Late Sunday afternoon, I was getting ready for the busy week ahead. While printing up some handouts, my black ink cartridge ran dry. It was a relief to know that I had an extra one on my shelf. I popped in the new cartridge but it didn’t work. Darn! So much for getting ahead! It was late but I grabbed my keys and headed out to Office Max to return the faulty printer cartridge and get a new one.
Fortunately, the store was still open. The moment I walked in I was greeted by a tall man with a beard who asked, “Is there anything I can help you find?” “Oh good,” I thought. “I won’t have to hunt down a salesperson to help me.” I explained the problem, and he immediately found me a replacement. I also picked up a color cartridge.
Instead of letting me fend for myself, the helpful salesman walked me to the checkout and told the clerk about the trade. I paid for the color cartridges. Just then, I remembered something else I wanted to pick up. I asked the counterperson to hold my package and walked down the aisle to find a couple packages of folders. Then I noticed a display of graduation party kits and thank you notes. My son is graduating soon, so I got absorbed looking at the many options.
A different young salesman approached me. “Is there anything I can help you find?”
“Sure,” I said, I’d like to find some envelopes that would look good with this package of “Class of 2008” paper. He led me off to the envelopes section.
I completely forgot that the store was about to close. The salesman stayed with me as I looked, and finally I said, “I might be a while.” Instead of rushing me out, he smiled and walked away. Loving all the colors, patterns and styles of envelopes, I must have spent ten minutes picking out what I wanted. When I walked back to pay, the sales clerk smiled a big bright smile said, “We didn’t know you were still here. We almost closed the store with you in it.”
I looked around and noticed that I was the only one left, and the tall sales guy with the beard who had helped me earlier was unlocking the door to prepare to let me out. “Oops! Sorry about that,” I said.
In the friendliest manner, he said, “That’s okay, I like it here.”
Always on the lookout for excellent service, I realized that he was going out of his way to make sure I didn’t feel bad for holding up their closing. I joked, “Thanks, but I’ll bet you can’t wait to go home.”
“Hey, we want to make our customers happy. We didn’t mind waiting for you,” he responded.
I was impressed. I walked into the store a minute before closing and had three employees in a fifteen minute time span treat me with the highest degree of excellence. Something’s going right at the Novi, Michigan Office Max store. It takes emotional management skills to be patient while a customer strolls through the store after closing. And it takes outstanding customer service ability to make a customer feel valued when you’d rather go home and enjoy your evening!
Reflections: When are the times that you find it most challenging to be polite to your customers? What are the advantages of making the customer feel great even when they are inconveniencing you?
Written by Marilyn Suttle at www.whosyourgladys.com
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