Customer service is a topic I am truly passionate about and the key reason Dollywood is our favorite park, hands down.
After having a quality product and/or service, customer service is what it's all about - in every business no matter what they do. Customer service is what differentiates one company from other companies. Every company provides customer service, the key is whether it exceptional, average, or poor. Ironically I recently started a blog that talks all about exceptional customer service.
Anyway, I agree with formeryogi. While I want the most for my hard earned money, I am in the group that is willing to pay more for quality customer service. While cookies and hot chocolate are taking it a step further, I don't even need that for a company to provide exceptional service. I want them to listen to me, be respectful of me, and act like they care about me. The fact that the receptionist got on her feet and approached you was an immediate indicator that you most likely were going to have a good experience because they cared enough to train their staff to get off their butt and address you. I do the same thing; I always stand to greet someone because it is respectful.
(stealing from a draft post I'm working on
) A company that treats their employees well, remembering that THEY are their biggest asset is well on its way to promoting a quality customer service environment. The second step is educating their employees on the importance of the customer, the one who 'pays the bills' and can make or break the company. Create an atmosphere of quality customer service and you will be amazed at the long term results.
As Jim Rohn, an entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, puts it,
One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.
Formeryogi just demonstrated that by sharing his experience with Lexus to everybody on here, giving them free advertising. I was already aware of how Lexus takes care of its customers. My wife drives a Toyota Avalon. Before we purchased it, we were torn between it and an equivalent Lexus. I decided to save the extra $7,000 and go with the Avalon and I regret it. Don't get me wrong, we absolutely love our Avalon - but our Toyota dealership sucks in customer service. So much so, that I see how it has cost me more than the $7k I saved in wasted time and frustration. Her next car will be a Lexus, no question about it.
Sir Richard Branson makes a good point:
Look, I think that when we started Virgin Atlantic 30 years ago, we had one 747 competing with the airlines that had an average of 300 planes each. Every single one of those have gone bankrupt because they didn’t have customer service. They had might, but they didn’t have customer service, so customer service is everything in the end.
I'll wrap up my thoughts to prevent this from being a blog post: In the end, it is ALL about quality customer service. If you don't focus on providing a quality work environment with quality employees trained on putting the customer first, you will just be another company in the sea of companies.
