Category: Corporate Culture

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Feb 6 2010

The Eye of the Master

Clearly, Mama D's is a family restaurant in more ways than one, and there are two points that reveal how the business embeds exceptional customer service in its culture. First of all, the owners recognize that inviting you into their business is the same thing as inviting you into their home, so they take pride in treating you like an honored guest. The reference to a "wonderful and memorable experience" shows that Mama D understands she is not in the food business, but in the hospitality business. People can go many places for a plate of food - Mama D promises much more, and her coworkers know exactly what has been promised. As the menu says, "We are here to please you!"

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Competitive Advantage

1 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 5:09 PM

Jan 27 2010

Customer Service Heroes: Zappos

 

Last May, I wrote about Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh and his devotion to coworker and customer happiness. In July, Amazon acquired the online shoe retailer.

Zappos' success seems to be the payoff for a very big gamble on customer service. In the shoe business, customer satisfaction depends on fit - physical and stylistic - so Zappos goes out of its way to ensure customers get exactly what they want. The company's phone representatives actively encourage callers to order products just to try them on, because Zappos offers free return shipping for a FULL YEAR.

 

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Ethics | Competitive Advantage

9 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 10:49 PM

Jan 25 2010

Customer Service Heroes: Abraham Lincoln

Contrary to our images of pastoral innocence, the America of Lincoln's youth was a brutish place, and business was governed by the maxim caveat emptor - let the buyer beware. This is why country folk considered Lincoln's honesty exceptional. Lincoln saw that the foundation of good business practices is a devotion to fairness. And the responsibility for fairness rests on the shoulders of the business, not the customer. As Lincoln's honesty became the stuff of legend, it set the standard for ethical business behavior.

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Ethics | Competitive Advantage

1 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 6:35 PM

Dec 23 2009

The Lawn or The Porch?

This generally joyous season of giving is also a stressful shopping season for many. Great customer service can make the difference between cheerful "Noels" and grumpy "Bah! Humbugs!" In the best organizations, excellent customer service is an ingrained habit, not just a marketing initiative.

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Entrepreneurialism

2 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 5:24 PM

Dec 16 2009

Customer Service Heroes: UPS Driver Daryl Hansen

Few companies live to the ripe old age of 100, and fewer still are more vibrant at 102 than at any other time in their history. United Parcel Service (UPS) was founded by a couple of teenagers as the American Messenger Company in 1907.  This week, two events helped me understand why the company is going strong in 2009.

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Categories: Marketing | Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Competitive Advantage | Optimism

1 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 11:08 PM

Nov 25 2009

Customer Service Heroes: AlienBees

Photographer Erik Pierce of Paparazzi Tonight thought the person on the phone did not understand him. Pierce had dropped one of his electronic flash units, breaking off a piece of the reflector. He called AlienBees, the manufacturer, to find out how much it would cost to fix or replace. They said they would send a free replacement.

"But I dropped it."

"No problem," said the AlienBees representative, "It should have been stronger."

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Categories: Marketing | Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Ethics | Competitive Advantage

3 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 6:15 AM

Nov 18 2009

Customer Service Heroes: The Sprinting Waiter

In Good to Great (Harper Business, 2001), Jim Collins writes that "good is the enemy of great." That is certainly the case with customer service, as customers notice when someone has done something extra special just for them. We may not be able to surprise and delight every customer, but we should build a company culture of people who will jump at the chance to do so. 

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Creativity | Customer Service | Competitive Advantage

2 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 4:20 PM

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