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Customer Service Blog
| Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 |
| Service Has Gone to the Dogs |
| By Wendy Gillett |
| Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 02:15 |
| I travel a lot. By car, by plane, by train. You name it and I have been there. My husband and have always enjoyed going places and seeing things not only for business but also for pleasure. And on a regular basis we have a 4-legged travel buddy, our dog Caliope.
And when we travel we need to sleep.
Now I know that there are some that shudder at the site of us walking into a lobby with our big pawed friend. She has received smiles and sideways glances from all ends of the price spectrum from the 4 Seasons to some fairly scary holes-in-the-walls. There are also many hotels that do not accept pets and that is ok because I want to talk now to the hotels that say they do accept pets.
If you say you do than you have to do it right.
Over the weekend we traveled down to Long Beach for a quick overnight stay. I called ahead to find a hotel that accepted my girl. When I found one I made a reservation and asked for a bottom floor to make it easier for those k-9 nocturnal outings.
Now I am not that picky when it comes to my hotel choices because I know that when you travel with a dog it can be slim pickins but what I do expect is to be offered the basics. By that I mean just give me what makes sense.
When I arrived for my room they had placed me on the 12th floor. I mentioned that when I made my reservation I had asked for a bottom floor. The manager told me that they did not have any of their "dog" floors available and that the only floor they set aside for dogs was the second floor anyway.
The 12th floor was ridiculous but even the 2nd floor was downright silly. Why would a hotel that would like to please their pet friendly customers make it so difficult for us to have a pleasant experience?
I often look at the policies put in place in all different sorts of businesses and wonder if the people who created the policies had ever actually gone through the motions of the exercise.
For example if any of the hotel managers had ever been awoken in the middle of the night by their cuddly pooch who insisted on going out for a potty break they would never have insisted that we be put on the 12th or even the 2nd floor.
Anyone who has ever owned a dog that is in her senior years would know that it is painful to walk up and down stairs (not to mention noisy for the bottom floors) as all 4 legs move clumsily up the steps.
And certainly dog people are aware that dogs hear everything and therefore your best luck for keeping everyone in the hotel happy is not to place the dog in the center of the hotel but on an edge where they are the least intrusive.
So my question is this: Are the people making these policies dog owners? If not do they consult a dog owner to ask for some tips?
My advice is to make sure that your policies not only benefit the customer but that you also are making sure the policy makes sense so that you truly are offering the best service you can. |
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| Sunday, Jul 06, 2008 |
| Can you spell service? |
| By Wendy Gillett |
| Sunday, Jul 06, 2008 08:14 |
| Last week a friend of mine was sick. I mean really sick. The kind of sick where his stomach ailment did not allow him the freedom to leave his home without a restroom nearby. After 5 days of suffering through the problems attributed with the "D" word he finally went to the doctor for an antidote. On his way home he made a seemingly innocent stop at the drugstore to fill the prescription and that is where he encountered a unique customer service disaster.
After offering up his paperwork to the lady behind the window he was asked to wait with the rest of eager hopefuls for the filled container of relief.
A few minutes into his wait the lady behind the counter apparently encountered a spelling error and asked her co-worker to help her. "How do you spell diarrhea?" she asked loud enough for everyone to hear including my mortified friend. Unfortunately her co-worker did not hear her. "What?" she responded. "How do you spell diarrhea?" she repeated louder so that now everyone in the pharmacy was alerted to the issue at hand. "I don't know" she responded.
"Does anyone know how to spell diarrhea" she bellowed out to the snickering helpless customers who secretly no doubt were all wondering to whom this spelling bee was meat for.
And with that my friend was forced to announce to the room (by way of being the only one who could spell it) that he was the one suffering from the hard-to-spell affliction.
Now sure, we all go through gastrointestinal worries in our life so I get that it is normal and accepted. But is it so widely accepted that if we go to a place of business they will not observe the customary niceties?
I do believe that customer service is real people giving real service but we must draw the line somewhere and make sure we are still offering it in a professional manner.
I just hope that when it comes time for me to get my medicine the ladies at the pharmacy learn that when offering extraordinary service rule number one is making your customer feel comfortable and welcome.
On second thought maybe we should spell it out for them ... |
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| Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 |
| My Nightmare Trip to the Airport |
| By Wendy Gillett |
| Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 11:56 |
| So, who wants to hear about my worst trip to the airport ever and how customer service came to my rescue?
Ok last week my husband and I took a trip to Seattle to visit family and the drive to the airport was one of the worst car experiences of my life.
First of all it was one of the hottest days in Southern California history (a record high of 113 degrees) as we dove through Los Angeles. It was this day that our car decided to create havoc under the hood in the way of overheating. That meant no air conditioning as we inched our way down the freeway. And when I say inched I mean inched. A drive that should have taken 90 minutes took us 4 hours. We arrived literally within minutes of our departure and ended our nightmare by running through the airport to our gate.
Now here is the part where customer service saved me.
After this long, sweaty drive that seemed to take forever I thought I would never get comfortable again. Then I met Noelle.
Noelle was our stewardess on JetBlue airlines and she took a miserable day and turned it around in an instant with a smile.
The minute we sat in our seats she offered us her kindness (not to mention some really yummy snacks) and changed our day for the better.
Thats all it takes. A kind smile. A positive attitude. A friendly demeanor and she changed our whole day around and made us feel welcome.
Thanks to Noelle for making the whole experience end on a positive note.
You know it only takes one employee to change a life! |
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| Wednesday, Jun 11, 2008 |
| Now that's How to Do It! |
| By Wendy Gillett |
| Wednesday, Jun 11, 2008 01:03 |
| Since customer service is my thing I am keenly aware of when good service happens and when, well lets just say, not so good service happens. I get all kinds to be sure but I am still overjoyed when I get WOW service. Tonight I was coming home from the radio show and I realized I had to stop at the drug store to pick up some odds and ends. At check out the employee behind the counter advised me that there was a coupon available for one of my items in the basket. He then pointed me to the little money saver and held my place in line while I retrieved it. WOW! I thanked him for looking out for me with the coupon tip. And then he said something so wise, so smart and yet so simple. He said "Well we have the coupons, we want you to save money so you keep coming back".
Yes that is the point of coupons. For me to use them, save money and then come back.
Sometimes as businesses we forget that we put systems in place to encourage our customers to spend with us.
Now compare this to an experience my cohost had just last week while stopping by his favorite donut shop. He asked the kid behind the counter why the signature sign was not on out front letting customers know about the fresh hot donuts that were ready for consumption. "Well" replied the employee "whenever I put on the sign so many customers come in that it gets crazy in here so I don't use it" Um ... wow. |
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| Tuesday, May 27, 2008 |
| What has happened to service? |
| By Wendy Gillett |
| Tuesday, May 27, 2008 12:41 |
| I have one question: When did I become the enemy? I was at the grocery store yesterday just picking up a few things. As I was walking out with my filled cart I realized I made an extra unnecessary purchase. I ventured to the"Customer Care" desk with trepidation and approached the employee behind the desk. I explained that I needed to return an item I had just purchased, which to me seemed reasonable and normal. However, she looked at me with the perplexed blank stare employees save for just such an occasion. She took the item and rang up my return. She made no small talk. She didn't smile. She did her best to make me feel like I had done something horribly wrong by daring to approach her. I kept wondering "who pooped in her cheerios"?
As she gave me my money back for the item I noticed that she had refunded me too much money. So I once again entered the den of despair to let her know. Once again no smile. No thank you. Nothing.
So I ask again: When did I become the enemy?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please email me at wendy@extraordinarycustomerservice.com |
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| Tuesday, May 20, 2008 |
| Welcome to my Blog! |
| By Wendy Gillett |
| Tuesday, May 20, 2008 02:28 |
| Well, it had to happen eventually.
I tried to fight it.
But I knew technology would soon invite me to join in on the future. So here I am writing my blog.
You see I love to write articles, converse on my radio show and even talk in front of hundreds of people during my seminars but for some reason I resisted the notion of a blog because I thought the medium was not for me. But now that I am here I must say; I am hooked! So get ready to be bombarded with my concerns about customer service, my nominations for the business "big dogs" and even my current complaints. I have pulled out my virtual soap box to give you my thoughts on customer service. I will bring you current events in the news as it pertains to your customers and give you my ideas on how you can change your life and your business through a different philosophy that centers around service.
So here it goes.
What happened to customer service? There was a time when you could not walk into a business without being bathed in courtesy. There was a time when employees went out of their way to make you feel welcome and wanted. I have seen evidence of it in movies so I know it wasn't that long ago. But somewhere along the way our society decided that it was unnecessary to focus on the customer and offer extraordinary service.
Last week I was looking for a gift for someone which caused me to go from store to store while on the search. It is amazing how jaded you can become about customer service when you see it up close and personal like that in a concentrated way. This shopping spree reminded me how depressing it can be to spend time in a business. I came home feeling unwelcome and unwanted. Several places I entered never even gave me a hello. One employee in particular spent the entire time on the telephone with her boyfriend and then there was the place that made me leave because I was carrying a cup of coffee... with a lid. But really how hard would it have been to simply show me some kindness. Pay attention to me when I walk in the door. And maybe, just maybe allow me to walk around the store with my coffee without making me feel like a criminal. When did we decide customer service was not needed?
Well I am here to tell you that the companies that remember the importance of service are the ones who will win the almighty dollar.
Today while I was searching the internet for the newest information I came across this interesting article regarding some advice from the Better Business Bureau on the importance of customer service. Check it out.
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/BUSINESS/805180315/1046
With a Smile,
Wendy Gillett www.ExtraordinaryCustomerService.com
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Wendy Gillett