The Face of Customer Service

The other day, I decided to run into a local grocery store on the way home from work to pick up a few last minute items for dinner.  On the menu that evening was salmon.  That sounds like a pretty basic meal to some, but truthfully, I have mastered many dishes in the kitchen but seafood is not one of them.  So I did my typical ask of the nice-looking butcher behind the counter and said “if you were preparing salmon this evening, how would YOU do it?”

It almost seemed like his eyes immediately lit up and he so readily responded… “I have the perfect suggestion, our marinade.”.  He quickly went over to the bottled marinade section and with disappointment looked at me and continued to look in three other locations.  After scouring the accompaniment sections of the grocery store, he said “we are all out but just give me a minute”.

Now this search went on for a good 10 minutes.  Typically at this point, always in a hurry, I would be getting slightly annoyed at the amount of time all of this was taking, but I continued to wait.  I was so impressed with the genuine problem solving nature of this man’s helpful intentions that I couldn’t wait to see what he would come up with (not to mention, I still wasn’t sure how to prepare my salmon!)

Within another minute, out from the back walks my new favorite butcher with what looked like a 20 gallon vat of a “different” marinade.  After being encouraged to smell it he said he could pour some into a container for me to bring home.

Now, this story is really not at all about marinade nor is it about my attempts at cooking salmon (though I will admit it turned out excellent!), it is about outstanding customer service!  My expectations were exceeded as I stood there feeling like the only guest in the store.  I left thinking that I would definitely make a point to stop there again the next time I am cooking seafood.

This experience made me think how valuable in this day and age, with all of the choices we have to procure just about anything, how important it is to go above and beyond in every situation.  The face of customer service as we all know in any organization is the person we are talking to at that very instant.  To me, my butcher was the face of this grocery store.  Perhaps he went through a customer service training program or perhaps he just had a genuine interest in helping me accomplish my goal.

How is your organization set up today?  Do you have a “customer service” department, or is every individual in your organization prepared to over deliver?

Ask the question… “what else can we do?”

Tags: butcher, customer service, Good Business, salmon, seafood

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