My wife and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on April 3. After a trip to Tiffany & Co. for her surprise gifts, I made online reservations at a local restaurant. The reservation had a box where they asked you to put any special information they should know about our visit. Since anniversaries were listed as one of the examples, I decided to write in "17th wedding anniversary."
We arrived for our dinner some 15 minutes ahead of our reservation time and I fully expected to have to wait. We walked in and I told the hostess that we were a little early and were happy to wait. She asked my name, retrieved my reservation, and said, "Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Miller. Please follow me and we'll go ahead and get you seated."
We arrived at our table to find our waitress waiting for us. The host introduced us to her at which time she said, "Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Miller. Our chef has a special surprise for you before you leave this evening." She returned with our drinks and asked for our appetizer and salad orders. Her comment about the chef's surprise left us with a sense of anticipation for the rest of the meal.
When the server brought our bread and salads out, he said, "Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Miller."
While we ate our salads, the manager came to our table and greeted us by saying, "Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Miller. Thank you for celebrating your special night with us. Is this your first time dining with us? We hope you have a wonderful experience. Perhaps you'll want to return for our special Easter, Mother's Day, or Father's Day brunches." After the experience so far, I was actually considering returning for all three!
We enjoyed a dessert after our delicious meals and I paid our bill. The waitress returned with our receipt and two boxes of chocolates as our special anniversary surprise from the chef. She wished us a happy anniversary again as she left the table.
Imagine my surprise when I awoke on Sunday morning to check my email and find a message from the restaurant manager and chef thanking us for dining with them the night before and asking us to come back and see them real soon.
After the personal attention they showed us, you can be assured we'll return. And just as I'm doing with this blog post, I'll recommend them to everyone I know.
I love GREAT customer service. I suppose it's because we experience it so rarely. The reality is that a culture of customer service can be created through training and leadership. I was fortunate to earn a Ducktorate Degree through a summer course on customer service from the Disney University. The Disney Institute can provide similar training onsite. You can also find many books on the Disney customer service culture at most online and brick and mortar bookstores. Of course, Disney isn't the only place doing customer service well. There are other great examples and training programs out there.
GREAT customer service is intentional and takes work. And while it's more than just being thoughtful, gracious, or nice, all three traits are necessary and great places to start.
What are your GREAT customer service stories?
-Karl
Karl Miller
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Blog: http://karlmillerlugo.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/karlmillerlugo
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlmillerlugo
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/karlmiller
FriendFeed: http://friendfeed.com/karlmiller
Our Blog: http://teamtoppertri.blogspot.com/
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