Secret to surviving this recession!

Some folks, on really busy days, will dip into a place where they least expect to be granted GREAT customer service. One of those days for me was Saturday. My Fiance and I had a function to go to that required cowboy boots (Calgary Stampede time) and I needed to pick up a pair at the shoe maker’s that had just been re-soled.

In my rush with the many errands of the day I stopped at Zellers, a store owned by Hbc Canada’s largest diversified general merchandise retailer with over 600 retail locations and nearly 60,000 associates located in every province in Canada. HBC’s four banners are the Bay, Zellers, Home Outfitters and Fields.

The neat thing about every Zeller’s in which I’ve shopped is how they keep costs down and still deliver quality product, the other unique thing is they all seem to have a restaurant. Often frequented by Senior Citizens and moms with small children, these restaurants are typical diner décor and not wrapped in anything but department store “ambience”. They are handy, have a typical home-style menu and offer a family-like atmosphere.

I needed breakfast, I’d left the house at 7:30am and hadn’t stopped to think about food until almost 11:00am, I was hungry. So in I go, with my O magazine and PDA in hand to grab a bite to eat, read an article or two and get on with the rest of my errands. What a great surprise I discovered in the staff at Zellers.

Friendly

The entire staff smiled, the girl at the front welcomed me into the restaurant (visibly open to the rest of the store) with cheery conversation and all were getting work done. In many restaurants such as this you might see staff gathering during quiet moments to visit or chat about others – not here, they were all about the customers! How refreshing to see a staff paying attention to the folks spending money in their establishment, rather than on themselves. Every interaction with the staff was friendly and smiles were offered freely!

Efficient

WOW, I got water without asking, do any of you remember when you could sit in a restaurant and get a glass of water just for walking in? Not only did I have water put in front of me with a menu and silverware, the wonderful server set down a cup and asked if I would like coffee – Okay, I am in heaven now! One trip, one question and I have EVERYTHING I need. Not 3 trips, no laborious wait in hopes of chasing a server down, not at Zellers, I got all I could wish for in the first 5 minutes.

For those of you who own eating establishments, here is an important tip for you:

People don’t care as much about what the place looks like as what they feel like by being there.  What you feed them and what they pay are totally connected to how they feel,  they want to feel like they’re the best thing that happened to your day because of walking into your establishment.

Business owners, you get that down-pat and you’ll have customers for life!

Just as soon as I appeared to set down my menu, the server returned to see if I was ready to order – when I asked about a menu item she was happy to inform me if it wasn’t just as I would wish, they could certainly provide it for me – MY WAY! WHAT? Now I think I have died and been reincarnated to a time when restaurants cared more about the customer and their needs rather than just filling seats with coupons!

The icing on the cake was that not only the server assigned my table brought me coffee, but any server with a coffee pot in hand came to see if I needed a refill AND they watched to see if I still had cream! No competition, no “That’s not my table” kind of talk, just pure and true customer service with a smile.

Store-Wide Attitude

Here is where it gets clear that the management really does care about their employees. Two tables away, a manager (not sure if he is head store manager or one of the dept. managers) was sitting with a non-restaurant employee and having a chat. I won’t repeat the actual conversation I over-heard, because it’s not my place to share a confidential conversation I never meant to hear. But the nature of the interaction was that of mutual respect and dignity. This manager had it going on and knew how to reach the BEST part of his employee. He offered a strength-based approach and allowed the employee to tell their story. He listened and they laughed and smiled; then went on with their day.

My only regret is I didn’t have any Customer Service Score Cards to leave them and let them know what a fabulous experience I’d received. I’ve been in a lot of places for breakfast here in Calgary and most of them can be good experiences, but I rarely witness breakfast places which are THIS customer centric! I can tell you right now, I will choose the diner at the Zellers restaurant over the fancy menu, the high-priced chefs, the expensive décor of any other establishment for one reason and one reason only – they tapped into what every single consumer really wants when they spend their money An emotionally positive experience.

To All Business Owners Regardless of Your Industry:

If your customers are not getting an emotionally positive experience from your organization, then you are probably struggling in this economy! Make it personal, make it about the customer and stop putting focus on cost cutting. I will return to Zellers not just because of the price-point (although it is good), I will return because of the service! When clients hire Strategic Sense to provide a “secret customer” and complete a Customer-Service Score Card, it’s because they care to make their customers happy –people who understand that he customer experience is directly tied to sales and growth will survive the recession in ways no-one else can even imagine!

Strategic Sense is a Leadership Development, Customer Service, Plans of Action and Facilitation organization who’s mission is to change the world for the better for leaders and their employees everywhere.  We believe each individual comes with their own unique talents and skills that can be enhanced and utilized to help them become the very best leaders only they can be while providing exceptional service to their customers.

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