Apr. 29, 2008 at 2:22pm

Service made easy

Posted by Shari Campbell in Care Line Marketing, Internal Communications, Planning and Strategy
No comments

Just over a week ago, my daughters and I watched my husband cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon. What an amazing event! More amazing still: the easy, simple ways we experienced stellar customer service on our vacation.

Here are a few examples:

Kudos to AT&T for sending text updates on my husband’s progress throughout the marathon. At several points during the 26.2-mile event, a message simply listed his mile post, time and expected finish:
          AT&T Athlete Alert
          Tim Campbell at 10 kilometers
          Time: 41.09 (Proj. finish 2:53:38). Pace 6:37

The Berklee College of Music has an outstanding reputation for its innovative teaching methods. Its service excels, too.

Our youngest daughter, Allie, wanted to check out this urban college campus. We stopped by on our last day in Boston, unannounced, without an appointment. Wandering through a campus that includes dozens of building sprinkled throughout the city, we managed to stumble upon the admissions office. Mike, a music student from New York, gave us a great tour, and took Allie, a drummer, to the basement where the drummers hang. We had to ditch the tour group early to catch our plane back to Sea-Tac, so Mike gave Allie a business card and encouraged her to email him.

We lost the card, Mike. But we’ll be in touch.

Despite rising fuel costs and plummeting earnings, Alaska Airlines and its employees at Logan International Airport found ways to make our plane full of marathoners stand tall. Staff went out of their way to recognize the dozens of runners on the flight as we gathered near the gate to depart. On board, the captain recognized the women’s masters winner, Redmond’s Kristen Mossman, and all the other participants.

Touching down at Sea-Tac, the captain and crew again thanked us for flying Alaska and congratulated all the runners on their amazing accomplishment.

This simple effort didn’t cost Alaska a dime. Yet it left us all feeling proud.

Bailey, our beloved golden retriever, couldn’t make the trip to Boston. She stayed behind at Sumner Veterinary Hospital. We were supposed to pick up Bailey the morning after our late flight home. But we missed her – and knew she missed sleeping on our daughter’s comfy bed. We arrived at our vet at 11:15 p.m., hoping we could pick her up. The boarding staff had left, and the only employees still there were a vet and front-office assistant.

Despite the fact it was after-hours and the staff didn’t have Bailey’s paperwork, they managed to find Bailey for us. It would’ve been easy to recite policy – Our kennel closes at 10:00 p.m.; you’ll have to come back tomorrow – but the staff once again earned our loyalty by going the extra mile.

The next morning, with little sleep and still on Boston time, I jumped in my car and began the drive to work. A “low tire pressure” alert forced me to stop into the downtown Puyallup Les Schwab Tires. Even though the shop hadn’t opened, Bill filled the tire and suggested I come back later in the day to have it checked out.

When I returned, Bill greeted me, “You’re back. We’ll take a look at it right away!”

Less than 45 minutes later, another employee told me the tire had a nail in it and they had repaired it. He waved off my VISA card and replied, “No, it’s on us!”

Now, my year-old Honda Pilot doesn’t have Les Schwab tires. And it won’t need new tires any time soon. But I’ll bet you can guess where I’ll be buying my next set.

What lessons can we learn from these examples? How can we assure patients choose us?

Comments (0)

Add your comment below