Score One for Customer Service

As times get tougher and tougher, my friends in the hospitality, retail, and service sectors talk about the increasing importance of service, but I’m not sure they all really understand what it is they’re talking about.

While most of them readily agree that as purse strings tighten, customers become more selective, more demanding, and more sensitive to how they’re treated, they don’t always do enough about it. They seem to think that just acknowledging the importance of service automatically makes their employees do better. But it doesn’t work that way. They need to convey their priorities to their staffs, retrain them, and continually remind them. Over time, it will pay big dividends.

It’s sometimes hard to define exceptional service, but we all know it when we see it. Here are some recent examples I’ve experienced.

At Beaujo’s, a wonderful little neighborhood restaurant in Edina, my wife ordered roast chicken for dinner. When told the accompanying vegetable was green beans—not her favorite—she said, “I notice you have a spinach salad on the menu. Would it be possible to just get a little spinach instead of the green beans?” The server didn’t say she’d check with the kitchen, and she didn’t say, “No substitutions.” Instead, she said, “Of course. Would you like it raw, or sautéed in a little olive oil or butter?” Score one for Beaujo’s.

My recent experience with a group having lunch at the Crossroads Delicatessen in Minnetonka looked like this: One person asked for French fries instead of the potato pancake that came with his order. No problem. Another asked for a toasted bagel instead of rye bread. No problem. All through the meal, soft drink glasses were refilled, and I, drinking coffee, was asked if it had cooled off and would I like a fresh cup. Score one for Crossroads Delicatessen.

When I stopped to bring in and pick up laundry and dry cleaning at Peter Pan Cleaners in Minneapolis recently, I made a passing remark about my back bothering me. When I was ready to leave, one of the staff there said, “I’ll be happy to carry your stuff out to your car for you.” Being a martyr, I turned her down, but score one for Peter Pan.

I use a computer, but to say I’m not totally at ease with it would be the understatement of the century. So it was with a considerable amount of terror and frustration that I turned on my Mac on a recent Saturday morning to find a message that said that my wireless mouse had a low battery.