I was WRONG!

After my last trip, I wrote an article ranting about the bad
service I have been experiencing lately in restaurants,
shops and from a multitude of 'service' related businesses.

Well, I just got back from San Francisco - and was proven
wrong.

The service was excellent! Everywhere we went it seemed to
be 5 star friendly staff and commendable attention to detail
(except for one - watch for that story tomorrow).

Not sure if it is because San Fran is such a tourist city -
and everyone is trained to be nice or their incomes go away.
Or maybe it was just an excellent example of good people
doing good things.

It made me think  though, how can I (and you) implement
these kinds of systems into our businesses to give our
clients a "WOW" experience?

Things like:

Help lines from your website (free help for any questions
they have. not emails which get lost and delayed, but LIVE
help - right here and now).

Front line service people who are held ACCCOUNTABLE for the
experience they provide (how can you measure their service,
and reward them for exceptional service)

Grateful people in every part of your business.  Why more
people don't get this astounds me... your CLIENTS are the
ones who pay your bills, cover your paychecks, and keep you
in business.

So say thank you!

In cards, in person, after the sale, reminders of when they
bought etc.

    One thing I notice different in the US than in
    Canada (don't shoot me for saying this) is that
    Canadians are much more polite and thankful.  We say
    thank you at every chance. Americans (in many cases
    I have noticed) don't say anything.

    When I say thank you to someone in Canada, I get a
    "you're welcome"... in the US I hear "uh-huh".
    Minor to some people - something I notice EVERY time
    though.

Go out of your way to do something, anything, that you would
like people to do to you. A small token of your
appreciation. A little 'doo-hickey" to remind them of you.

Anything can go    the extra mile to show your gratitude.

The power of saying thank you is huge!

By the way - thanksgiving is coming up - why not send thank
you cards to everyone then? Christmas is typical,
thanksgiving is not.

The opposite of saying thank you is to lose hundreds of
clients with one big screw-up.

Watch for that San Fran story tomorrow.

Comments

[SBinLA]

You forgot to mention 'be sincere' so often, have a nice day sounds so flat and insincere, you might as well be saying "yeah, and go boil your head...next", if you are not going to mean it - don't say it.