In this society we often switch our identities between servers and servees. What do you feel when you’re being served?
Yuan-Liou Publishing Co. once published a book, “How to move your customer”. There was a story about customer service that took place in a simple westernized restaurant (with a la carte meals with coffees). I think everyone could relate to this experience: in the somewhat hectic lunch time, the coffees that are supposed to come after the meal are either forgotten or needed to be urged several times. If there are several people having lunch together, sometimes the waiter would dish out coffees all at once. In this incidence, the slower eater would have to drink ‘cold’ coffee. Worst case scenario, when the slower eater asks the waiter to bring the coffee later on, the request is somehow ignored and the coffee never served, leaving the rest of the table waiting in vain. You may perhaps receive better service in a fancy restaurant because the average price is higher and therefore the waiter does not need to look after too many people at once.
However, that was not the case described in the book. The female interviewee said, “Bringing out coffee in a timely manner seems to be a trivial thing but it is important for the customers, therefore, we really enjoy this restaurant that could bring the customers a cup of coffee at the right time.” In the hustle bustle lunch time, waiters’ may experience tremendous pressure and therefore they must pay extra attention to bring the coffees to the customers in a timely manner. In order to take heed of customers’ in different tables, the waiters must make rounds more often. The waiters in this restaurant adopted the ‘instant respondence’ service attitude and quickly responded to customers’ needs. This is how they move the customers.
▲Source of picture: http://www.deviantart.com
Customer Service Should Surpass System, and Exceed Imagination
A while ago, there was a jaw-dropping customer service tale circulated on the internet. It’s titled “The Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told”, starring Morton’s Steakhouse. This incident happened to a New Yorker, Mr. Shankman. He needed to catch a flight at 7am from Newark to Florida for a meeting. He planned to fly back at 5pm that day, and he estimated that if everything went right, he might get back to Newark airport around 8:10pm and be home by 9pm or so. It was a super busy day for Mr. Shankman. When he made it to the airport, planning to take the 4:30pm flight back to Newark, he didn’t have any time to stop for dinner. He didn’t want to grab any fast food at the airport either, so all he could think of before boarding was his favorite gourmet steak.
Mr. Shankman is an avid steak lover. He’s tweeted and shared about all the delicious steaks he had had when he travelled around the world for business. He is also a fan of Morton’s Steakhouses and frequents this steakhouse very often. Mr. Shankman knows that Morton’s Steakhouses’ CRM (Customer Relations Management System) must have his information because he makes reservation via mobile phone and whenever he walks in the restaurant, their service personnel can always greet him by his name.
Mr. Shankman jokingly tweeted the following before the flight took off:
▲Source of picture: http://shankman.com/the-best-customer-service-story-ever-told-starring-mortons-steakhouse
▲Source of picture: http://shankman.com/the-best-customer-service-story-ever-told-starring-mortons-steakhouse
In fact the author might really just joke about it. You and me would’ve assumed it was a joke because who knows which flight Mr. Shankman may take? What time does it land? Would there be any delay? Or whether Mr. Shankman may change his itinerary out of the blue? The closest Morton’s Steakhouse must be still pretty far from the airport! Besides, one could clearly see it’s a joke that a customer made. However, when Mr. Shankman arrived at the airport, Alex, from Morton’s Hackensack walked up to him, and handed him a bag. Inside the bag were a 24 oz. Porterhouse steak, an order of Colossal Shrimp, a side of potatoes, one of Morton’s famous round things of bread, two napkins, and silverware.
▲Source of picture: http://shankman.com/the-best-customer-service-story-ever-told-starring-mortons-steakhouse
According to Mr. Shankman, Morton’s Hackensack is 23.5 miles from Newark airport which is roughly 37.8km. If one were to get on the highway from Taipei, he/she would’ve made it to Yang-Mei by then. That meant within these three hours, someone at Morton’s had to see his tweet, got authorization to send the food to the airport. Then they needed to find a closest branch to cook the order while tracking down Mr. Shankman’s flight and landing time. They had to find someone to get on a car with the boxed meal and drove to the airport to find Mr. Shankman. Too many things could go wrong in this process, there was no certainty in any of these, it shouldn’t have worked. But Mr. Shankman swore on tweeter that this actually happened to him.
As Mr. Shankman mentioned in his book, customer service is no longer about telling people how great you are. It’s about producing amazing moments in time, and letting those moments become the focal point of how amazing you are, told not by you, but by the customer who you thrilled. They tell their friends, and the trust level goes up at a factor of a thousand. We live in a world where everyone you meet is a broadcaster. Look around. Think of all your friends, all your colleagues. Do you know anyone anymore who doesn’t have a camera in their phone, or anyone who doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account?
These two customer service stories: one from an on-site waiter, who executed ‘instant respondence’ perfectly, another, determined to delightfully surprise the customer. A company is an organism, if you wish to accomplish all these, it may require a sound authorization system so staff could respond in the shortest amount of time. However, every unit in the company also needs to collaborate and adapt accordingly. The concept of customer service on all fronts combined with execution power is the only way to make the seemingly impossible, possible. Not only possible, but it will become a perfect customer service marketing tale.
Original Article:
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