Message of the Day - A Double Dose of Customer Service

Good Morning,

 

This past Saturday, Karen and I went out for breakfast after dropping her car off for some routine maintenance. We first thought of the Irish Rover, and drove down to that restaurant, only to find them not open at 8:30 AM. We decided to head down a bit further Frankfort Avenue and saw that Jenny’s Diner was open. Jenny’s is famous for their Sweet Daddy Burger (1.25 Pounds of it) and Frickled Pickles (battered and deep fried sliced pickles). We went in and were the only customers. Our hostess/waitress, Michelle, was very pleasant and accommodating. She explained the menu and made frequent stops to our table to make sure everything was fine. While we knew we would get better service by being the only customers; that is the point. Often when you are the only customers, you get ignored; your one tip or purchase does not mean much so the staff often continues to set up for the morning and does other things. Michelle did not do that. She shared her philosophy of customer service, how she learned to do what she does, and how different people at Jenny’s helped her learn all she knows and got her through some difficult times. The food was great, and our little breakfast turned out to be a fun, filling and fulfilling experience.

 

After breakfast, we headed back to Shelbyville Road and visited Whole Foods (Fresh Market) for some bangers (for Bean and Banger Soup). While shopping around we stopped in the cracker isle as Karen remembered we needed some. We looked at all the choices, none that we had ever tried. Then a new employee came up to us and offered some help. After talking with him a bit, he saw Karen gravitated to one type of cracker. He pulled out one of the boxes, and took a marker and wrote no charge on the UPC code and said, “try this one and see if you like it’. WOW. We kept that box separate as we went through the rest of our shopping.

 

At the register, we handed the box to the cashier, partially wondering if he would charge us for it. He took the box, saw the note and put it right into our bag, no charge. WOW. I then asked him about this program and he smiled and said it was their most popular program. He said Whole Foods has empowered their employees to give X amount away every day to help customers get to know their products better. Empowerment! I love those words, and even better, I love seeing it in action. Whole Foods is on to something! While we are not looking for free stuff, we love the ability to try new things, and this would definitely help that interest. Also, even though we came in for just bangers, we ended up with a full bag of groceries, and smiles on our faces.

 

It was a double dose of customer service. The first course was caring and community and the second was empowerment.

 

What a great experience!!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

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