With the bleak economic outlook and difficult trading conditions set to continue, customer service excellence is imperative for business survival. But where to find it? Everyone has countless horror stories to tell and we all love a moan about the poor service we receive but as the festive period is upon us I thought it would be an opportune time to focus on the best service that really is out there, partly because excellence deserves praise but also to see what I can learn from those providing a top notch service.
So I will be blogging about my experience of excellent customer service over the coming week on the day it happens. I don’t know any of the people I mention - I have only come across them in the course of shopping, eating out and generally trying to survive Christmas week.
It’s well known in my family that I only start Christmas shopping as we turn into the final week of preparations. So today I set off for Bluewater in Kent for a spot of shopping but also to meet up with my cousin Pauline for lunch and a catch up on family gossip. But it wasn’t long before our conversation turned to business. Pauline is someone who likes to buck a trend and her company 1 Stop Data is enjoying a period of growth and is expanding in these challenging times with a recently opened call centre in Northern Ireland. We both love spotting customer service excellence but are very hard to please!
We were lunching in Jamie’s Italian in Bluewater, a first visit for me and we were so impressed with the service we were receiving from our waitress that we asked her about the training provided by Jamie’s. She described how their training included sampling every dish on the menu, learning about how each is prepared and served. She spoke with pride about the quality of the ingredients and the care taken in producing freshly prepared food by the Chefs. Her customer service was evidently supported by product knowledge, and absolute belief in the quality of what was being put in front of us. Her confident approach touched just the right note; helpful, responsive, and informed.
After lunch I visited Waterstones the bookseller on a mission to choose books for my sister, and at her request for my nephew and niece. My sister’s somewhat vague instructions meant that I was standing at the fantasy section holding numerous Terry Pratchett novels but not knowing where to start. My confused thoughts were interrupted by the assistant who started a conversation about the books I was looking at and went on to answer numerous questions clearly demonstrating both knowledge and interest and then made recommendations to help my selection; helpful, responsive and informed.
Learning from today’s customer service excellence
What made a difference?
1. Belief in the quality of the product and service being provided
2. Significant product knowledge
Thank you to Leanne C at Jamie’s Italian and Adam at Waterstone’s for your customer service excellence today.
I hope to encounter more excellence tomorrow!
Impressive blog! -Arron
Posted by: rc helicopter reviews | December 21, 2011 at 01:20 PM
thank you Arron
Posted by: Gill Brabner | December 28, 2011 at 07:12 PM
Loved the way you explained things. Much better many here..!
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Posted by: Corporate Training | February 21, 2012 at 05:01 AM