{"id":35211,"date":"2023-10-18T10:23:16","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T08:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customerserviceculture.com\/?p=35211"},"modified":"2023-10-18T10:23:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T08:23:18","slug":"treat-everybody-like-regular-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerserviceculture.com\/en\/digital-customer-service\/treat-everybody-like-regular-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Treat everybody like regular customers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday I was driving my car to visit two client companies in the north of Italy. Between these two meetings, I realized that I had enough time for a quick lunch, so I decided to park the car beside a small bar\/restaurant. Then I got in. I tell you about this experience because it’s a good example of why you’d better treat everybody<\/strong> just like regular customers.<\/p>\n

When something goes wrong…<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So I sat down to have lunch. My customer experience started pretty well because almost immediately a waitress came by and brought the menu. So after a couple of minutes, I was able to order a chicken fillet with potatoes and a bottle of water. The same waitress brought me the water after a couple of minutes and I started drinking it because it was a hot day and I was feeling thirsty. Then, in the following minutes I noticed that a family sitting next to my table, which had got there a few minutes later than me, had already gotten their orders.\u00a0 Unfortunately, minute\u00a0after minutes, further customers got theirs while I was still waiting for my order (I took the picture below to kill time).<\/p>\n

\"whileSo I waited 10 more minutes then I asked the waitress to check the ‘status of my order’. She came back apologizing saying that ‘they were sorry because they had missed my order and in just a few more minutes I’d finally receive my longed-for chicken with potatoes. Even though it was bad news I accepted that because I found her words, tone of voice, facial expressions sincere and coherent.<\/p>\n

Finally, after 5 more minutes I got my food and I enjoyed it [to be continued below\ud83d\udc47].<\/p>\n

… it’s how you react that makes the experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However such a delay forced me to hurry up a bit for the following client meeting, so I kindly asked for the bill. The same waitress came to my table and let me pay immediately, so that I could leave quickly because she had noticed that I was running out of time. Then she went: “I hope that you’ve enjoyed your meal and sorry again for the inconvenience”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That was the best way<\/strong> to conclude such a conversation<\/a> because I felt she treated me just like any other of their regular customers who might have faced that service issue! In fact, she could have:<\/p>\n