting with this doctor's office I would strongly recommend that the answering machine/service be one of the first things that change.
I called them back another day and did speak with the receptionist who was kind and helpful and I was able to reschedule my appointment but what a silly answering system to have in place.
An important lesson in customer service was reinforced to me on this day: Do unto others as you would have done unto you (it is also known as the "Golden Rule"). Why did the office ask me to call them back to reschedule if they knew I wasn't going to be able to leave a message? Well, maybe there was just a problem in the system that day. It's possible, sometimes it happens. But there is just as good a chance that it is always like that, you simply can't leave a message. If the receptionist that called me to cancel the appointment would have told me not to call that day as they would not be there and I wouldn't be able to leave a message I would have thought it strange but appreciated the courtesy. If I were consulting with this doctor's office I would strongly recommend that the answering machine/service be one of the first things that change.
I called them back another day and did speak with the receptionist who was kind and helpful and I was able to reschedule my appointment but what a silly answering system to have in place.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
US Cellular
My wife and I made some changes recently to our cell phone service; our phones had been through different carriers and we finally decided to consolidate onto one family plan. I gave them a call the other day to discuss the details and get things set up for us to make the switch and after being on hold for over 10 minutes ended up having a pleasant experience.
The man that I spoke with was knowledgeable and able to help me with what I needed. Other than the fact that he tried to sell me more services (but that's his job), it was quick and easy. It took less time than I was on hold. He even threw me a bone (though I am sure he throws it to all of his customers) by waving the activation fee for me ($30). My wife is now on my cell plan and we should have her new phone in just a few days.
There are three lessons that we can learn from this brief interaction:
1. Make sure that the employees who work with your customers know everything they need to (or know how to find the answers/information they need) to help
2. Be quick, most of the time customers don't want to be patronized (however, don't forget to be kind). They are busy and need to get things done, working with you is usually just an item on their to do list and helping them quickly shows respect for them
3. Make the customer feel special/important. By throwing me a bone I felt like US Cellular appreciated my business; waving the fee made me feel important because they made an exception for me (and if they do it for everyone I still saved $30 which is almost as valuable :) )
The man that I spoke with was knowledgeable and able to help me with what I needed. Other than the fact that he tried to sell me more services (but that's his job), it was quick and easy. It took less time than I was on hold. He even threw me a bone (though I am sure he throws it to all of his customers) by waving the activation fee for me ($30). My wife is now on my cell plan and we should have her new phone in just a few days.
There are three lessons that we can learn from this brief interaction:
1. Make sure that the employees who work with your customers know everything they need to (or know how to find the answers/information they need) to help
2. Be quick, most of the time customers don't want to be patronized (however, don't forget to be kind). They are busy and need to get things done, working with you is usually just an item on their to do list and helping them quickly shows respect for them
3. Make the customer feel special/important. By throwing me a bone I felt like US Cellular appreciated my business; waving the fee made me feel important because they made an exception for me (and if they do it for everyone I still saved $30 which is almost as valuable :) )
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