Marketing Wisdom

There is a big difference between Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction.

One is “being there” to answer questions, take orders, and help, if they can. The other is a the same thing, but, the customer walks away from the “service” with satisfaction, or, “above and beyond” the call of duty.

Every company has some form of Customer Service – and it can be as small as a “contact us” page on a website, or as large as thousands of people throughout the world answering phone calls.

Do they satisfy us? It depends.  Do they help? Do they provide a solution? Customer Service plays by pretty much the same rules with any product. Each company has different “beliefs” on how much they want to “help” a customers, but, most companies play by the same rules – returns (do we take or not), shipping (do we pay or not), you name it, there is an answer to almost every question or issue that a customer brings.

Why all this rambling? Recently, a family member of mine went through a very stressful situation with the loss of her child.

A mom and dad went to a mall with their 2 year old son.  In that mall there was a Nordstroms, which they went to to do their shopping.

Gathering some clothes (for the dad), they both went to the dressing room with their 2 yr old.  Dad went in and started trying on clothes and the mom and child waited in front of the room.

Dad said “hey, can you get me xxx size in these same pants”, throwing over the pants to the mom.

Mom grabbed them and ran out to get the new pants.

Mom came back with the new pants, passed them over to dad, and asked “do you have 2 yr old?”

“No.”

Mom dropped to the ground and took a quick scan under all the dressing room doors, but, no sign of the 2 yr old.

Jumping up, Mom ran out into the department, yelling the 2 yr olds name (and of course, dropping to the ground and quickly looking around).

Seeing a store employee, Mom ran over and said “Hi, I have lost my child. He is 2 yrs old, his name is xxx, he is wearing xxx. Can you help me?”

“Absolutely”, he said, as Mom started to run down the aisles yelling and looking for her son.

Less then a minute after speaking with the store employee, Mom hears over the stores speakers “Attention shoppers, there is a lost 2 yr old child wearing xxx.  If you see him, please notify a store employee. Thank you.”

It was now 10 minutes and the 2 yr old still had not been found. Mom ran out into the mall, looking down the hallways.  Running back into Nordstrom’s, she noticed a man leaning against the wall at the entrance of Nordstroms.

Running down another aisle inside Nordstroms, Mom ran out into the mall from another entrance/exit of Nordstrom’s.

Looking up and down the hallway, Mom ran back into Nordstroms, again noticing a woman standing in the entrance.

Running over to her, Mom asked “Hi, are you with Nordstroms?”

“Yes I am”, said the lady from Nordstroms.

“You are here to catch the 2 yr old from leaving the store?” asked Mom.

“Yes we are, every exit is being covered”, the Nordtrom lady responded, understanding that she was speaking to the 2 yr olds mother.

Running back into the store, the mom – now RELIEVED knowing that the child was not going to get out of the store – heard over the stores speakers  ”Attention mother of the 2 yr old, your child has been found, please come to the jewelry section”.

Mom and son (and dad) hooked up and learned a lesson in life.

But, more importantly, Nordstroms gained customers for life. And, as usual, Mom told 10 people, and they told 10 people, and so on.

So, was this just good customer service, or did it go to the next level of customer satisfaction?

Yes, Nordstroms takes all returns with no questions asked (which made me a customer for life), but, they went above and beyond – making sure that a current customer has the best experience possible – in ALL regards, even in area’s that most customers don’t even think about.

This is what makes satisfied customers. Which keeps revenue and profits around, for a long time.