WTF? I Thought Good Customer Service Was Dead

April 29, 2008 on 2:07 pm | In Branding, Customer Service, Marketing, word of mouth | 2 Comments

This is a story about local business, word-of-mouth marketing and good customer service. This is not fiction. It actually happened to me yesterday. I’m not making this up.

I won’t take this opportunity to whack Wal-Mart in defense of local business. Wal-Mart has been good for America, particularly its lower income citizens. But being from a long line of small business owners, I have to tell you I do deal with small local businesses when possible.

So, when my heat pump breaks down my neighbor tells me about a local HVAC company. In fact, the owner lived in our neighborhood for years and has worked on most everyone’s system at some point. Great guy, fair, good prices, good service, or so my neighbor tells me. The recommendation is almost over-the-top.

I call and he comes by with information about new systems. But first says, “let’s see if we can get your old system running to buy you some time to plan for this expenditure. That’s what I’d do if it was mine.”  So, he calls his tech guy, who will be coming later this week to try to jumpstart the old heat pump. While the owner is still here, he gives me quotes on a couple of different systems, explains the pros and cons, and answers some questions I have about water heaters and gas fire logs, too. He leaves a written quote, “in case I want to shop around.” He says the quotes are good now, or in the fall, if the old system is brought back from the dead for the summer.

This guy gets it. He understands, even if he can’t articulate it, that customer service is a huge component of branding. Every interaction you have with a customer or prospect – good or bad – affects your brand. Guess who I’ll be buying my heating system from?

Do you have good customer service stories? How about bad ones? Your thoughts, please.

Other Posts Of Interest

  • Laura

    Last week I discovered a wet spot on my carpet, not coming from the ceiling or wall, just underneath the carpet. I was really worried it was a pipe under the slab. I called Roto Rooter as they had done some work for me in the fall. My contact arranged a plumber to come over even though he was off work that day and the next. The plumber did a lot of investigation and found out it was a broken water heater. The quote he gave me was very high, and I said so, but he agreed and gave me some advice about where to go for lower prices. He was at my house maybe forty minutes and he charged me nothing, saying that quotes were free. I have told this story to many people and would recommend Roto Rooter without hesitation.

  • http://www.my-creativeteam.com Harry Hoover

    Another good customer service story. Thanks, Laura.

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