What constitutes great customer service? It’s a terrific question to ask friends or colleagues. Everyone has a story about good AND bad customer service. I’m no different. We are fortunate to have companies like Nordstrom and Costco headquartered here in the Northwest that are shining examples of corporations that have significantly enhanced their reputation by empowering their employees to do what’s right by the customer. It is a simple concept, but takes dedication and commitment from the top down.
Positive experiences are not always the case and we have all suffered through experiences that defy reality. What are they thinking? How hard is it to “make it right”? It causes one to think do I really want to do business with here again. With all of the choices available to consumers the Internet has enabled, bad customer service should not exist – but it does. Fortunately the Internet has also fostered a wide range of companies that understand customer service and how it is critical to their financial success. Zappo’s immediately leaps to mind.
My first experience with great customer service happened before I really understood what customer service meant. I was about 14 years old shopping at the old Nordstrom flagship store in downtown Seattle. I was riding up the escalator and as kids are apt to do I was goofing around. At the top where the stairs begin to disappear the toe of my ratty, old Converse tennis shoes got caught in the teeth of the stairs. Fortunately I quickly curled my toes while the stairs were trying to eat my shoes and avoided a serious injury. A Nordstrom salesperson saw what happened and rushed over to make sure I was okay and without even batting an eye took me over to the shoe department and gave me a new pair of tennis shoes. Over 30 years later I still remember that experience like it was yesterday and the way the situation was handled.
Some years later I was in the San Juan Islands here in Washington vacationing over the 4th of July on a family friend’s small, private island. My cousin and I were setting off fireworks and suddenly one fell over and began shooting sparks into the high, dry grass. The grass caught fire and as we were running over to try and extinguish the flames I pulled off my Levi’s jean jacket and used it as a blanket to put out the small but growing fire. Upon returning to Seattle I wrote a letter to Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco to let them know how their product had “saved the island”. Their return letter to me included a coupon for a new jean jacket. I was floored. I still have and wear the jacket.
Last month I sent a photo to Reef and their parent company VF Corp. I love my Reef flip flops and not too long ago our chocolate lab decided they might make a nice chew toy. I took a photo of Mele with the now useless flip flops and decided to send it to Reef as I thought they might enjoy a good laugh.
A few days later I was on Zappo’s ordering a pair of replacement flip flops and received a nice email from VF corporate communications and an offer to shop in their VIP store.
I bought a new pair of flips flops, a pair of board shorts as well as flip flops and board shorts for the kids. I loved the product before and their kind gesture only strengthened my loyalty. Great move.
It’s moments like these that only reinforce my core belief to always strive to exceed expectations for my clients and their customers.
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