It is rare that you hear people talk about excellent customer service. You know it’s out there, but it is rare that people shout about it from social media. You will always see the negative customer service blast from the rooftops.
The other day I was in Paducah, Kentucky where I had an appointment with acupuncture and natural path doctor. I drive two hours to Paducah every two weeks and make it a sightseeing visit each time. It started out with the local coffee shops, and then the most talked about a bakery in town called Kirchhoff’s Bakery and deli that will cause you to ruin any diet you are on within 3 seconds of walking in the door.
The energy in the shops I have visited was the warmest, inviting, fun experience that I decided to check out more local shops.
I used my Yelp app to pull up places to eat. I had heard of McAlister’s Deli but never had the experience. I turned on the GPS and followed it 3 miles down the road.
How to deliver excellent customer service
#1 is knowing your customers and respond quickly. People love the personalization, good eye contact, knowing their name or making them feel like they matter. In this day and time of social media, it only takes a few tweets or Facebook post to scar your reputation. Taking care of mistakes quickly for customers to return to your service or start lousy lip service.
Go the extra mile
It is the small simple things you can do for someone that keeps them coming back and puts a smile on their face. Think long term when dealing with customers. By keeping customers happy, they will be loyal and through word of mouth, will do the marketing for you. In fact, according to author Pete Blackshaw, a satisfied customer tells at least three friends (whereas an angry customer tells 3,000!)
How important is it to deliver excellent customer service?
Customer service has an impact on both existing customers and potential customers. A recent survey found that 68% of consumers would react by telling family and friends about a bad experience by posting it on a social network. And as each Facebook profile has an average of 229 friends, the reach of this experience can quickly reach thousands.
Did you know that 86% of people who took surveys said they were willing to pay more for a better customer service experience? Over 70% said that friendly customer service made them fall in love with a brand, which turns them into loyal customers.
Let me tell you about Sheree at McAlister’s Deli in Paducah Kentucky
I walk into the deli and immediately love the feel of the deli. I heard a “Welcome to McAlister’s” come from the front counter while they were taking orders from two people in front of me. When it was my turn to approach the counter to give my order the phone rang, and the young lady took the call in the order. I wasn’t in a hurry and stood drooling over the cookies that were placed on the counter to suck you into buying one. It worked… I grabbed two and laid them on the counter.
When the call was complete, a charming young lady said: “Hello Beautiful how can I help you?” How could you not smile at someone calling you beautiful? She had me at hello. I gave her my order and pushed the fresh baked cookies toward her to include in my purchase.
With a huge smile, on her face, she pushed them back to me and said; “These are my gifts, to you since you were so patient with me being on the phone making you wait.”
WOW – ok! Thanks.
She handed me my receipt, asking me to fill out the survey, about my “new favorite place in the world to eat.” She educated me about the app and how I could use it for my convenience for the next time I come back “because you know you want to come back after you eat this delicious sandwich today.”
I chuckled! I loved her forward happy smile telling you upfront how great your food was going to be and how you for sure want to come back. I hadn’t even seen the sandwich at that point and I knew I wanted to stop back by again someday.
Of course, the food was as good as she predicted she even came to the table to make sure it was as amazing as she described.
As a business owner all I could think of was WOW – wouldn’t it be amazing to have “Sheree” in my business. I grabbed my phone and left a review on Yelp to make sure McAlister company knew they had a fantastic valuable lady working on their team. The fun part they tweeted me back before I got to my car.
I filled out the survey, she asked and told them about the visit there like she asked me to do. I was one of many other people had also left lots and lots of reviews. All are speaking great things about their visit to this business.
Why am I telling you about my visit to a deli in Paducah Kentucky?
Because how you make people feel matters. People won’t remember the taste of the special sauce on the sandwich, but they will remember how you make them feel from the front door to the exit.
I hope this young lady gets lots of gratitude from her company. What a fun thing to experience and as a business owner I pay attention to the small things when I enter a business. I ordered a sandwich and got a smile (and amazing free cookies) plus excellent customer service. Thank you, Sheree, for being amazingly you!!
Don’t keep this review blog post to yourself share it with the social buttons. Help me share the love.
Most people know that social media is a useful recruiting tool, but they struggle with what exactly to say to start the conversation. Grab your free tips to starting a conversation ==> “How to start a conversation on social media.” You will be surprised how often you are already doing these simple tips but not using them on social media.
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