A week ago Saturday, I went to Panera Bread and was quite impressed by how I was greeted. Everyone seemed to be genuinely glad to work there and the whole experience was enjoyable.
But the best moment happened as I was leaving. I heard with enthusiasm and authencity, “Have a wonderful morning.”
I’ve remembered that all week. I look forward to going back.
While shopping at Giant Food, I walked by a representative from PNC Bank who was standing in the produce section. There is a branch of the bank in the store.
She asked if I wanted to answer a movie trivia question. Intrigued, but not too confident I could answer it correctly, I said yes.
“How fast did the bus have to go in the movie “Speed” so that it wouldn’t explode from a bomb?” she asked.
I remembered the movie but had no idea. By this time, another shopper had stopped and was listening. I looked to him for advice but he didn’t give me a hint. The correct answer was above 50 mph but that was not my guess. The other shopper had said 55 mph so he received a nice gift. However, I did receive a consolation prize.
Not once did this representative ask if I was a customer of PNC Bank. Instead, she used a clever and refreshing way to promote the financial institution, and gave me the chance to laugh and have a good time. The prize, of course, had the bank’s information on it. It was very good marketing, but because of how she interacted with me, it was also great customer service.
Last week I went to the drive-in window to pick up a prescription at Walgreens. I was really surprised to hear the pharmacy assistant say, “You’re Marcia Hall? How many prescriptions are you picking up today?” This was before I said my name.
I asked how she knew my name and her response was that she just remembered me. Because I am not a frequent customer, I was quite impressed that she could recall my face and name, and complimented her before leaving.
Here is an example of exceptional customer service. My interaction with this assistant made me smile and caused me to tell other people about it. I was no longer any customer. I was someone she remembered.
September 7, in addition to being Labor Day, is also the anniversary of the date Google was founded in 1998. The growth has been phenomenal over the past 11 years. How often do we hear people say, “Just Google it.”
Google has made it easy to find so many things that it seems very appropriate to say thank you to its founders on this Labor Day.
