I'm a big fan of great customer service. To me it can make or break any experience. I'm fortunate in that I tend to have more of it than less.
My home is the third floor of our condo building. That means that everytime there is an issue with the roof of our building, I'm the one who takes the brunt of it. I'm fortunate in that we have a wonderful condo association, made up of the 4 adults who live in the building, we seem to always agree and have made life very easy together.
In the fall of 2009, I started to hear gnawing noises above my head in my front sunroom (9 windows, like a treehouse for me) and started looking around and found a hole and 2 little squirrel faces peering out from that hole outside on the eves. It was distressing to say the least.
After asking for referrals, we landed on Accurate Pest and Animal Control, and a lovely vibrant smiling man named Gary. He held my hand figuratively (over the phone) as he explained why squirrels move in to your roof and walls and how they work to get them out. His two workers came to my home the next day, looked at the situation and came back the next day with a customized eviction system. Within 2 days the critters had evacuated. It was glorious.
Recently I noticed squirrels roaming around the outside of my sunroom, trying to get back in but unable to do so because of the eviction system Gary and his team devised. But lo and behold, on Saturday I started to hear that gnawing sound again, and knew they were back in somehow.
The guys came out and find another hole the squirrels had created above the gutter this time. The fix will entail the guys hanging by ropes off the roof to reach the opening. I just assumed that this would be another expense of the same level as the last.
Imagine my surprise when I spoke to Gary yesterday who told me that they would not be charging us for the work as they consider this part of ridding our building of the rodents. For him the job isn't done until the critters have moved out and on for good. He told me it just felt right to do it this way. He remembered what I did as a consultant with inspiring energy and leaders and we continued with a conversation on those topics and his interests for quite some time.
The acknowledgement of this experience provided me with an immediate boost to my energy. I felt it surging through my body as I took in the kindness of this gesture. Just as easily, Gary could have chosen to not do this, there was nothing about that that would have surprised me. What did surprise me was the commitment to his service and to his customer. It made a difference.
4 points for providing inspiring energy customer service:
Start with a smile on your face, even and especially over the phone!
- everyone feels it when you do and is impacted negatively when you don't.
Get to know your customer. Spend some time sharing your human-ness with them. This is an interaction between two people. It's never "just business."
- people are people, the more you get to know them, the more human they become to you. We are connected and this is an easy way to increase positive energy flow by knowing someone past their professional role.
Listen to your customer, hear what they need, understand where they are coming from.
- ask questions of your customer to know what is truly causing them discomfort, listen fully.
Go beyond what you think they'll expect. Do it to the best of your ability.
- bring some joy to someone, go past the ordinary, it will raise your energetic feeling and theirs.
Gary did this for us, and we'll be a customer for a very long time.
My home is the third floor of our condo building. That means that everytime there is an issue with the roof of our building, I'm the one who takes the brunt of it. I'm fortunate in that we have a wonderful condo association, made up of the 4 adults who live in the building, we seem to always agree and have made life very easy together.
In the fall of 2009, I started to hear gnawing noises above my head in my front sunroom (9 windows, like a treehouse for me) and started looking around and found a hole and 2 little squirrel faces peering out from that hole outside on the eves. It was distressing to say the least.
After asking for referrals, we landed on Accurate Pest and Animal Control, and a lovely vibrant smiling man named Gary. He held my hand figuratively (over the phone) as he explained why squirrels move in to your roof and walls and how they work to get them out. His two workers came to my home the next day, looked at the situation and came back the next day with a customized eviction system. Within 2 days the critters had evacuated. It was glorious.
Recently I noticed squirrels roaming around the outside of my sunroom, trying to get back in but unable to do so because of the eviction system Gary and his team devised. But lo and behold, on Saturday I started to hear that gnawing sound again, and knew they were back in somehow.
The guys came out and find another hole the squirrels had created above the gutter this time. The fix will entail the guys hanging by ropes off the roof to reach the opening. I just assumed that this would be another expense of the same level as the last.
Imagine my surprise when I spoke to Gary yesterday who told me that they would not be charging us for the work as they consider this part of ridding our building of the rodents. For him the job isn't done until the critters have moved out and on for good. He told me it just felt right to do it this way. He remembered what I did as a consultant with inspiring energy and leaders and we continued with a conversation on those topics and his interests for quite some time.
The acknowledgement of this experience provided me with an immediate boost to my energy. I felt it surging through my body as I took in the kindness of this gesture. Just as easily, Gary could have chosen to not do this, there was nothing about that that would have surprised me. What did surprise me was the commitment to his service and to his customer. It made a difference.
4 points for providing inspiring energy customer service:
Start with a smile on your face, even and especially over the phone!
- everyone feels it when you do and is impacted negatively when you don't.
Get to know your customer. Spend some time sharing your human-ness with them. This is an interaction between two people. It's never "just business."
- people are people, the more you get to know them, the more human they become to you. We are connected and this is an easy way to increase positive energy flow by knowing someone past their professional role.
Listen to your customer, hear what they need, understand where they are coming from.
- ask questions of your customer to know what is truly causing them discomfort, listen fully.
Go beyond what you think they'll expect. Do it to the best of your ability.
- bring some joy to someone, go past the ordinary, it will raise your energetic feeling and theirs.
Gary did this for us, and we'll be a customer for a very long time.
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