Customer Service Best
Practices
Back to Basics
Up Close and
Personal Still Counts
By Richard F. Gerson, Ph.D., CPT, CMC
Here is a story about something that occurred while I
was at a national sales conference in Los Angeles doing
a Motivational Selling training session for one of my
clients. Since it was a quick two-day trip, I did my
best to stay on eastern time. So, I went down at 5:45 AM
(L.A. time and very late for me) for breakfast and there
was nothing open in the hotel until 6:30 AM. The bellman
suggested I try a little grille down the street.
When I arrived, there were two customers at the counter
and the waitress was talking with them. She immediately
looked up, smiled and said good morning to me. As soon
as I sat down in a booth, she was there with a menu,
another good morning, plus how are you today, and she
asked what I'd like to drink. She took my order and as
she turned away, another customer came in.
She greeted that customer by name, put my order in and
then proceeded to get his order ready without even
asking what he wanted. She just knew. All the while, she
spoke with the other customers in the grille, called
each of them by name, and paid close attention to what
they were saying (even if they were obviously retelling
old stories).
This exact scene was repeated 4 more times while I ate
my breakfast, which by the way, was very good and
extremely inexpensive by any standards, especially LA.
The waitress knew her customers personally and they knew
her. She had just come back from a trip and everyone
asked her how the trip went. She responded to each one
in an enthusiastic voice as if they were the most
important person in the world. It seemed effortless for
her to repeat her story and pay attention to her people.
It was obvious that these people were regulars at this
restaurant and that she was their waitress. And they
were her customers. I was witnessing, without a doubt,
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) at its best. And
when I left, she thanked me for coming in, asked me if I
needed anything else, and reminded me to come back
whenever I could.
What does this example teach us? Ask yourself these
questions. How many businesses know their customers by
name? How many engage their customers in ongoing
dialogue? How many employees know the preferences of
their customers? And how many customers are truly
interested in the personal well-being of the business
they are frequenting?
If there ever was a model for excellent CRM, this grille
was it. This waitress really put the R in CRM, and she
probably doesn’t even know she’s an expert at it. She
just knew how to treat her customers. She was at once
friendly, respectful and grateful to all of her regular
customers, and treated me as if I was a regular, as
well.
And, they did all this without technology. There was no
computer in the restaurant to track customers and their
food preferences. There was no computerized touch screen
to place the order and track inventory. There wasn't
even a computerized cash register (she took payments in
a cash box).
There is a lot that businesses in all industries that
can learn from this waitress’s relationship-building and
relationship-sustaining behaviors. She is a perfect
example of what I call "the softer side of CRM", which
is as important, or even more important, than the
technology side of CRM.
You can be sure that the next time I am in downtown
L.A., I'll be at her restaurant for breakfast. And
whether it is two months, two years, or ten years from
now, I'll bet she'll treat me like a regular.
Richard Gerson, Ph.D., CMC, is President of Gerson
Goodson, Inc., a coaching, consulting and training firm
specializing in the psychobehavioral aspects of
individual and organizational performance improvement.
He is the author of 22 books and can be reached at
www.richgerson.com,
Richard.gerson@richgerson.com, or 727-726-7619.
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