dispatches from the new world of work

Customer Love and Loyalty

Dick Heller has given us this post. NB: Posted by me, written by Dick:

I live in the suburbs surrounded by salons and barbershops. Yet I choose to drive nine miles of highway and downtown traffic to get a haircut. Why?

When I moved to Boston a few decades ago, Betty was my barber at the neighborhood shop. One day I stopped in and she was no longer there. The owner wouldn't tell me where she'd gone. He told me that the customer belonged to the owner, not the barber.

A few months later, my office phone rang. I recognized Betty's Colombian accent immediately. "Richard? I have my own shop on Commercial Street on the Waterfront."

I asked her how she'd found me. Even after all our hours of conversation reflected in her mirror she hadn't known my last name. "I know where you work," she said. "I call and I ask, 'you got a tall skinny guy, dark hair, work there? Named Richard?'"

For the past thirty years, neither rain, nor snow, nor all the years of downtown Big Dig construction could keep me from trekking to Betty. She cut my son's hair lovingly all the while he grew up until he left for college and a career in New York. I know her family story, too, but I've never met the Garcias.

I really love Betty. She's a great barber, and she has made it crystal clear to me every month since the day that telephone rang that I matter to her, too.

The hardest guy to locate, she told me, was a blonde guy at the Deaconess Hospital, medium height, Michael. She found him, too.

How do your customers know you care?

Cathy Mosca posted this on 05/18/05.

Comments

I love that story!

Posted by Noel Guinane at May 18, 2005 11:23 AM

Always good to read a positive story about customer service! Never ceases to amaze me how many people just don't get it. They're so busy doing "smash and grab" marketing - they neglect and seemingly work hard to drive away their existing customers. MBNA, Comcast, your mobile phone provider...the list is endless. They'd rather gouge me for a $1.98 than make $198,000 from me over a lifetime relationship (and even more from my referrals.) That said, there are several local small and Mom & Pop businesses here in Albuquerque that really "get it." Albuquerque Quick Lube is just one example. They actually make it a pleasant experience to get my oil changed! Nice facilities (decorated even!), clean restrooms, big comfy armchairs, great magazines in the waiting room, polite and efficient staff. I make a special trip to give them my business - and I don't price shop.

Posted by Mary Schmidt at May 18, 2005 12:32 PM

Awesome story! It's certainly something I can learn from.. There's this great line in the film Jerry McGuire. LOVE YOUR CUSTOMER... This lady certainly epitomises it. I think customer intimacy is a culture thing - and more to do with an individual person's culture as opposed to any group culture.

If I ever move to Boston, I'll look up this barbershop, and have a haircut.. After all, how many barbers get a mention by Tom Peters company??
(and I can always use a good haircut :-) )

- Arun

Posted by Arun Sadhashivan at May 18, 2005 5:41 PM

Oh no - I've been missing the boat and going to Supercuts with a $3.99 back of Albertsons' receipt Supercuts' coupon!

Mary - I think I go to a similar Quick Lube if it is the Albuquerque one on Tramway Blvd. at San Bernadino St. NE?

Posted by Sean at May 18, 2005 6:16 PM

Inspiring. In an organisation where you have more than 250000 customers and 300 to 400 front end staff, you get an average of 800 customers per head. If you want to interact with each of them atleast once a month, you get 35 customers a day.... this where some succeed some fail... But success is higher for self enterprenuers like Betty who know how much is enough....

Posted by Amit at May 19, 2005 4:05 AM

Hi guys, service so vital, yet so rare. My wife and I recently went to a cafe at point lonsdale (vic australia) on a busy weekend, this seside spot is so nice but most of the days trade had headed home, we stopped in at the (almost) last cafe open on that lovely sunday.

We sat to have coffee, the guy who bought the coffee out presented us with our cups, on a side dish was some of the most excellent chocolate fudge ever! (even beats my mom's!) the two little pieces were a nice touch (they were about1/2 an inch cubes, very small) we commented to the waiter we would like to purchase some more... "Sorry we only give it away", he smiled and walked away, only to return with six of the cubes beautifully presented on another plate.

We loved the touch! it made it highly desireable, built the intimacy! and we have told so many people in the few weeks between that he will probably have endless trade...

It is now our forbidden fruit!

Posted by steve gray at May 20, 2005 8:17 AM

That really is a wonderful story - I love hearing about such tremendous service - it is inspirational.

I have written elsewhere that 'staff at the front line know all the answers all the time' - this is yet another story that restores my belief I am right about that.

Don't know about anyone else but stories like this make me want to meet people like Betty - she could maybe cut my hair - it wouldn't take her long!

Fabulous fabulous story!!

I remember David - a good friend - who laid floor coverings as a self-employed sole trader.

He was told by his supplier that a floor covering for an important contract would be delivered in 10 days. That was not good enough for David.

He asked where the floor covering was held - he was told it was 250 miles away. He drove overnight in his van - picked up the floor covering and fitted it for his customer the following day. All single handed. That is what I call service.

Well done Betty well done David

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 20, 2005 5:32 PM

Sean,

Yes - that's the place. (And killer view of the Sandias!) There are many other examples both here in the quirky burg, as well as Santa Fe. Places that put a smile on my face - so I make a point of going to...and don't mind paying a little extra (Wal-mart, shcmal-mart). All goes to prove that small biz can in fact compete with the big guys. They are closer to the customer, can act/react much faster and have a lot of skin in the game (versus being employees, cubicle slaves who have been disheartened and disconnected).

Posted by Mary Schmidt at May 20, 2005 7:09 PM

I tend to do business with people I like and (unless there is a substantial difference) ignore the price. How do I choose? People who appear to like the business they are in and, by extension, like their customers are attractive. And obvious. It is difficult to fake enjoying what you do and who you do it with for any length of time. How ALL the employees in my local bank branch know me when I drive up is beyond me, but they take a special delight in knowing me, my children and even my dog and provide a little treat for all of us when we drive through. Do you think I spend anytime at all looking at how much I could save by going to bank Y and getting a cheaper checking account? By the same token the same clerk who has sold me milk at the local Wal-Mart 30 times in the past year has no idea who I am and no interest in finding out. She's marking time. If my banker sold milk you know where I'd buy!

Posted by Bruce McCurtain at May 22, 2005 7:24 PM

I agree with you Bruce. There's no substitute for the personal touch and I have found that customers show loyalty when they're treated well.

I also like doing business with people I like. Who doesn't? But I wouldn't not do business or stop doing business with someone for personal reasons. On only two occasions have I stopped doing business with a customer and never have I refused to do business based on my personal preferences. The first was when I was asked to do something illegal. I refused and then refused to do business with them in the future. The second was a customer who wasted my time arguing quite literally over pennies. One day I conceded that maybe they were right and the competition was the place to go.

The flip side of it - dealing with suppliers - again I didn't care whether I liked them or not, only whether they could deliver what they were promising at the promised price. What I found is that behind closed doors, in a tough negotiation, people often resort to exaggerated versions of their true selves. Much of what I've seen wasn't always likeable, but it didn't stop me from doing business with them. What interested me more was how fair a deal I was getting.

Posted by Noel Guinane at May 23, 2005 8:12 AM

I love this post - it is heart warming to see this kind of customer service really happening.

The Killer question:
How come small businesses with a great level of service are going out of business left right and centre? How come if your local friendly coffee shop is so great has it just turned into a starbucks?

How come Walmart has come in and made mincemeat out of all the local shops?

Sorry to be provocative but the concept of superior customer service has to be lifted higher than a "good idea or nice to have" it has to make sense financially.

Posted by PaulH at May 23, 2005 10:00 AM