I was recently inspired one morning, and it turns out early afternoon as well, by the car dealership that does all my servicing. I wanted to break a 20 year hiatus from camping, so last year I got rid of the roadster. Found a great deal on an ’08 Veracruz, a Hyundai crossover. Think Honda Pilot for size. It’s been better than expected, an understatement. I take it to the neighborhood Hyundai dealership, Drew Hyundai.
Drew’s been around my neck of the woods since Moses’ son died. It’s reputation is solid, even excellent. My experience with their service department has been off the charts positive. Like many, they assign a service rep to each customer. Mine’s Mike, who on his worst day is outstanding. We should all be as good at what we do as he is. Which brings me to this recent anomalous experience.
Showed up for my 11 AM appointment right on time. Only one car in line ahead of me. Must’ve been a bit busy, cuz it was over 20 minutes before Mike got to me. No biggie, as a 20 minute wait happens in that industry when things pile up. No complaint from me. Mike takes care of me, then sends me over to the sign-up window for the shuttle back home.
10 minutes, 20 minutes, no shuttle. Go inside the office to inquire. The very nice woman manning the counter says it should be just a few minutes. It’s now over a half hour since I turned the keys over. No shuttle. Then it arrives. I’m a bit irritated, but if that’s the worst part of my day, it’s all good. The driver says he’s not takin’ passengers, he’s goin’ to the bank. 15 minutes later, a total of over 45 minutes waiting for the ‘courtesy’ shuttle, he returns. Turns out the bank visit was for dealer business, which apparently was more important than takin’ me home.
I walked back over to Mike’s island. Upon seeing me walkin’ up, he said, “You’re freakin’ kiddin’ me, right?” I said, “Mike, they sent the shuttle to do dealership banking. I need to get outa here. Can you help me?”
He quickly grabbed a form, told me to take it over to the ‘blue awning’ building, the loaner car was on them. He made this happen in 3 minutes. I got home more than 90 minutes after arriving. It’s usually 30 minutes or less between the time I arrive and when I’m back home. I live less than 5 minutes away.
The takeaway is scary.
For those running businesses, whether with a just a few or many employees, this scenario coulda been any one of us. World class customer service policies were in place, and proven over time. Then it happens. One or two employees decide their needs or even their convenience is paramount. It’s a mystery, especially to me in this specific instance. Drew has not only been honest and straightforward in their dealings with me, their employees have been uniformly customer oriented, and quick on their feet.
There’s no real failsafe for this. However, what almost always seems to work is when another employee sees what’s happening and works quickly, quietly, and under the radar if possible, to put the train back on the tracks. Mike did just that — and seamlessly.
My takeaway from this was that imperfect human beings will be imperfect. Go figure. But when ownership/top management has clearly created the correct culture, the ‘moving parts’ will adjust to occasional breakdowns.
I know it’s happened in my firm, and more than once. 🙂 Sometimes it’s been me playin’ the part of Mike, while at times it’s been others having to clean up my mistake. Most of the time, when this happens to us, it’s not been intentionally ill-spirited, but instead, living proof of our imperfection.
What’s your experience?
C Brodeur says:
It is unfortunate that you had to wait so long. I am sure it was very frustrating. It is sad when one or two employees can give the entire company a black eye to the consumer. It is management’s job to make sure anyone dealing directly with customers make service their paramount concern. Yesterday I went to the world’s slowest starbucks. It took almost 15 minutes to get to the front of the drive through. I took it in stride, curious if the staff even noticed that it took so long. I decided not to complain or say anything negative. When I got to the end of the drive through the employee said “sorry, your drinks are free today”. Now that is a great way to turn a bad situation into an impressive one fast.
December 11, 2011 — 9:26 am
Jeff Brown says:
Sounds like we had similar experiences. An anomalous, negative experience, saved by a quick thinking employee. Also, I think it’s important to note that in both our cases, we kept our poise. Sometimes that makes all the difference.
December 11, 2011 — 12:24 pm
Jim Klein says:
I love this topic. Being successful in business is so easy that it’s almost scary. “I’m going to do this better than anyone else.” Voila…success. Only so many people are too stupid to not go for that. McDonalds.
Of course, just deciding doesn’t bring it home. One must /do/ it. It’s not enough to just /want/ the cat skinned.
The worst that happens are copycats in the midst of an increasing market. Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell. McDonalds still manages to thrive.
I’ve noticed that the battle cry of the vast majority of RE agents is, “I’m going to do it just like the next guy.” Granted that’s a functional outcome of the NAR and all the bullshit regulations, but it’s still the agents deciding to do it that way.
That’s why this is a war—it’s a war between those who want to do the best, and those who don’t want it allowed else their territory will be ever-dwindling. Doing one’s best is an activity that’s being outlawed away; this is why we’re in the mess we’re in.
Another great one, Jeff, giving away all the secrets.
December 11, 2011 — 7:06 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Much appreciated, Jim.
December 11, 2011 — 9:43 pm
Jonathan Browning says:
Great post, really enjoyed reading. I think the thing to note is that a company can make a long lasting positive effect on a customer if they recover from the mistakes quickly and genuinely.
@Jim, I liked your point about how in order to succeed most companies only need to provide a quality service with quality customer service. Zappos is a great example of this. Simple business concept but they are constantly getting recognized for their customer service.
January 4, 2012 — 7:09 pm