Personal service. It’s hard to describe it exactly, but you know when you’ve experienced it.
I had a wonderful experience today with my favorite local coffee shop. While I’m enjoying my drink (and getting some much needed caffeine), one of the owners came out from behind the counter, between customers, to read stories to my four-year-old. This is not unusual at Perk & Play. Every time we come in, Randy and Elizabeth recognize us. They always greet us warmly and they make an extra special effort to engage with the kids. The coffee is good and the environment is nice but this personal connection is why I keep coming back.
So the marketer in me began to think. This is literally a mom-and-pop coffee shop and they have to work at this. Is it possible for larger businesses to deliver personal service? Can this intangible, personal touch scale?
There are a number of examples that suggest it cannot. Think of the myriad 800 numbers we’ve all called where the customer service rep’s script tells them to use the customer’s name at the end of every exchange. This is similar to the poor checker at the national grocery chain who is required to read my name off the receipt as I’m leaving. “Thank you mister…uhh…nevermind.” Even if they did get my name right, there’s nothing personal about that. If anything, it just makes me feel awkward. It’s easy to know when someone truly recognizes you and when they’re just following a script.
Earlier this weekend, though, I experienced excellent personal service at a national hotel chain. Everyone I met smiled, greeted me and, in some cases, asked how my day was going. This didn’t just happen at the front desk. It happened with the food service staff, with the housekeepers and with the maintenance crew. And everyone did it in their own way.
There were two things I found particularly remarkable about this. The first was that these employees even bothered. I’ve stayed in enough hotels to know that this is not common. The second, and perhaps more important, was that it felt genuine. These were nice people interacting with me because they wanted to interact with me. There was nothing contrived about it. They didn’t attempt to use my name because they didn’t know me. Yet, it felt appropriately personal because it wasn’t forced.
In the end, both the coffee shop and the hotel achieved the same outcome. They made me want to come back and virtually ensured that I will recommend them to others. Large or small, if you want to exceed a customer’s expectations with personal service, the key is to be genuine.
Tags: service
