Customer Service Remembered
Kinko’s
I went into Kinko’s at 1:10 PM with what I thought was a simple job.
The Morning Report Boss Surf-n-Sea
I am speaking at a luncheon tomorrow sponsored by Hawaii Business Magazine for a group of Bank of Hawaii customers. My topic is “Remaining Positive and Generating More Revenue in Challenging Times”. I called Joe Green at Surf-n-Sea and got permission to hold up a copy of his September Boss Card from the Morning Report. I wanted to get it enlarged slightly so that a group of 100 people will be able to see it. Surf-n-Sea is a 42 year old company selling surf goods in a highly competitive environment; Haleiwa. In spite of the competition and tough economic times, September 08 was their best September EVER!
How Long Will it Take?
I asked Freddie how long it will take to enlarge this and print it on card stock. I gave him a disk to make it better and easier. He said, “It won’t be soon.” I asked him what time I could get it and he said, “Late this afternoon.” I asked him if he could be more specific, and he said, “About eight PM.” I said, “That’s too late, I will need to take it somewhere else.”
Busy?
He spent about 15 minutes typing the order into the computer, and then said, “I could try to do it by 4 PM, but cannort promise you as we have other jobs ahead of you.” I took this photo of the “business” with my iPhone, gave him my card and said, “My cell number is on my card, call me when finished, I will go visit the mall while you are doing it.”
One Hour Later
I went to the mall and dropped in on Jerry’s Angels setting up the Brighton Collectibles store for tomorrow’s opening. Watch for that right here. I was in there less than an hour when I got the call that my job was done. The amount of time needed to do this job went from seven hours to one hour. Of course I was happy, but how cool would it have been if I was originally told, “That looks pretty easy, we’ll do it for you right away and you can pick it up in an hour.” I remember the old “One Hour Photo” businesses. I’m sure they did a lot more work than this job required.
One thing you can do to “Generate More Revenue in Challenging Times” is to make every customer feel important. It’s actually pretty easy to do if you want to do it.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Glad they delivered for you, but it sounds like they need some customer service training. Will you offer that, or shall I? (Just kidding, kind of.)
October 9th, 2008 at 3:48 am
What was that employee thinking? He must have put you at the head of the to do list. Was he short staffed? It would be great to hear what his worry was or if he is just negative as a habit. Great learning lesson for all of us.
I remember a shoe repair place that was very busy. The owner always threw in a free shoe shine and polish when he repaired any type of thing: a worn out sole, heel or broken strap. He was so kindly and upbeat, priced reasonably too. You get more flies with honey than vinegar. To this day I have fond memories of his establishment and business acumen.
Positively and a little extra go a long way to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Hopefully we will see more of it in the days ahead.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Easy One: The guy was getting off work soon and wanted to leave this little job for the next shift to do. I think he thought about it when he saw Ron taking those photo.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Two words….for a job big or small, done on time with exceptional customer service call Valenti Printing.
I send out monthly mailings with a specific deadline. They do the 4 page newsletter on time, everytime and it is perfect.
Kinkos and Copy Shop both had surly employees that were more interested in their breaks and eating lunch than being bothered with customers. After dealing with both for a few months with undependable, unpredictable results, a friend recommended Valenti Printing.
To my happiness, they do jobs both big and small. Ask for Debi and tell her I referred you.