reason2return: a fresh response to something not so fresh!

The Attitude of Customer Service

When I do business with someone I expect them to give me a reason to return. If they don't give me a reason to return, it is very unlikely that I will.
Today's market is full of OPTIONS! I don't have to do business with you, I can go to your competitor. So give me a reason to return to do business with you. This may sound demanding, but that isn't my intention. What I am looking for is evidence that you want my business. You realize that your business wouldn't be in business if it weren't for me, the customer.
My passion for outstanding costomer service began taking root when I was 16. The week I turned 16 I got my first job at the golden arches. Yes, McDonalds restaurant. I had the great fortune of working for one of the best restaurant owners I have come across in my lifetime. Hugh McHugh ran that McDonalds like it was a fine-dining restaurant. He had high standards of excellence and he expected every employee to practice them. What I learned from Mr. McHugh was the importance of little things like a smile, a sincere greeting, using the right words, communication with your co-workers, etc. To this day if I make change for someone I say "One dollar and ninety-two cents" as opposed to "one ninety-two" or "here's your change". Some may question why that would matter. I suppose to some degree it really doesn't matter. Yet it is establishing a level of excellence. It says, "we care enough about you to speak properly." Its really about the attitude that is communicated by those little things.

Monday, December 17, 2007

a fresh response to something not so fresh!

I'll admit it... I'm a die hard bargain hunter, a total sucker for a red tag. Here in Indiana we have a great chain of stores from Michigan called Meijers. Meijers carries everything from from clothing to groceries. (Its my preferred alternative to the world wide chain out of Arkansas) One of the things I enjoy is doing my grocery shopping on Monday after the weekend rush. On Mondays I can get meat on clearance at because it didn't sell over the weekend. I have made many purchases like this and never had a negative experience...until last week. I bought a chicken and went to use it the next day but discovered it did not smell like anything I cared to eat. I threw the meat away and decided to just count it as a loss since I had not kept my receipt (I'm not in the habit of keeping my grocery receipts). Later that week I was in my Meijer store (Goshen, Indiana) and decided to just let the service desk know what had happened. I told the employee there that I expected nothing, but was simply letting them know that they might want to be more careful in the future. She promptly called her manager and asked him to come talk to me. I told him what had happened and assured him that I expected nothing in but was simply informing him. He asked me what I had paid for the meat and I told him it was merely $4 and no big deal. He turned to the customer service desk and told them to take $10 from the drawer and give it to me. Now THAT'S customer service. As far as he was concerned I could have been making the entire story up, but to him it was more important to him that Meijers go the extra mile and retain a loyal customer than to require me to have a "receipt". By the way, before he offered me the $10 I had already told him that this single "bad meat" experience would not keep me from shopping at Meijers in the future.

Thank you Meijers for a FRESH take on customer service!!!

http://www.meijer.com/home.jsp