Miracle on 34th Street

One of my favorite parts in the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" is when Kris Kringle, acting as the Macy's Santa Claus, begins directing parents to other stores to purchase toys that Macy's doesn't carry. The parents love and appreciate this. Macy's management is at first upset and then realize all of the goodwill it is creating with their customers and adopt the practice throughout the store.

I remembered this part of the movie this afternoon as I was speaking with a friend. He was recounting to me an experience that one of his friends had recently with a college admissions office. This friend is thinking about going back to school to finish their bachelor's degree. They were speaking to an admissions representative at the college they were originally planning to attend. The two were discussing prior credits, plans for the future, and the reason for going back to school. After discussing all of this the admissions representative did something out of the ordinary: he recommended that they attend another university to complete the bachelor's degree. He explained his reasoning: at the other college it would only take a year and a half to complete and would be cheaper (there may have been another reason or two but these were the main ones). He also mentioned one of the cons: that at the other school there were only a few majors to choose from. However, this didn't matter too much because they did have a teaching program which is what the prospective student wanted to study. The friend of a friend was very thankful for the help that the admissions counselor provided and highly satisfied with the interaction. There are no hard feelings or animosity toward the original school. Sure they may have lost one student this year but the good things that could come of this down the road (i.e. possible referrals, future donations, positive word of mouth, etc) far outweigh losing one student.

Congratulations to the school that hired such a down to earth, friendly, and helpful admissions counselor. That's idea behind customer service: to help the customer get what they want (even if sometimes they don't yet know what they want).

Small and Simple Things, Round Two

This last weekend my wife and I went to a new restaurant with our kids and my wife's sister's family. The restaurant is called Macado's and they thought that we would like it because it is a sandwich joint and my favorite food is sandwiches. We had a great time. The food was delicious, the atmosphere enjoyable, and the company pleasant. These were all things I expected and had they been the only things I would have been satisfied and probably returned in the future. However, the thing that ensured that I would return was a simple gesture of kindness performed by our waitress for our oldest son. There was a group on the other side of the room from where we were having a small birthday party. The waitress had given the children helium balloons (I didn't even notice, my wife did). As she walked by where we were seated she stopped and gave a balloon to our son. He was ecstatic! (we still have the balloon in our dining room tied to a chair. Even though it has lost the helium he won't let us throw it away). We thanked her and as she walked away my wife looked at me and said "I feel a blog post coming on." She was right. It is the small and simple things that build customer loyalty. It is the small and simple things that make people feel good, tell their friends, and keep coming again and again.