- February 27, 2018 -
A few weeks ago while I was in Philly visiting my dad, our family went out to dinner after leaving the hospital.
Nerves were already raw and none of us were in the best frame of mind knowing we'd lose him soon. My mom was especially exhausted.
After waiting longer than usual (it was a favorite place we've gone to many times) I was just about to ask the waiter about the wait...
And before I could...he showed up with a couple of plates of artichoke dip, vegetables, and pita chips on the house along with an apology about the wait.
Totally unexpected but really appreciated. We relaxed and our mindset shifted.
Instead of checking our watches and thinking, "Good grief! Our order was placed at 7:30 pm! What gives?"
...the waiter reset our time reference point with the gesture.
Yeah, we still had to wait longer than usual...but it was a lot better than him returning to our table several times to say I'm sorry and pissing us off even more.
Yesterday we talked about the Ritz Carlton being the gold standard for customer service.
Well, I've got one more story for you...kinda sappy like a Hallmark movie but made me secretly smile LOL
So the story goes like this...
A couple from Pittsburgh arrived at The Inn at Little Washington several hours away to celebrate their anniversary with a three-night stay.
As the staff unloaded the luggage, the woman said to her husband, "Honey, don’t forget my hanging bag."
Her husband looked into the trunk and came up with a horrified expression on his face. Apparently, she'd left her bag beside the car in their garage assuming he would pack it.
But he never saw it. (Oops...would NOT want to be in his shoes right about then.)
At this point, the wife pretty much had a meltdown. Here they were checking into one of the most expensive places on the planet - and all she had were the clothes on her back!
As the doormen and the Inn manager were trying to figure out what to do to make this couple happy...one of the staff who had worked there for years and saw what happened, drove up to the front of the inn in the company car.
Without making a fuss...he just smiled and said, "Get me their keys and the address. I’ll be back before dinner."
No one asked him to do this, and there wasn’t a moment of hesitation on his part.
He was so much a part of the inn's service culture that he just knew the exact right thing to do.
(And he didn't wait to get approval first...yesterday's post covered how empowering your staff can be a huge game-changer. Go back and read it.)
Anway, he drove eight hours straight and made it back before their dinner reservations at nine.
Happy wife! Happier husband 🙂
Hallmark moment lol
Steve Jobs once said:
More on how Apple swiped specific customer service techniques from The Ritz Carlton tomorrow!
But in the meantime, we've put together some ideas that doesn't require a Ritz Carlton size budget that you can steal.
Grab a copy of our 50 Cost Effective Ways to Wow Your Customers cheat sheet and put one idea into play!
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Later,
