Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: Above and Beyond
Our thanks this month to guest blogger, Kathy Blumenstock. Kathy currently writes Animal Planet’s “The Mole” blog http://blogs.discovery.com/the_mole. A career journalist, she has been a reporter and writer for The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC News and Entertainment Tonight. Kathy also contributes feature stories to Knitchmagazine.com and Knit ‘N Style magazine.
This time of year, it’s commonplace to Be Grateful, to Give Thanks. We’re thankful for family and friends, for life’s little gifts and conveniences. But sometimes, when it comes to services, it really is the bigger stuff that counts, whether the cost is time, money, or both.
For me, one example stands out. My elderly cat was spending a lot of time at the vet for a variety of ills. I’d drop him off before work for an entire day of procedures. My guilt factor was much higher than his discomfort level. I’d leave work early, racing for the train, then driving like a NASCAR champ from the commuter lot to my vet’s before their 7 p.m. closing. My long commute made the timing dicey. I always let the staff know I was in transit. “PLEASE don’t close before I get there,” I’d beg. But they understood and even if Piper was the last one waiting, the lights were still on for me.
Then the vet’s office changed to “summer hours,” with a 5:30 closing time. I knew traffic and distance made getting there hopeless. When I brought Piper in one Wednesday morning, I said sadly, “I’ll have to leave him till tomorrow.”
“No way,” said Sandy the head technician. “You know we can’t close till you get here. No matter what time, someone will be stay.” And they did, that night and several others. Much more than “customer service,” they added true compassion. Sometimes it really IS the big things, filling us with gratitude we can scarcely express.
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