To be a successful organisation, we should never take our customer suggestions and complaints lightly. In fact we can study our company's performance and gaps from customer complaints and suggestions. Below two examples will throw light on the same :
1. GENERAL MOTORS MIFFED WITH PURCHASE OF VANILLA ICE CREAM !!
Never underestimate your Clients' Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem!
This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. Please read on.....
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive
down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.....
You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?" The Pontiac President was understandably sceptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.
The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighbourhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavour. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavour, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavours were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavour.
Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapour lock".
It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavours allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapour lock to dissipate.
Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution with clear and logical thinking.
Don't just say it is " IMPOSSIBLE" without putting a sincere effort....
What really matters is your attitude and your perception.
2. SAINSBURY TAKES ADVICE FROM A 3-YEAR OLD - "RENAME YOUR BREAD"
A rigid attitude might just be the antithesis of great customer service. Proving that they’re a company that knows how to have a little fun, this next story from Sainsbury’s supermarket highlights how your support team should spot great opportunities to do things that are quirky and out of the ordinary.
Lily Robinson (who insists that she is three and a half years old) was quite confused by one of Sainsbury’s products called tiger bread. In her eyes, the bread didn’t resemble a tiger at all, and in fact looked very much like a giraffe.
It’s hard to disagree with her!
With a little assistance from mom and dad, she wrote a letter to Sainsbury’s customer service department. To her surprise, customer support manager Chris King (age 27 and one-third) told her that he couldn’t agree more.
He explained the origins of the name:
Lily’s mom enjoyed the letters and ended up posting them on her blog. Before long, this cute correspondence was a viral hit, and the pressure was on for Sainsbury’s to change the name of the product to the much more appropriate giraffe bread.
Knowing the customer was certainly right in this instance—and spotting an unusual opportunity to do something fun—Sainsbury’s changed the name of the bread and put signs around their stores that give a humorous nod to Lily’s original idea.
FOR MORE CUSTOMER SUPPORT TALES FOLLOW THE BELOW LINK :
http://blog.bufferapp.com/great-customer-service-legendary
1. GENERAL MOTORS MIFFED WITH PURCHASE OF VANILLA ICE CREAM !!
Never underestimate your Clients' Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem!
This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. Please read on.....
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive
down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.....
You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?" The Pontiac President was understandably sceptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.
The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighbourhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavour. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavour, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavours were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavour.
Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapour lock".
It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavours allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapour lock to dissipate.
Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution with clear and logical thinking.
Don't just say it is " IMPOSSIBLE" without putting a sincere effort....
What really matters is your attitude and your perception.
2. SAINSBURY TAKES ADVICE FROM A 3-YEAR OLD - "RENAME YOUR BREAD"
A rigid attitude might just be the antithesis of great customer service. Proving that they’re a company that knows how to have a little fun, this next story from Sainsbury’s supermarket highlights how your support team should spot great opportunities to do things that are quirky and out of the ordinary.
Lily Robinson (who insists that she is three and a half years old) was quite confused by one of Sainsbury’s products called tiger bread. In her eyes, the bread didn’t resemble a tiger at all, and in fact looked very much like a giraffe.
It’s hard to disagree with her!
With a little assistance from mom and dad, she wrote a letter to Sainsbury’s customer service department. To her surprise, customer support manager Chris King (age 27 and one-third) told her that he couldn’t agree more.
He explained the origins of the name:
“I think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread is a brilliant idea – it looks much more like the blotches on a giraffe than the stripes on a tiger, doesn’t it? It is called tiger bread because the first baker who made it a loooong time ago thought it looked stripey like a tiger. Maybe they were a bit silly.”
Lily’s mom enjoyed the letters and ended up posting them on her blog. Before long, this cute correspondence was a viral hit, and the pressure was on for Sainsbury’s to change the name of the product to the much more appropriate giraffe bread.
Knowing the customer was certainly right in this instance—and spotting an unusual opportunity to do something fun—Sainsbury’s changed the name of the bread and put signs around their stores that give a humorous nod to Lily’s original idea.
FOR MORE CUSTOMER SUPPORT TALES FOLLOW THE BELOW LINK :
http://blog.bufferapp.com/great-customer-service-legendary
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