I’m not usually the first one on my block to buy new gadgets;  and the purchasing process isn’t really something I would think of as a potentially memorable customer experience. But this past weekend Apple displayed a stellar example of how it’s done — customer service on steroids.

I’m a PC user by necessity, but the features and size of the new iPad were just too tempting to ignore. So I made up my mind (on Thursday night, a whopping 36 hours before the iPad went on sale) that I was going to take the leap and buy one. I did my homework and was pretty much convinced that there would be lines around the block, shortages of stock, and that driving the 30 miles to the store would be a gigantic waste of a precious Saturday morning. Fortunately my husband knows me, which means once I’ve made up my mind, you better get outta the way, so he said “Well, there’s no harm in trying.”  So we dragged our sleepy behinds out of bed on Saturday at 7am, to make it to the store by 8 — an impressive 1 hour before it was set to open.

I’d bet that every employee of the store — some 30 of them — were waiting for us, and each one had a clearly defined assignment. When the line approached the door I was stunned when a smiling blue-shirted guy stepped up, smiled, asked my name and then introduced me to my personal iPad wiz, Aaron. Aaron then led me into the store and explained that he knew and appreciated that I had been waiting in line, so he was there to help me as quickly as I wanted, or he would take as much time as I needed to answer all my questions; and he did, with kindness and patience. Here’s the kicker — he didn’t try to sell me one single thing. He asked if there was anything else he could help me with and only showed me accessories that I asked about. Then as I headed for the door, he reminded me that I could come back any time and he would teach me anything else I needed help with.

I sometimes roll my eyes when I hear people talking about how to build relationships with your customer, and they offer their 5 secrets or a magical formula. It’s not a secret. Just spend a few minutes with Aaron. Think about your own best customer experiences, and, then do that for your own customers. Maybe (probably) Aaron had some training, but if he was faking his interest in providing a memorable customer experience, he deserves an Oscar. His enthusiasm was contagious, his knowledge was amazing, and his genuine interest in establishing a great customer relationship (even with someone old enough to be his Mom) was an experience I had not anticipated and won’t forget when it’s time to buy a new computer.

This is how customer service is done. Think about how you like to be treated and then ratchet it up a notch…. or 10.

By the way, this blog post is brought to you by my magical new iPad. With a little encouragement from Aaron. Thanks, Aaron!

I know I said that this site was going to be all about fun.  But sometimes the playground bully comes along and steals your soccer ball and you just have to tell on her.  Yes, her.

Ready for a rant?  I’m paying good money to belong to a (shall not be named) forum.  I’m new in town, and haven’t posted anything until yesterday.  What a mistake. I should have just continued lurking.

I had a discussion outside the forum, regarding marketing — and then took my question to this “supportive forum” to get opinions and feedback.  I asked (politely with no ranting) for feedback about a marketing practice that I consider high pressure and unnecessary.

I received a few polite, helpful replies.  But then one of the people (who started the forum and takes my money every month) puts in her 2 cents.  “It’s irresponsible to do x before y.”  Say WHAT?  I never said I was going to do x or y.  I was asking for advice and you’re calling me irresponsible?  I beg your pardon!  Then she went on to question who I was, what my role is and basically saying “who the h@!! do you think you are, daring to question marketing wisdom?”  Wait. I thought that’s what we were here for. To explore new territory and express how we view some marketing practices, and find good, viable alternatives.

What I want to know is, what happened to “relationship building” and “tribes”?  Hmmmmm????  I’m here for the FUN.  I’m here for the experience.  I”m here because I want to learn, and I paid good money for this abuse.  I don’t need some overblown self-proclaimed expert questioning my credentials before they even know my name!

Don’t get me wrong.  I am well aware that I’m not always right, that my credentials may not stack up to some people’s, but I wasn’t proclaiming that I knew anything. I was asking for help and advice, for goodness sake.  I think this bully could use a few lessons in customer experience.

Just take the dang soccer ball and go. I don’t want it anymore.

Tonight my honey and I stopped in to get a quick dinner at a new upscale fast food place in town.  Kind of a cool concept — healthy food, reasonable prices, nice building, but no fancy waiters or sommeliers.  As we scrutinized the new place, honey says “You should write a blog about this experience.”  I laughed.  Then I thought a minute and realized he was right.

The food was good. Really, it was.  But it was clear that whoever set all this up stopped short of considering what the entire customer experience would be like.  It’s not just about the food.  When you walk in the door of a brand new place that only has 2 tables occupied, you see the staff huddled up laughing and talking.  OK, of course it’s alright to have fun.  But someone finally nudged the girl nearest to us and she came over to greet us.

We read the  menu eagerly, seeing several things that are enticing.  We order and suddenly the manager swoops in and grabs our debit card right out of the cashier’s hand and says “Um, we’re no longer offering the chicken skewers. They…. um… didn’t present well. “  OK, dude.  You’ve been open for 5 days.  Don’t you think it would have been a good idea to test the recipes before you put that particular item on the menu?  “But don’t worry, we’ll replace that with something else at some point. ”

We sit down and the food comes quickly,  as advertised.  Mind you there are 2 occupied tables in the place, and they bring us our food without the advertised sauce that goes with it.  Helloooooooooo….. anybody paying attention here?

Honey comments on the interesting flatware.  Yes, I nod, it’s nice looking.  Then I pick it up and it spins in my hand.  No kidding.  It’s this swirly sort of slick round pattern and as soon as you pick it up, the fork flips upside down in your grasp.  I’ve never seen that one before.

Now let me back up and repeat my first observation:  the food was good.  Really.  But we walked away wondering about the future of this place.  They got the food right.  Prices are not bad.  But the devil’s in the details.  Do you really care if you have customers in here?  It’s not that apparent that you do.  You don’t greet people when they walk in the door.  You tell them they can’t have the first thing they choose on the menu. You don’t give them everything they ordered.  Then you give them magical twisty forks that make them struggle to eat their dinner.

Owning a business isn’t just about providing a good product.  It’s about providing a great experience — from start to finish.  What devilish details do you need to pay attention to in your business?

One of my favorite expressions when I’m frustrated is “Just shoot me!”  But after the last week with my internet and cable tv provider I think I need a new expression — they took it too literally.

First, they shot me in the foot when a fellow soccer fiend from Ecuador called and asked if he could come over and watch his favorite team play.  Sure, of course, we’ll buy the pizza.  Then we wasted 2 1/2 hours just to find out that we had the wrong satellite dish.  “Oh, THAT channel!  Well, you need a different dish that we’ll come right out and install for $200.”

Then we get a notice that they’re doing a FREE upgrade to super duper high speed internet.  Here comes the shot to the second foot.  “You need to buy a new modem.”  OK, did that.  Then they left me for a full day without internet while I waited on the new modem to arrive (that they didn’t bother to tell me I needed to order from them until 24 hours before the big switchover.  Then they did the big switchover without asking me whether their modem had arrived.  Dead in the water.)

Too bad I don’t have four feet because the story doesn’t stop there.  New modem installed, still no internet. Another hour on the phone and finally “Well, I see that your modem could use a new firmware upgrade.  So I’ll just download that to you now.  How long will it take?  I have no idea.”  Another 1/2 day of work lost.

And finally, everything is installed and my new super duper high speed internet now goes…. well, let’s see.  About half speed and half the reliability of what I had before they upgraded me.

Unfortunately the saga still doesn’t end there.  So I call the chief competitor in town.  “You bet, we’ll come out tomorrow and install everything.  Installation is free.  Modem?  Oh, yeah I forgot. That’ll be $5/mo. extra.  Wireless? Oh, don’t worry, it’s in the same box.”  You can see where this is going.  The guy shows up, looks around the office and says “Um, I see you have two laptops.  Do you have a wireless modem?”  No, I explain, you’re supposed to have one handy little box that takes care of both the modem and the router.  “Oh, no, it doesn’t work that way with us. You need two separate boxes, and by the way, it’s $100 extra to install the wireless router. Which I don’t have with me. But you can go buy your own and I could go ahead and install the rest of the things now.”  All I could mutter was “Goodbye.”

So what is our customer experience lesson from all this?  If you’re a business owner, empower the people who work for you to do something more than give rote answers and follow the d!@#$ book.  Forget the scripts and don’t make me talk to someone in another country when I know darn good and well there is an office 1 mile from my house.

Don’t shoot me — I’m the customer!!!!!