Comments

Apple, Apple, Apple.

Posted by JJ at January 24, 2007 12:25 PM

Thanks John, and I agree that good service is absolutely vital to a successful brand. Personally my best big company example is the difference between shopping at Home Depot and Lowes, the home improvement chains. We have both in our area and I do just about anything I can to avoid Home Depot. The stores tend to be dark, disorganized and it is usually impossible to find anyone to help you. Lowes stores, by contrast are bright, well organized and have call stations throughout the store where you can call for assistance if you don't see an associate in the immediate area. And the people at Lowes seem to know much more about their products and their stores than HD.

Another smaller example is a tiny little restaurant that my wife and I try to go to every time we are in New York City. As a matter of fact, our experiences have been so good there that I blogged it last fall.

http://www.ecstewart.com/savantblog/2006/08/its-little-things-that-count.html

If you are in New York, we'd recommend stopping in for a great, intimate Italian meal with wonderful service.

Posted by Andrew Hayden at January 24, 2007 12:32 PM

Digita

www.digita.com

Posted by Stuart Jones at January 24, 2007 12:45 PM

Google
Manager Tools ( http://www.manager-tools.com )

Posted by PierG at January 24, 2007 1:04 PM

Starbucks and my dentist...

Posted by Michael Warner at January 24, 2007 1:37 PM

BMW...Starbucks...and Michael's dentist.

Posted by Mary at January 24, 2007 2:04 PM

USAA. They're my equivalent of the Commerce Bank.

Posted by Jason Wood at January 24, 2007 3:22 PM

Jason, I just checked out USAA. Impressive. Didn't know about them, but should have, given work we did with MWR. JJ, your mentioning Apple reminds me that I was always knocked out by their products but not as much by their customer service when things broke down. But since I got a G4 several years ago I haven't had anything break down. Zero freeze-ups.

What I should have also asked: what's so special about these companies? What's the customer experience they provide?

Posted by John O'Leary at January 24, 2007 4:04 PM

Great list...at the risk of starting an uprising, I must admit I am a little taken aback that Starbucks continues to be in this list. Yes, I love Starbucks, but prefer Panera Breads FREE wireless, I enjoy their staff's friendliness, but prefer a little less bugeiose atmosphere...Just get the feeling they are becoming a bit too much mass marketer with attention to operation excellence rather than being my third place neighborhood coffee shop. So I nominate my neighborhood coffee shop, Cafe Julias, fair trade coffee roasted on site, fresh pastries not delivered on a truck. and baristas that know my name. All right, I'll just wait in anticipation of the Starbucks faithful skewering me...:)

Posted by Mike Neiss at January 24, 2007 4:18 PM

wikipedia, tompeters.com, the blogosphere, peer-2-peer platforms, linux, gazelle bycicles, my tailor

Posted by jens at January 24, 2007 4:21 PM

Ditto on Commerce Bank. I had a very positive experience when I had to take care of something last night. Not only do they greet you at the door, the greeter helped me get my task done even faster then if I was unaided. I would like to be a fly on the wall when they do customer training seminars.

JetBlue is another org. that has the customer service formula down. There employees are happy, energetic and knowledgable and that really translates to the customer experience.

Posted by Katherine at January 24, 2007 4:41 PM

Sorry, not my local Starbucks ... very disappointing taste and experience ... even Starbucks must have their worst store. Perhaps this one is it ...

Posted by Mike L at January 24, 2007 4:54 PM

I hate to echo the Starbuck's chant, but I spend a ridiculous amount of time and money there. What impresses me most is the consistency of the experience from one store to the next. They look similar, the staff are friendly and seem to be having fun in nearly every one I've been to, and the coffee tastes pretty much the same. That is quite unusual for such a large company. And, they manage to sustain that level of quality over time. Many, many businesses start off with a bang but slide as time goes on.

Another company would be Shelter insurance. Great personal service, very low rates and prompt resolution of any claims. No hassles. They deliver on their promises.

Posted by Damone at January 24, 2007 5:00 PM

Damone, ditto for me on Starbucks (though I just drink the tea). One observation: a Starbucks I visited in Shanghai had the classic Starbucks look but not the feel. I was pounced on by the staff to buy mugs, etc. I literally ran out of the place. But that was my experience elsewhere in Shanghai (I guess I had the Yankee-tourist look) so I can't blame it solely on Starbucks. But it points to a big-time challenge in a global market: maintaining the brand - i.e. a consistent customer EXPERIENCE - in different cultural settings.

Random thought: I wonder how many businesses have been created over Starbucks coffee? I've seen a lot of deals go down in my local store.

Posted by John O'Leary at January 24, 2007 6:13 PM

My nominations are Amica Insurance (they're very responsive and helpful), LL Bean (they really honor their "we'll just replace it" guarantee),Borders (where they don't just point in the direction of where the book is, but walk you there to find it), and Roche Brothers (small Boston grocery chain with excellent, helpful personnel).

More personally, my dentist and my hairdresser are both perfectionists, which is something I really value when it comes to my teeth and my hair!

Posted by Maureen Rogers at January 24, 2007 6:51 PM

In-N-Out Burger.
The whole experience. Friendly smiling faces - mostly the youngish kids you see at the other fast food places, but these are the ones that seem to give a crap about how they do their jobs. Clean - Super Sparkling Clean. Good burgers made a few ways (including the "secret menu") EVERYTHING is fresh - never frozen, great fries made from the potato right in front of you, delicious thick shakes - and add the sodas and THAT IS ALL THEY SELL (well - except for t-shirts and such for the fans). The menu has changed little since the late 40's when they opened their first place. Truly a story worth passing on. They are only in CA, NV and AZ, but worth dropping in on if you are here.

Posted by Andy Pels at January 24, 2007 7:07 PM

Great Program

Posted by Julie K Davis at January 24, 2007 10:31 PM

www.wiredforgrowth.com is a Great Program !!!!

Posted by Julie Davis at January 24, 2007 10:33 PM

My favorite examples given above are "my dentist," "my tailor," "my hairdresser."

I frequently ask questions similar to this in workshops, often in terms of "who creates great Brand Harmony?" or "who creates We relationships?" What's fascinating to me is that people reflexively start thinking of big companies, but, when we dig into it, they realize that the companies that "get it" the best are the small ones. I frequently hear about local restaurants and small retailers. I speak to a lot of CEO's of small and midsize companies. They come in to my sessions thinking they need to emulate big companies. It's most often the opposite - small companies can be closer to customers, more nimble, and more in touch than big companies.

We used to live in an age where bigger was automatically better. (Those of us over 40 remember judging the quality of someone's first post-college job offer on the size of the new employer's company.)

It's time the big guys looked at their corner retailers for ideas. Section heading from my new (upcoming) book: "What Every Fortune 500 Company Can Learn From My Dry Cleaners")

Posted by Steve Yastrow at January 24, 2007 11:06 PM

I don't know if you've ever considered a church or not but I recommend LifeChurch.tv. Yes, that's the name as well as the website. When you attend one of their weekend "worship experiences" (that's what they call them) you can be greeted as many as 5 times from the Traffic Director in the parking lot to the Usher in the auditorium. They currently have 40 worship experiences on 9 campuses in 4 states (plus the internet campus) with expectations to add 50 more campuses in 5 years.

Posted by Tom E. Snyder at January 24, 2007 11:48 PM

Michael (W) - just curious, what makes your dentist experience special?

Posted by Paul S. Ross at January 25, 2007 12:06 AM

Freebusinesstips.com.au - no service issues just great articles, tips, comments, forum, blog etc on business. c'mon join the fra... team! ;)

Posted by Steve Gray at January 25, 2007 1:46 AM

My former General Practitioner (family doctor)

Sadly I cannot think of one single company employing more than 1 person that turns me on as a customer. Maybe my standards are set too high - I think not. Maybe it is because we are prepared to accept 'average' customer service in the UK from anything other than small companies. I must get out more.

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 25, 2007 3:06 AM

Mike, I’m not a big Starbucks fan either, but I do admire the way they have maintained their product/service standards as they’ve gone global (I’ve never been to Shanghai, John!). I want to contrast this with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky media empire. Their service, in my experience at least, is a pale shadow of what it was when customer recruitment and building market share was the business priority. I am sure they will eventually pay for their mechanised and impersonal call centres, scheduling (unreliable) maintenance visits in working hours, and pathetic technical support for their new Broadband service. The army of branded coffee shop look-alikes on the High Street have failed to derail Starbuck’s domination. Here’s hoping a media competitor will emerge to take on Sky’s domination. Enter Richard Branson’s newest business, Virgin Media.

Posted by Richard King at January 25, 2007 5:14 AM

Any company that makes it feel personal. A good experience is a One-to-One thing. I don't think it's about big or small or brand or marketting budget. It's about how much each front liner wants or is able to be HUMAN with me.

It's abou talent / management attitude / and luck!

My shortlist would include Bang & Olufson, Apple, Trek, Patagonia, Cyclefit, Frosts, Monty (my barber) and Advanced Performance.

Posted by Chris Nel at January 25, 2007 5:28 AM

Chris, I have a T-shirt by Patagonia that is about twenty years old. And Andy, I just left the San Francisco area, where I considered going to In-N-Out Burger because I'd heard what you say about them before, but I just don't eat that kind of food very often, so I missed my chance. But my nomination, based on my recent Silicon Valley experience, is Panera Bread. In the middle of computer central, the only place I could get online with a fast wireless connection was at Panera. And it's free. And there are plenty of electrical outlets to use. And lots of good seating. You have to agree to their terms of use, part of which is to move on if the restaurant fills up and someone else needs your seat, but that never happened in the entire day I spent there. And there was amusement in the form of conversations from other customers and with staff. I had tried Starbucks first, because I have a serious fondness for their latte, but their paid Wi-Fi was not set up to override the free community service in Sunnyvale. And cheers to the town for trying, but that connection was slower than molasses. So, Panera it is. From now on.

Posted by cathy mosca at January 25, 2007 8:59 AM

A little place in Toronto called Balzac's Coffee. They roast their own beans, they have a cool space with local artists stuff on the walls - very stimulating sensory wise - I can smell the place as I write this. They have great chrome espresso machines and when they make you a late they do this little trick with the last bit of milk so that you get a design in the foam that looks like a flower or leaf. Oh yeah the coffee is phenomenal also. I feel cool, bohemian, and smart when I go there, which is great because in "real life" I am none of those things....
For big companies I'd have to say Shangri La Hotels.

Posted by Kevin Toderel at January 25, 2007 9:02 AM

Progressive Insurance. As a client you can do anything quick and easy on their site -- get a quote for insurance changes; pay bill in under a minute; get documents. Bing, bang, boom. Done. Bright House has a similar fast site. Verizon not so much -- in fact it is horrible.

Posted by Peter Radizeski at January 25, 2007 9:13 AM

I have to admit that Starbucks is getting more and more disappointing for me. Up until a year or so ago I always thought I was their biggest fan.

I suppose it has to do with "my" Starbucks. Ever since they built one (a pretty bad one) a mile away from my house my opinion of them has declined steadily. It's interesting just how much damage a bad apple can do!

Panera, Apple, my real estate broker, my kid's orthodontist, and my Volvo dealership, all know how to meet me where I am and get me what I need cheerfully and skillfully!

Horror stories include: Dell, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, many of the airlines (but NOT Jet Blue!!!)

And then what is interesting to me is that there are a whole lot of businesses in between. Those that are neither remarkably bad or good. They should pick a side!

Posted by ann michael at January 25, 2007 9:51 AM

Score 3 for Panera Breads - I'll have to check em out.

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I'm now curious about notable OMISSIONS from this list. Living in Boston I haven't had the opportunity to fly Southwest Airlines in years. Are they still wild, wacky, and fun - and inexpensive?

Posted by John O'Leary at January 25, 2007 10:22 AM

Southwest is still pretty good, I fly them all the time on the West Coast. Jet Blue, roughly the same positive experience.

USAA has amazing customer service, NO foreign ATM fees (they reimburse them) and very little/no fees in general. Their attitude is all about me and my needs. While all banks are in business to make money, USAA doesn't show it. Perhaps that's it. Helping people is baked into their DNA. Maybe the people they hire truly empathize with military personnel (large portion of USAA clientele but not me) and they treat everyone with that kind of kindness and respect. It's a bit of a mystery to me since I haven't encountered another financial services company of this quality.

Among other things, I bought small business insurance through USAA and they actually don't underwrite it (Hartford does) but they serve as a front-end for all customer service / claims / inquiries. Flawless experience. Whenever two large companies have that kind of partnership, I expect to see cracks and there were none.

Dunno about Apple, that was not my comment.

Posted by Jason Wood at January 25, 2007 12:42 PM

Kaffebryggeriet, Larvik. Norway.
They recognize you once you're inside their door, and once in a while my cup of cappucino is ready when I'm at the counter.

Posted by Roy at January 25, 2007 2:32 PM

I forgot Wikipedia...surprisingly good. And YouTube is terrific.

Posted by Mary at January 25, 2007 7:57 PM

The organization I want to promote is almost more a concept:
microfinance. The organization I promote it through is the
Grameen Foundation , not because of the “customer” expeience
as a contributor, but because keep multitudes of people from
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extreme poverty every year.

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For information on either
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Posted by ShakespearesFool at January 25, 2007 9:44 PM

Hilton hotels where the staff understand "the moments of truth" of service. On arrival they excel. When problems arise they "delight" in serving you.

Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at January 25, 2007 10:51 PM

Scant mention of autos so far. I should have brought up Lexus - in my opinion a brand that fulfills its promise of reliability. Toyota design at its best. And except for Richard's endorsement of Hilton, no one is blown away by their lodging experiences? (I'm sure that my consulting colleagues - stalwart road warriors that they are - are resisting the temptation to list their LEAST favorite hotel experiences!)

Posted by John O'Leary at January 26, 2007 8:16 AM

I read above that someone wants to promote a company that makes their experience feel personal and I have to echo that sentiment. Yesterday I went to my local grocery store and after the cashier took my money she turned her back on me and edge her rear end up to the counter and continued talking with her friends. The whole transaction felt cold and cheap. Where has the service mentality gone?

Posted by Katherine at January 26, 2007 2:47 PM