Your Two Customer Service Questions
by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
You're already aware, I hope,
that each and every employee of
your company is a "customer
service representative," no matter
what the job description says.
Read this terrific customer-
service story, and then consider
the two questions at the end.
"I ordered a child's learning
laptop computer for my daughter
Mallory for Christmas through
Amazon.com," says Susan
Barnes, a payroll manager at
MarchFIRST in Chicago. "Shortly
after Christmas, we discovered
that the laptop had a defect. I
contacted Amazon, and the customer
service was amazing. The
young man I dealt with, Brian,
was incredible. They did not
have any in stock, nor did anyone
else because the laptop was a
hot item.
"Brian offered to credit my credit
card immediately and send
me a postage-paid container
to return the damaged computer. I
explained that this was all
my daughter had asked Santa for, and
she would be devastated if we
just returned it. Brian gave me
the option of waiting to see
if they would be able to get
another one. However, he warned
that the distributor, VTech,
predicted it could be three
months before a new one would be
available. For the sake of my
daughter's happiness, I said I was
willing to wait.
"Brian gave me a phone number
where I could reach him and
said I could change my mind
at anytime. In the meantime, he
would contact me immediately
if one became available.
"Two days later, Brian e-mailed
that he had located a new
laptop for Mallory. It would
be shipped within a few days,
along with a postage-paid container
to return the damaged one.
I was so surprised and impressed
with Brian and his great
customer-care skills that I
e-mailed him, commending his
great skills and asking that
my e-mail be forwarded to his
manager. Later, his manager
confirmed my message. The
moral of this story is: There
IS a Santa Claus!"
YOUR TWO QUESTIONS:
1. Do you motivate and empower
your employees to provide
top customer service like this?
2. Could you pose this customer's
problem as an interview
question, asking potential hires
how they would handle it?
Patricia Fripp
Member: Speakers Roundtable
Web site: http://www.speakersroundtable.com
Email: office@SpeakersRoundtable.com
Speakers Roundtable is a consortium
of 22 of America's
foremost professional speakers,
sales trainers and seminar
leaders. All members are dedicated
to serving their training,
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with pertinence, excellence
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