You know, providing exceptional customer service ain’t that hard.
Going the extra mile should be a piece of cake. You can do 2 simple things:
- Observe what you customer does
- Ask your customer how you can do better
From that it’s pretty easy to figure out how to be exceptional.
The Company That Doesn’t Care
Here’s a great example of a company who don’t care one little bit.
A few days back I attended a motorbike training day in Brisbane with a well know motorbike training company.
We rocked up, got our gear and bikes and started riding with an instructor. It was a very hot day and at various times during the day the instructor would have us stop riding around the open training centre, take off our jackets and helmet and listen to him for 15 minutes at a time.
We had probably 4 of these breaks during the day, as well as an extended break as each rider was taken through the trickier manoeuvres.
With the sun beating down it was getting uncomfortable. At one stage during the instructor’s talking session we moved ourselves around so we could finally get some shade beside a small tree.
The instructors sat on the little chairs that they’d bought for themselves.
Later on, just prior to a longer road ride, we begged off and walked across to a nearby service station to buy some water.
The Instructor Was Fine – The Company Doesn’t Give A Shit
This motorbike training company puts oodles of people through their various programs. Don’t get me wrong, the instructor was just fine.
It’s the company that doesn’t give a shit.
If the company had any nous, or simply asked their customers, it would be blindingly obvious that 4 simple/cheap things would show they actually care:
- A cap
- A sachet of sunblock
- A complimentary bottle of water
- A chair
4 simple things that will mean that your customer, that’s me forking out close to $200 for a 4 hour session with 3 mates (who all paid the same), isn’t still annoyed with you 5 days later every time he peels dead skin off his blistered nose (that’s my nose above right).
4 simple things that might influence me to recommend you to others rather than badmouth you at every opportunity I get.
Cheers
Brendon
Cheers,
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
It’s the little things that count. An after-sales questionnaire would be a great idea for the company. Or as you suggest in your kit, ask them to rate you out of 10 and if you don’t score a 10 ask why. Kind of reminds me of a similar experience but with two different sales guys…
My fiancee and I were recently looking to buy laminate flooring. We went to a specialist shop, had a good look around for about 20 minutes and not once did the bored looking sales guy behind the counter approach us or even ask if we needed help.
As it happens we found a particular style of flooring we liked so we asked the guy over. Bear in mind we were looking to buy the whole lot in bulk, underlay and everything, as such we asked if there was a discount.
“When are you thinking of buying” he asked
“Pay day is next Friday so we’ll probably be back on the Saturday or Sunday” (a week in other words)
“Come back then and I’ll tell you.” came the reply
We went to another store, a general DIY store, found similar flooring with a 15% reduction. Of course we tried the same trick. This time the guy said that the sale is about to expire soon but they have a 10% discount for the over 60′s on Wednesdays. If we knew someone with one of their discount cards, bring them along and we’ll get a further 10% off.
Guess who got the sale.