Customer Service - An Exemplary Effort!

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Last evening I was visiting my local shopping mall where I was going to pick-up this week's issue of Time Magazine, have some Chinese food and catch-up on what's happening in the world.  Arriving at the mall, I stopped at the bookstore and purchased my magazine. 

As always when I visit the Mall, I stopped at the Zales jewelry store to say hello to my son.  He's employed there and has been for a couple of years.  He was unusually happy to see me this evening as he needed a favor.  I figured he wanted me to pick-up a soda for him or something of that nature.  That was not the case.

He had a problem.  His problem was that the store's printer's ink cartridge was no longer serviceable.  He had a customer, actually a young couple, looking to purchase a wedding ring or band and needed to complete a finance sales agreement.  He told me that he would be unable to complete the sale without a signed agreement.  He asked me to drive to the local Office Depot store and purchase the ink cartridge. 

My son relayed to me that his call to the store manager was not well received.  The manager was unwilling to return to the store with an ink cartridge and told  my son to call someone, perhaps a friend, to purchase one and the store would do a paid out reimbursing the friend.  I turned out to be that friend.  I drove to the Office Depot store and purchased the appropriate ink cartridge and returned it to my son so that he could finalize the finance agreement with his customer.  He then reimbursed me for the cost of the ink cartridge.         

I was proud of my son this evening as he truly exemplified what going the extra mile for a customer is all about.  As a hotel executive, I love catching my employees performing in such a fashion and am incredibly gratified that my son understands the concept of taking care of the customer.  The young couple was most appreciative that I came to the rescue with the ink cartridge.  However, the real hero was my son who needed to solve a problem that his manager was unable or unwilling to accomplish. 

I know from my own hospitality experience that every customer is an important one.  I also know that my goal is to establish a relationship with that customer so that he becomes a life-long customer, not just a one-time customer.  I believe that my son accomplished that for Zales tonight when he bent over backwards, went that extra mile and developed a new relationship with this young couple.

Exemplary customer service is something we all run into from time to time.  Not nearly enough but we all have experienced it and know what it is when we receive it.  These are the experiences we go out of our way to share with our family and friends.  In a time when many employees and managers alike seem to care less, I experienced a child of mine displaying great passion for his work and a determination to take care of his customer.  I could not have been more proud of one of my own employees.  It was so much sweeter to experience it first-hand in my own son.  Great Job Daniel Hawkins Brown.