From The Editor Good Service

I had a lot of fun writing last month's column detailing some of the bad service I've gotten from restaurants, doctors and libraries (no, my library card has not been rescinded yet). And who doesn't enjoy recounting their bad service horror stories? It's fun to bash people we feel have wronged us.

Then my wife pointed out that we have also experienced great customer service, and perhaps I should give these tales equal time. Since in-plant customer service is the theme of one of our articles this month, I thought "why not?"

A few years ago, when my wife and I were house hunting, we hired a home inspector go over a house we liked with a fine-toothed comb. The man did an excellent job, taking the time to point out potential problems and explain to us countless home maintenance details. Unfortunately he also found so much hidden damage in the home that we opted not to purchase it. But when we found the home we now live in and needed it inspected, I'll give you one guess who we called. The extra attention he gave us won him our business.

I'm not much for fast food, and after spending my teenage years sweating over a McDonald's grill I rarely crave the chain's burgers, but a few years ago my wife and I stopped in to sample some new McSandwich. Now, I know all about the late-night workers' quest to keep food under the warming lamps as long as possible to avoid having to cook more, but when I bit into a barely warm bun that night, I was miffed enough to bring it back and ask for a fresh sandwich. The manager not only apologized profusely, but brought free milk shakes over to our table. His class act completely dispelled any negative thoughts I might have had about the restaurant's food.

While I'm on a restaurant theme, one time a waitress gave us menus and then forgot about us. When she finally remembered, she was so sorry that she brought us free appetizers. (The theme here: give me free food and I'm always willing to forgive.)

We've all heard air travel horror stories, but good deeds are often unheralded. So here's one: Last year, when illness prevented my wife from flying out west to join me for a short, post-business-trip vacation, an agent at Delta not only gave us a voucher to reuse her ticket, but she voided the change fee I would have otherwise had to pay to take an earlier flight home. A small sacrifice for Delta, but a big payoff in PR (especially now that I've told all of you).

Taking that extra step to make sure customers are not just satisfied but delighted with your service is what will make them remember you, tell their friends about you and keep them coming back. This is a lesson to instill in all of your employees, from operators to accountants. Any one of them may provide the extra touch that leads to more business.