THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REVOLUTION IS COMING

I’ve been talking about launching 

a customer service blog for several months.

The time has come!

I’m ready to call out the companies with bad customer service and praise the ones that crush my expectations with a kick-butt, over-the-top experience. 

(Reminder: National Car Rental razzled and dazzled me this summer and I loved them up – blog post here.)

I actually want to turn this into a 

Customer Service Revolution.

I want to recruit an army of like-minded individuals – who are sick and tired of settling for crappy customer service – and ask them to do the following things (whether they have a good experience or a terrible one):

• Hand a pre-printed note to the cashier, waiter, salesmen … whoever knocked their socks off with good customer service OR made them throw up in their mouth because the customer service was so bad.

• Hand the exact same note to the person in charge (general manager, owner, president, etc.)

The Note: It would be something simple…

"I had a __(unequivocal adjective)__ customer service experience at __(name of business)__ today. You can read all about my experience on my customer service blog: www. theaddresshere.com.”

Then, our customer service revolutionist would:

• Immediately go to our customer service blog and either praise or hammer the specific company. 

(e.g. Company ABC – located at 1234 Main Street in Fort Worth) 

We wouldn’t attack the specific employee, because it’s only partially their fault if they provide crappy customer service. That company is ultimately responsible – from training to implementation.

• Make a recommendation to our loyal Revolution followers. (Example: “I wouldn’t recommend Restaurant XYZ to my worst enemy” OR “If I could buy underwear at 123 Auto Parts Store, I wouldn’t shop anywhere else.”)

Then it would be up to those before-mentioned followers (you):

– If a specific fast food restaurant has dumpy customer service – GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!

– If one particular department store outshines the others in regards to customer service –GRAB YOUR CREDIT CARD AND START SHOPPING!

Again, our society is too content with poor customer service and it HAS to stop. We also have to stop taking quality customer service for granted and putting convenience and price ahead of it.

If a salesman is rude to you – don’t reward that company by spending one single dime there.

If some teenager would rather play grab-ass than make sure you get the hottest and freshest fries possible – ask for your money back and walk across the street where they value their customers.

That’s the proposed Revolution … now it’s time to start recruiting soldiers. (If you are interested, drop me a line and I'll put you on the list. Proposed launch date: March 1, 2009)

Quickly, I wanted to share a positive customer service experience that I had today. 

Note: I realize that MANY positive customer service experiences evolve from a bad situation … this particular circumstance is no different. But I'm convinced, if it's time for a company to step up to the plate and shine – and they DO – they should receive props. Even if they screwed up out of the gate.

Background: I ordered a CD for my sister, Allison, back in December. It still hadn’t arrived, so I decided to e-mail the company, Parallel Entertainment. (I probably should have done this a LONG time ago, but I kept saying, “Maybe it will arrive today.”)

This is the e-mail chain between me and an employee of Parallel Entertainment:

From: Drew Myers
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009
Subject: Ordered CD (Transaction #: 4JT62212LA565664E)

To Whom It May Concern,

I ordered a Jeremy McComb CD in December and I have yet to receive it.

The transaction ID # is: 4JT62212LA565664E

Besides getting pissed off about the situation (since it was supposed to be a gift), I’m not sure which direction to go. Any thoughts/advice are welcomed with open arms. I’m kind of wondering if I would still be waiting for a Montgomery Gentry CD or one of your comedy albums.

I’ve been throwing around the idea of starting a customer service blog...depending how this scenario plays out – it might just be the catalyst that I need.

I really hope this issue can be resolved sooner than later.

Thanks,

Drew Myers

From: Parallel Entertainment
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009
To: Drew Myers
Subject: Re: Ordered CD (Transaction #: 4JT62212LA565664E)

Thanks Drew,

I know the band was on the road when you ordered this. (Dec 29) Chances are, they missed the email notification from Paypal on your order. Not an excuse by any means. I understand your frustration. Here’s what I’ll do...I’ll refund your money and send the CD out today from our corporate offices in Los Angeles.

Regarding your customer service blog...have you tried to contact us before about the order? This is the first time I’ve heard from you and definitely the first time any order has slipped through the cracks. We certainly aren’t out to screw anyone over so I hope you’re not implying that this was intentional in any way. Jeremy McComb is a priority for us here at Parallel and gets equal, if not more, attention than our other clients.

Thank you for your order and I’d be happy to include a few Jeremy McComb t-shirts along with your CD if you can give me sizes for you and the person the album was going to be given to.

Best,
(name here)

From: Drew Myers
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009
To: Parallel Entertainment
Subject: Re: Ordered CD (Transaction #: 4JT62212LA565664E)

(Name here),

That is awesome. Thank you. Please don’t worry about the refund, though. I just appreciate the quick response to my e-mail.

About starting a customer service blog....this is something that I’m very serious about and hope to do soon. FYI: I would still mention your company...because of your GOOD customer service, though. (Which is just as important as calling out a company that takes it for granted.) I understand things happen and/or fall through the cracks – I applaud and appreciate how your company handled it – you specifically. Thank you.)

About the T-shirts...if you’re still willing to send them, I would love to have one! (I love me some “Wagon Wheel.”) My size is large and my sister, who the CD is for, is a small.

Thanks again, (name here).

Drew Myers
President / CEO

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

PLEASE CRUSH MY EXPECTATIONS!

NOTE: This is a letter that I wrote to National Car Rental following a recent trip to Colorado. Being an entrepreneur, on the cusp of turning a "crazy" idea into a viable business, I had to write this letter. You'll understand.

g  g  g

To Whom it May Concern:

I have a love affair with solid customer service. I firmly believe it’s the most important component of any business – it has the potential to define a company or destroy it.

Based on an experience I recently had with National Car Rental at Denver’s International Airport, I wanted to send this letter and let your company know that you have a customer for life.

I recently read that quality customer service can be achieved by applying this simple formula:
Take the customers’ expectations, meet those expectations with a genuine smile, and then proceed to blow those expectations out of the water.

That’s exactly what National Car Rental did on my recent trip to the Denver area.

Here is a quick snippet of my incredible experience with your company (FYI: It doesn’t start very flattering for National, but it finishes with a defining bang):

I rented a mid-sized SUV through your Emerald Club program on a Thursday morning. The vehicle had an unusual smell – nothing too bad, but it was definitely pungent enough to catch your attention. When I noticed the odor, my luggage was already loaded in the back, so I decided to “deal with it.”

It was more than 24 hours later, when I was taking some friends back to the airport to pick up their own rental car, that the source of the smell was discovered. Someone had gotten sick on the back of the passenger-side seat.

My friends encouraged me to take the car back to National. Even though I was pressed for time and, strangely enough, used to the aroma, I decided to take their advice.

I pulled into the Return Car area, and flagged down the first National employee that I saw. (I didn’t catch the gentlemen’s name – which I hate – but he’s the one that took my expectations and proceeded to crush them.)

I simply asked him if I could have the “problem” cleaned up – maybe a little squirt of air freshener. I also told him that didn’t have a lot of time.

He said: “Get in the backseat. I’m driving.” (My wife was sitting in the passenger seat, a little confused at this point.)

He put the vehicle in reverse, jumped the curb, dodged the National/Alamo buses, and headed straight to the Emerald Club lot. “Pick the one you want,” he said. (Whether he knew I was an Emerald Club Member or not is irrelevant to me. I will say this…he didn’t ask.)

After picking out a much nicer vehicle (based on his encouragement and recommendation), he backed right up to it, allowing me to move my luggage all of eight feet.

He told me what to tell the gentleman at the check-out booth, and I was off.

From the time I asked this gentlmen if someone could clean up a little vomit, to the time I was driving off the lot in a VERY nice SUV, it was less than five minutes.

My expectations were shattered.

Being an owner of my own business, I will share this story with every one of my employees. I hope you will do the same. National Car Rental should be VERY proud of its customer service.

In my eyes, National clearly differentiated itself from other rental car companies, and like I said before, your company now has a customer for life.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Sincerely,

Drew Myers
President / CEO
e-Partners in Giving, LLC