Customer Service Chronicle

Is "Babe" Still Acceptable?

I recently got into a huge argument with friends at a dinner party after the guys referred to the waitress as "babe".  Although I was not offended, I mentioned that I didn't feel that was appropriate after reading the waitress's body language.  This started a huge debate (including me polling my peeps on twitter), so I ask this question "Is calling somebody babe still acceptable"?

My friends argument was that we live in a society that is too politically correct and that they did not mean to offend and only used that phrase as a term of endearment since they couldn't remember her name.

My other friends argued, that it was just not inappropriate for them to be referring to that particular waitress as "babe", since she was obviously in the same age bracket and I believe that it is usually more acceptable for an older person to use when interacting with somebody younger. The debate on twitter was comical!  Women all around were offended and the men were not.  Each stating the same excuse - term of endearment intended for kindness not rudeness.

There also seemed to be a clear divide about the appropriate age, so we called over the waitress and asked her the question " Did my friend offend you when he called you babe?"

Her response was simple, she said, "not me, but I did catch it and it did make me pause", "I know tons of women who would be offended"

So I ask you this - Do you think it is okay to call somebody "babe" and does their age matter?

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Give 'Em The Pickle!

 Pickles are those special extra things you do to make people happy.  It’s a special phone call you make to your customer or a handwritten thank you noteThat you include with every order.  It is taking the time to walk the customer

down the isle to find the item that they are looking for rather than pointing them in specific direction to the back of the store.  It is offering them a special promotional item or even just calling them by their name.   It is the art of finding out what your customers want and making sure they get it.

The Pickle Philosophy is the brainchild of Bob Farrell of Farrell Ice Cream Parlour fame.   He was a pioneer in the resteraunt industry, having created one of the first national full service chain resteraunts opening and managing over 150 locations before selling the chain to Marriott.  It is Farrell’s belief that businesses are in the “people business” and that it is not what you sell that is important, it is how you take care of the people who buy your product.  It is about figuring out what would make your customers happy and giving it to them.  That’s the pickle.

It all started with a letter:

“Dear Mr. Farrell,

I’ve been coming to your restaurant for over three years.  I always order a #2 hamburger and a chocloate shake.  I always ask for an extra pickle and I always get one.  Mind you, this has been going on once or twice a week for three years. I came into your restaurant the other day and I order my usual.  I asked the young waitress for an extra pickle.  I believe she was new because I hadn’t seen her before.  She said, “Sir, I will sell you a side of pickles for $ 1.25.” I told her, “No, I just want the extra slice of pickle.  I always ask for it and they always give it to me.  Go ask your manager.”

She went away and came back after speaking to to the manager.  The waitress looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll sell you a pickle for a nickle.”  Mr. Farrel, I told her what to do with her pickle, hamburger and milkshake.  I’m not coming back to your restaurant if that’s the way you’re going to run it.

The customer

Mr. Farrell was successful at responding to the customer, apologizing and asking him to come back and has taken this letter to create the war cry “Give ‘em the Pickle” so when something happens with a customer and you are not sure what to do?  Give them the pickle.  Do what you have to do to make things right.

This story applies to all businesses that  want to put in strategies to keep the customers coming back.  Focusing on providing excellent customer service at every touchpoint and building an organization whose employees are trained, motivated and informed  about the company’s approach to customers will exceed the customers expectations with each and evey opporutnity.  So create an enviroment for your employees to excel at customer service by following the pickle philsophy:

·         Service:  Make serving others the number one priority of your business.

·         Attitude:  Choice a service-oriented attitude.  How you think of your customers is how you will treat them.

·         Consistency:  Set high service standards and live them every day.  Customers return because they had a positive expierence last time.

·         Teamwork:  Commit to teamwork.  Find ways to make each other look good.  In the end, everything ends up in front of the customer.

When you are in doubt on how you should handle a customer, remember “Give ‘em the Pickle”! 

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

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Customer Service is the New Marketing

I was browsing the web and came across an advertisement for a 1 day seminar called Customer Service is the New Marketing.  This seminar will be held in San Francisco on February 4, 2009.   I was intrigued by the title since I firmly believe that customer service should be a part of your marketing strategy.  As a small business owner and a marketing consultant, I have found that providing a strong customer service base at your businesses, word of mouth will take off and you customers will reward you with relaying their positive experiences to their friends, families and business associates each chance they get...

This weekend, we were invited to dinner with friends and we decided to go to this local Italian Bistro style restaurant called Giampinos.  This restaurant was formally owned by another family and we vowed never to go there again.... but after one night of desperation and no other place to go, we decided to go this restaurant.  We didn't even know it was under new ownership (although the name was changed - we were just oblivious).  As soon as we entered, we knew something was different.  The staff was friendly, the owner was attentive and under the new ownership the service was impeccable so we had no issues bringing this up as an option when our friends wanted to go out.