A "Moving" Story about Customer Service | John Baldoni

My wife and I recently moved from our house of 33 years and into a condo. As a result we have been the beneficiaries of some exceptional customer service. It’s almost as if everyone we are connecting with is channeling the inspiration of Chip Bell . Chip, as many may know, is one of the world’s leading authorities on customer service as an author, video star and keynote speaker.

Here are a few examples of exceptional service.

A sales associate for our moving company referred me to two additional services – a junk removal service and an IT tech for my home office studio.

The crew that moved us showed up early on the day we moved. They packed and carted the furniture to our new place in short order – earning us a refund for the unused hour we had budgeted for.

A sales associate for an appliance store took the time to research the model and year of the existing stove in our new condo so we could download the manual and thereby learn to operate it.

Our realtor pulled strings of her contractors’ network to get us timely service for painting, flooring and many other things that facilitated our move.

A novice salesperson in a carpet store was hesitant to respond to my wife’s question about durability. So rather than fake it, he called over a senior sales associate to advise us.

Of course, there have been some glitches with online services, more likely due to my impatience on the phone than the fault of the person at the other end of the line. (I guess I need to read more of Chip Bell’s books.)

None of these services are moon-shot specials per se, but each one falls into the pattern of going the extra mile to meet the customer’s needs. In a time when customer service people too often get a bad rap, it’s good to note the good service when delivered.