The last time we spoke, we (Mr. Makarma) mentioned we'd provide some examples of both good and bad customer service.
Unfortunately, examples of bad customer service are all too plentiful......
The coffee shop waiter who we finally flag down, after he's spent 15 minutes in animated conversation with three fellow waiters. When we complain that we haven't even see a menu yet, he shrugs and says "There are four of us." Yes, thank you, but we're aware of how many people you were conversing with, while you should have been providing customer service.
The tire salesperson who, rather than look up the price of an item, states, "Uh, those are around $250 each, plus mount and balance." That would be fine, if everyone else we contacted didn't take the time to look up the item and quote a price of approximately $160 each.
The (fill in the blank) who states they'll call you just as soon as something is done, something is available, etc. (How many of those calls have you later received?)
Unfortunately, today's two examples of good customer service are provided by automated programs (we'll get into a discussion of CRM another time)......
The restaurant which, accounting to information from its frequent dining program, alerts us that it's been a long time since they've seen us, here's a gift certificate to welcome us back and please let them know if they've done anything to upset us. Well, they hadn't done anything at all to upset us - we've just been one very busy omnivore. Anyway, their approach worked...we went back recently, enjoyed a terrific meal, and we'll be visiting them again soon.
The cellular phone company (yes, you read that correctly) that sent a message to our phone stating that a rebate request had been received. Two to three weeks later, another message notified us that the rebate had been processed and a check was on its way. And get this, a week or so later, we actually received the check!
We're not ready to say that cellular phone companies provide the best customer service but, not bad......
Return to Makarma Travel Home Page: www.makarmatravel.com
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The answer is: Yes!
In this day of rapidly diminishing customer service, those companies which still practice this soon-to-be-lost art deserve our attention - and business.
Our company recognizes the difference between good and not-so-good customer service, and it's not hard to guess which type of organization we prefer to do business with.
Saying "Yes!"......
We (Mr. Makarma) recently read about a luxury hotel chain which empowers each of its employees (not just management - ALL employees) to spend up to $2000 per day to make things right for the guest. Think about that for a moment; $2000 per day, per employee, is a lot of money. We'll guess that, because of the company's philosophy (of never saying "no" to a guest), that very little of that money is ever spent. Why? It's simply because that company's employees are trained to make things happen for their guests. Oftentimes, it takes very little money to do this.
(In our next TravelBlog visit, we'll describe some examples of good and not-so-good customer service we've experienced.)
You might be thinking that it's impossible to always say "Yes!" to every possible customer request. Maybe so, but is it possible to offer a good alternative, or explain a situation to a customer's satisfaction?
Yes !
Return to Makarma Travel Home Page: www.makarmatravel.com
Our company recognizes the difference between good and not-so-good customer service, and it's not hard to guess which type of organization we prefer to do business with.
Saying "Yes!"......
We (Mr. Makarma) recently read about a luxury hotel chain which empowers each of its employees (not just management - ALL employees) to spend up to $2000 per day to make things right for the guest. Think about that for a moment; $2000 per day, per employee, is a lot of money. We'll guess that, because of the company's philosophy (of never saying "no" to a guest), that very little of that money is ever spent. Why? It's simply because that company's employees are trained to make things happen for their guests. Oftentimes, it takes very little money to do this.
(In our next TravelBlog visit, we'll describe some examples of good and not-so-good customer service we've experienced.)
You might be thinking that it's impossible to always say "Yes!" to every possible customer request. Maybe so, but is it possible to offer a good alternative, or explain a situation to a customer's satisfaction?
Yes !
Return to Makarma Travel Home Page: www.makarmatravel.com
Sunday, January 07, 2007
The new Makarma Travel CallBack Centre
Although our business hours are rather generous - 6 AM to 12 Midnight, seven days a week - we've taken yet another step to make it easy to communicate with us. It's the Makarma Travel CallBack Centre and it can be reached at:
Right about now, you might be asking, "But why, Mr. Makarma, would I ever ring-up the new Makarma Travel CallBack Centre?" Well, two reasons:
1) We don't have a toll-free number. The CallBack Centre allows you to leave us a quick message, with us then returning the call. (We'll go into more detail another time as to why we don't have a toll-free number. Briefly stated, however, it's to help save YOU, our customer, money.)
2) You may want to leave us a message during the few hours we're closed (12 Midnight to 6:00 AM). The CallBack Centre allows that.
Nothing else changes; you can still contact us via email or direct line. The CallBack Centre is just one more convenient way for you to contact us.
Makarma Travel CallBack Centre
Return to Makarma Travel Home Page: www.makarmatravel.com
Right about now, you might be asking, "But why, Mr. Makarma, would I ever ring-up the new Makarma Travel CallBack Centre?" Well, two reasons:
1) We don't have a toll-free number. The CallBack Centre allows you to leave us a quick message, with us then returning the call. (We'll go into more detail another time as to why we don't have a toll-free number. Briefly stated, however, it's to help save YOU, our customer, money.)
2) You may want to leave us a message during the few hours we're closed (12 Midnight to 6:00 AM). The CallBack Centre allows that.
Nothing else changes; you can still contact us via email or direct line. The CallBack Centre is just one more convenient way for you to contact us.
Makarma Travel CallBack Centre
Return to Makarma Travel Home Page: www.makarmatravel.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
