Yesterday I had two great customer service experiences. Two completely different scenarios, but the same premise of providing excellent customer service in such a way that clearly increased my satisfaction with the experience.
I have an iPhone which means that my cell service is through ATT. I have heard so many horror stories about the customer service from ATT and their service overall that I was a bit apprehensive about signing up with them initially. Yesterday, as I was online checking my bill before the automatic payment went through, I noticed that I had exceeded my minute threshold and my bill was almost double of my typical statement. I called ATT to make sure that I was reading the bill correctly. The call center representative was very friendly and helpful. He explained that I was reading the bill correctly and that my usage had been increasing steadily over the past few months. He suggested that I go up one level to the next plan to get more minutes and that would have covered my usage this month. Since that made sense, I made that change, all the while wishing I had done that earlier in order to avoid this large bill. This is the point that I was impressed – he OFFERED to make the change retroactive one month since we were still in the same billing period and that he would make the price adjustment for me to reflect the new rate plan. Now, this may be their typical practice, but the point is that I didn’t have to ask. He presented this for me and in my eyes, ATT was the hero. He was the point of contact for ATT with me, so in my perception, he is ATT. I was thrilled to save the money and with his friendly and professional handling of my call.
The other situation is a completely different situation, but same premise. I was shopping with my kids last night at a local clothing store, Paper Doll, in Rockford, MI. I needed a pair of leggings and stopped in to the store to see if they had my size in the color I needed. The sales clerk quickly checked and discovered that they didn’t have my size in the color I wanted. She did tell me that they were expecting another shipment at any time. Here again is the impression point – she OFFERED to call me as soon as they came in. Now I don’t need to make the effort to call or stop in. I know she’ll call me. I’m not even a frequent customer there. She just knew that she could make my life easier and offered to help.
By being customer centered, the satisfaction level among your customers will dramatically increase. Any time that you can reduce the effort on the part of your customers, it is truly appreciated. Your customers are coming to you to solve a problem. As much of that problem that you can proactively manage for them will be another reason that your customers will go out of their way to come to you.