The Extra 5 Miles

I was talking to a customer of Dan Chaffin Furniture Makers who said:

• "Every time I get a quote from them, I can’t believe how much they cost. But every time we finish a project, I can’t believe how little they cost."

It’s the quintessential definition of value: getting more for your money.

As designers and manufacturers of high-end heirloom furniture, their work is not cheap. So how do they create perceptions of value at such high price points?

It’s not the final products themselves, as they always deliver exactly what they promise.

Rather, it’s the outstanding personal service that owners Matt Frederick and Dan Chaffin provide to every customer that leaves people saying, “Wow, is that really all they’re charging me?”

They don’t just go the extra mile; they go an extra five miles.

They communicate openly and honestly, always maintaining a sense of humor along with their desire to make their products perfect.

I’ve witnessed them voluntarily supervise other contractors for clients to make sure jobs go right. I’ve seen them help clients think through other implications of renovation work to help avoid pitfalls and delays. They routinely provide advice and services far beyond the scope of work, and do so with smiles, jokes, and great attitudes.

There is no script they’re following. It’s not planned.

They are simply driven to help their clients as much as they possibly can, and it shows not just in their incredible furniture, but in the service they provide every day.

And it’s that dedication to their clients that creates such strong perceptions of value.

(See their original and inspired designs at their website, and read this recent review of their work.)



Reader Post: More Domino’s Fun

[editor’s note: We are NOT trying to pick on Domino’s. But one of our regular readers recently sent along an anecdote that we just have to share. Also, we’ve talked a lot about good and bad apologies on our site, and this is a great hybrid- a good apology that happened to create more customer consternation. Thanks for sharing, HA.]

I subscribe to your blog in my RSS feed reader and enjoy your observations about good and bad customer service.

For the recent one on Domino's I could relate to that customer's indifference. We're just used to mediocre customer service in modern America, but you're right that it could be so much better than it is.

And that post reminded me about my own experience with Domino's. About a year ago, I ordered a pizza from them, gave them my phone number as a matter of course, and soon enough, I started getting robocalls from them.

My number's on the Do Not Call registry, so I was annoyed, but apparently, the rules allow you to get calls from companies that you've done business with recently.

I called Domino’s to complain and to get my number off their robocall list, and I got a free pizza coupon out of it.

Later on, I called in to redeem my coupon, left my phone number as a matter of course, and soon enough... you guessed it. RING!



Domin-Uh-Ohs

Last night, I overheard this exchange between a customer and a Domino’s delivery driver who had just dropped off an order.

Customer (yelling from his front door): I ordered THIN crust, but never mind.

Driver: What?

Customer: I said, I ordered thin crust. They get it wrong every time.

Driver: Uhhh, sorry ‘bout that. I’ll make sure to tell them back at the store. (Gets in car.)

Customer: Yeah, whatever.

The customer’s frustration is understandable; he’s received the wrong pizza at least twice.

And all he received in terms of resolution is a vague promise to alert the kitchen…as if that will accomplish anything…and as if that somehow redeems this experience.

Sure, the pizza industry is insanely competitive and lowering costs is crucial. But wouldn’t some basic customer service training for delivery drivers go a long way toward improving brand perceptions, and ultimately, market share?

How many times will this customer return to Domino’s before switching brands?

And wouldn’t it be cheaper to keep this repeat customer happy than losing him to a competitor?

Delivery drivers are often the only human face to connect a customer with the brand. It should be taken more seriously than this.



A Testament to Good Customer Service

Here’s a customer service success story about Delta Air Lines. Two things of note.

First, I love how the customer responded to his laptop being destroyed. He kept his composure and remained polite and courteous even while insisting on appropriate remedies to his loss.

Importantly, he didn’t yell or exacerbate the situation with hostility.

As we’ve discussed before, good customer service requires both parties to be polite and invested in solutions.

Even when service providers make mistakes, customers should remain civil and gracious to foster a positive relationship, as doing so exponentially increases the chances of a satisfying resolution.

Also, I was amused to see that the story was written by Alex Skolnick, long-time guitar player for the thrash metal band, Testament. Now in his early 40s, Skolick demonstrated great maturity and poise during this episode.

I have to wonder if his reaction would have been the same in 1983 when his band was first starting out.

Admittedly, I remember buying his first record when I was 14 or so, and I guarantee that my reaction to Delta's mistake then would not have been nearly as collaborative as it would be today.

Hope everyone is off to a great 2011!

Service Review: GeeksMobile

It’s infuriating to live in a culture that is so dependent on technologies that I cannot repair.

Computers, cars, and homes…staples of our society, and I can’t fix any of them.

Remember Middle-Aged Man from the SNL sketch? He’d be disgusted with me.

And my ignorance always leads to frustration when I need to consult repair people.

• Can this person really fix my problem?
• Is this person over-charging me?
• Could I do this myself with 10 minutes of web research?

I’ve written before about avoiding the “bad idea” that strikes us all from time to time- the idea that we can tackle a project that we really should leave to an expert…usually resulting in calamity (see here and here and here) and wasted resources.

So heeding my own advice, I called GeeksMobile to help me out with some home computer repairs.

As far as I can tell, GeeksMobile is a middle-man company that connects customers with local tech people across the country.

So it’s a pretty streamlined business model. I imagine that they have a centralized call center, and all of the actual repair work is contracted out through local providers.

They charge the customer more than they pay the tech, and voila- profit!

Anyway, I called on a Thursday and had a pleasant conversation where I scheduled a home visit for the upcoming Monday at 11am. I even talked to their onsite tech to explain my problem and get an estimate of 90 minutes for the job.

At 10:30 on Monday, someone called and said, “GeeksMobile, I’m looking for Rick,” or something like that.

I explained that I WAS a GeeksMobile customer, but that I was not Rick. The caller mumbled a quick apology and promptly hung up on me.

As I pieced together later, that was an agent desperately trying to track down a local tech for my 11am appointment.

At 11:25 (well past our appointment time), that same person called me back to cancel. He stated without much apology: “We just can’t find a tech who is available.” As if that explained anything.

I mean, the whole idea of scheduling an appointment in advance is to make sure that a tech is available. I had even stayed home from work for the day.

But alright. Things happen.

A bit later, they unexpectedly called me back to ask if a 1:30 appointment that day would work.

At 1:45, they called back and cancelled that appointment, too.

They rep offered me a 10% discount if I could re-schedule for the next day.

Finally, on Tuesday morning a tech arrived. Despite what GeeksMobile told me, he had never heard about the 10% discount I was supposed to receive.

But otherwise, the tech did a great job and was a pleasure to work with. (Thanks, Ron!).

Unfortunately, the 90-minute estimate that headquarters had provided was off by 3 hours. And what they charge for 90 minutes is far less than what they charge for 4.5 hours.

So the bill was far higher than I had expected, and I called HQ to voice my concern.

The GeeksMobile rep said he’d call me back within the hour.

He didn’t call.

The next morning, I called him at 11am, but hung up after being on hold for five minutes.

I left another message for him later that afternoon, finally speaking to him 24 hours after he was originally supposed to call me back.

* * * * * * *

All in all, dealing with the actual GeeksMobile team was extremely frustrating. Cancelled appointments, confusion, under-estimates, un-returned c alls, etc.

Comically, when they called me a week later with their follow-up survey, two of the three questions were about the tech, not their in-house team (which is where all the problems occurred).

• ”Was the tech on time?” (Just a bit late, but he did call ahead)
• ”Did the tech fix your issue?” (Yup; he was great)
• ”Would you recommend our services to others?” (Hmmmm…)

Would I recommend them?

My tech was terrific. But the GeeksMobile team was very difficult to deal with. I explained my ambivalence to the interviewer, and he brusquely said, “Alright, I’ll make a note of that, and thank you for your time today,” leaving me with no confidence that he had actually written down a word I had said.

(He also missed a key opportunity to apologize, offer to let me speak to a manager, proffer a coupon for future services, or do something to redeem my experience.)

So not only was their survey misguided in focusing on the tech and not their in-house team (and even worse, it confounded the two in the final question), but there was not a dedicated place for me to rate or comment on the in-house team.

Yes, I needed an expert, as I could not have made these repairs.

But wow, I wish their customer service was as competent as the tech they contracted.

This experience: 2 Magnets

Making the Most of the Toast

I was at a black-tie fundraiser for a non-profit organization when it happened.

The big toast was about to commence. The main speaker increased his volume as we approached the evening’s crescendo.

In moments, he would utter some triumphant words about the organization, challenge the crowd to offer even more support in the upcoming year (i.e., write an even bigger check), and offer an inspiring toast to the organization and all of its wonderful sponsors.

Then we would all celebrate by yelling “Cheers,” hoisting our glasses in the air, and throwing back some cost-effective bubbly.

(By the way, never actually speak the word ‘bubbly;’ it’s just bad form.)

As the speech waxed, servers busily filled everyone’s champagne flutes for the big toast.

And then it happened.

In the gloom of the reception hall, I saw my table’s server hover the bottle over my champagne flute. But he didn’t pour.

Instead, he stared fixedly at my glass for a moment, then whisked it away in a blur of motion. He returned a second later with (I presume) another glass, and filled it.

That was it.

I have no idea what he saw wrong with my original glass in the semi-darkness, or even how he had seen whatever it was.

But it was clear that this gentleman was looking out for me and was concerned about problems that I didn’t even know existed…THAT’S how much he cared about doing his job well.

It was a non-tipping event, so he had nothing to gain other than the satisfaction of knowing that he did his very best and maintained very high standards.

And that’s why I admired his action so much.

So Kudos, Masterson’s Catering employee.

I toast your outstanding service and dedication to quality, and I thank you for inspiring us to offer the same proactive, dedicated service to our clients.



Service Review: Scheller’s Fitness & Cycling

It wasn’t exactly the perfect crime. But it worked.

Jes and I have been biking to and from the office for several months. We chain our bikes to the “Reserved Parking” signs outside our building since there is currently not a true bike rack or anything with an enclosed top.

Last week, an unknown gentleman manipulated her security chain until he had enough slack to hoist it up and over the “Reserved Parking” sign.

A witness saw him awkwardly carrying it away, since he couldn’t ride it due to the fact that the security chain was still attached to the front wheel and frame.

That’s how Jes and I found ourselves visiting bike shops last week.

We checked out several stores, but our best experience came at the Clarksville location of Scheller’s Fitness & Cycling.

Nathan assisted us, and afterwards I thought, “Wow, I hope we buy a bike from here just because this guy has been so terrific.”

If that isn’t the dream outcome of every sales experience, I don’t know what is.

In fact, I’d argue that leaving customers with a desire to purchase from you is even more important than landing the sale.

Sure, Jes ended up buying elsewhere (it wasn’t the sales person; she simply found another brand of bike that felt more natural to her).

But in the future, anytime anyone asks us where they should go to look at bikes, we’re going to direct them to Scheller’s.

Our recommendations will cause other people to stop in. And if Scheller’s delights them as well, then they’ll tell their friends to go there, and boom, soon they’re opening another location.

Actually, Scheller’s was on our radar for just that reason. A while back, a family member visited a different Scheller’s location and raved about his experience to us afterwards.  

So they’re already seeing the impact of their dedication to customer service.

(For more corroboration, remember this outstanding Lowe’s experience? It didn’t lead directly to a sale, but it certainly developed loyalty and increased the likelihood of future sales.)

Nathan did several great things to make me root for Jes to purchase a bike from Scheller’s:

• He was incredibly patient
• He shared vast amounts of knowledge and really educated us
• He was genuine & sincere

As Jes tried bike after bike, Nathan educated us on different options for frame adjustments, wheel widths, and seat/pedal alternatives, so that we felt deeply educated as customers.

All of this information made us comfortable purchasing a bike from him, plus we felt gratitude for all the knowledge he shared with us.

The sale didn’t work out this time, but Nathan’s efforts were definitely not wasted, as we’ll keep sending people Scheller’s way.

This visit: 5 Magnets