Expectations Where You Least Expect Them

A few days ago I was having a bad day. Not a horrible day or anything but one of those days where a lot of little things pile up on the fact that you were exhausted in the first place and everything drives you a little crazy. In the midst of this my girlfriend and I decided to grab a quick snack. Not in the mood for anything in particular we went to Applebees.

Our server Aaron brought us our drinks and we ordered some apps. About 10 min later Aaron returns with the news that they have a deep-fryer down so our food may take some time. The food did take a little longer than we expected, but when it arrived it wasn’t the food we ordered. As we were a little pressed for time I could just feel this adding up to become the proverbial straw breaking the camels back in my day. I called Aaron over and mentioned the issue with our order. And then it happened…

Good customer service!

It’s actually been a long time since I have witnessed this amazing phenomenon. People who care enough about their business to actually help the customers that support it.

Aaron disappeared into the back and within minutes a manager by the name of Brett appeared with our corrected order and his apologies for the confusion. Before leaving he then told another staff member to bring us a couple of complimentary mini-bacon cheeseburgers as well. I think I was actually in shock. I didn’t even complain and I had a managers attention. I felt my day taking a turn for the better.

Our mini-bacon cheeseburgers arrived and with them another manager named Casey. He apologized for the complications and delay in our order and asked if we needed anything else. We thanked him for the good customer service, finished our meal, paid, tipped, and left the restaurant. It was when we left that I noticed it though. My day had become better. My stresses were lighter on my shoulders and I felt as if it was a new start on my almost completed day.

This is what a good customer service experience is truly all about. Now can you imagine if every place you visited had this respect for you. We would all have a little less stress in our days and a little more reason to smile. It really puts it into perspective for me. I may not always get to choose who I do business with, but I do know who deserves my business, and all it cost Applebees was a little time with their customer and maybe a buck or two if even that for the mini-burgers.

So if you are ever in Fargo ND and feel like a bite to eat, stop in to the Applebees just off 13th Ave S. and maybe your expectations for customer service will become just a little more than you ordered.

A Reason to Return

Everyday I talk to clients or potential clients about their online presence and everyday I have to review the analytics with them. While garnering new traffic is great, a lot of companies pay very little attention to encouraging them to come back?

What you need to ask yourself is why “you” return to a site? Either it contains a product you require more than once or it engages and interacts with you.

The crucial element is content, and what I mean by content is valid useful information that focuses on the needs of the end user. This is why we come back. It’s for all of those neat self gratifying elements that can affect even the smallest component of the users day. The downloadable recipes and the timely weather reports before a picnic. It’s really not about how your company started or how long you have been around. While this is useful information to determine the validity of your company and showcase a strong foundation it’s just not going to make someone return to your site.

So while it’s “your” site and “your” image make sure to think about the people who you want to visit your site and what they want. If you only pay attention to what you want, you may find the internet a very lonely place indeed!

– Scott

Is Bestbuy really the best buy?

I know that this is a little off my regular topics but I have recently purchased a plasma TV from Bestbuy (Actually the Minnetonka MN location). I was very excited to say the least, as I have never owned a large flat panel TV before. So I went to Bestbuy as they seemed to have the best selection in the area, and talked to a salesman. He seemed to know his stuff and assured me that it had all of the features that I wanted and would even give me a deal on it. So I was very happy and arranged for a larger vehicle (as I own a very small car) and brought it home.

A couple of days later I went to hook this up to my computer and discovered that the salesman had apparently made a mistake and it doesn’t have the connection that hooks up to the computer. I had specifically told the salesperson that I wanted to use this TV for this purpose before I purchased, so I was a little disgruntled. I called the store and explained my situation and all they told me was that I could get a TV that had these features (The ones I thought I had already purchased) for an extra $200 and I would have to repackage the TV bring it back and go pick up the new one. I explained that I had to borrow a vehicle for the first one and as I just moved here and really don’t know anyone moving it by myself would be next to impossible. Then I asked why I had to pay an extra $200 to get the TV I thought I had at home. They responded with the statement “People do make mistakes you know!” and still insisted that it was my responsibility to bring this back.

I guess my questions are: Why are we paying for a companies lack of product education? Why do our lives become inconvenienced because of this lack of education? and when did good customer service end up replaced by effective crisis control that lets you nowhere near any management?

Anyway, now that I have finished my rant on Bestbuy check out Twitter. It’s a cool social networking tool that allows you to contact your end readers through cell phone. Check out the new mediapirate twitter account at http://twitter.com/mediapirate and sign up to get mediapirate updates.

– Scott