As many of you know, I adore my car. I have had it since 2002 (after buying the exact same car as my year 2000 totaled car) with 255,000 miles! Unfortunately a few days after picking it up from my mechanic after we both were concerned that it might be toast (but decided it was OK), it had steam coming out from under the hood. Not encouraging. I thought it might have a leak and since the temperature said it was OK, my mechanic and I thought if I got more water on the way, I could drive it direct to him from my client (which could be 2 hours in traffic). I told my client I had to find a service station close by before getting on my way, and he went over and beyond instead.
He called the mechanics at the company and asked them to add water and take a look (as they were equipped to do that). The mechanic went way over and beyond in trying to figure out the issue as he had prior experience with cars. He determined that it was overheating even though the temperature wasn’t showing it. NOT GOOD! Thus, I had it towed (see below). Good thing I buy long mileage AAA. It has come in handy with my car and with my aunt’s car (as a deer hit it on the way home from an animal park with the family).
One tip to implement this week:
Customer service can go much further than anyone realizes. A friendly smile at the right time. A suggestion at the right time. Providing a referral. There are countless ways to go over and beyond. I seem to be fortunate with a plethora of examples. Take a look around you. How can you go beyond what you might typically do? Think about how you would like to be treated. Can you do something to help your customers? Think of customers are external AND internal. My client is my customer. I am not his customer yet he treated me like a preferred customer.
August 14, 2015