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Health & Fitness

Customer Service: Getting It Right

There’s a glassware maker in the Northeast that makes stunning glassware, cutlery, handcrafted wooden and ceramic bowls and various other household accents.  I usually buy their products as wedding gifts for friends.  This past summer I purchased a ceramic bowl with my friend and his newlywed’s name, along with the date of their wedding, painted along the edge.  It’s a gift that always seems to be well received.

Impeccable

The service at their Westport, Ct. location is usually outstanding.  Such was the case when I ordered this particular bowl.  Surprisingly, that was not so once the order was in the hands of their factory.  It seemed to take an eternity before I received an email asking me to approve the placement, font and size of the lettering.  The email was also referred to as “Second Request.”  I emailed corrections back to them along with a notation that this was in fact the “first request,”  not the second.  Days later, after numerous emails back and forth, the final approval was given and the bowl was eventually shipped.

A Nice Surprise

The gift was once again much appreciated by the bride and groom.  Not long after the wedding I received a package in the mail.  It was a pair of small glass candles with a note that read, “Thank You for your business.  Best Regards, Cathy.”  I thought to myself, “Now that was a nice touch!”

Undue Stress

Those of us in the service business place an undue amount of stress on ourselves.  Understanding the importance of impeccable service sometimes creates a fallacy in our minds that we have to be perfect one hundred percent of the time.  Of course, rationally we understand that nobody is.

She Got it Right

Cathy got it right.  There was no apology in the note nor did there need to be.  Apologies are overrated.  She knew that there were a number of mishaps along the way and that the most effective way in which for me to forgive them was by sending me a thank you note and a gift.

Our Best Gift

I think that we should keep instances such as this in mind.  Condemning yourself for being less than perfect is counter-productive.  It actually impedes you from giving your client your best.

The art of impeccable customer service isn’t about always “getting it right” the first time.  It’s having the professionalism and business acumen to understand how to atone for the times that you don’t.

What are your thoughts?   Have you ever had an instance when a sales rep did a fabulous job of making amends? 

Was there a time when they failed in that regard?

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