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 :) )