Customer Service – Where does your company stand are you Morton's Steakhouse or are you Hot Dog Place?
By now, you have probably read the story circulating about Peter Shankman, blog guru tweeting about being hungry on a flight and wanting a porterhouse steak from Morton's Steakhouse. If you have not, here's what happened (short version) "Someone" saw this post and I say "Someone" because a lot of people saw this post, he has over 100k followers but, someone acted on it and he ended up getting a steak as he got off the plane!! That’s correct he was received by a delivery service from Morton’s steakhouse with a to-go meal. Read this incredible article here.
Well, you can imagine some people thought it was a hoax or that it only happened because he has so many followers on twitter. Here is what I think, the people who complained or thought it was a setup and a social media farce are part of the 99% of people who would have done nothing, including people who could react and do something. 
Doritos had a great campaign Do Something.
Today, it's about action, what are you doing to support your business? What can you do? Times are tough and the only thing separating you is how you handle adversity.
It’s easy when things are going good but, what about the tough times?
I was thinking about our customer service department. What are we doing to be better? The article on Morton’s steakhouse was inspiring. What about negative social media?
@ ITN we have adapted in many ways including:
- New discount program / Industry price matching
- Free shipping on credit card orders
- Extended period of inspection of product
- Updated return policy
All of these changes have increased our ability to provide our customers with a better experience. As an add bonus our sales are up a few percentage points from the year before.
Can bad customer service be a killer? Of course it can.
Personal Example (BTW not expecting a free hot dog)
I work @ In The News Inc and get a short amount of time for lunch and find places to call ahead, that are fast, it’s important to me to be back from lunch quickly. The first time I went, it took almost my whole lunch (30minutes) to get a hot dog and fries?
Problem was the food was so good, so I went back but,I wanted to call and pick up my order. When I phoned they said they where too busy to take my order so call back ?
At least I called, and then went somewhere else. Third time, I tried this place same thing, I was late getting back to the office and was upset. So, I went online to complain and found their facebook page with 10-15 comments all about the same bad experience.
Everyone says they have great customer service but only some do great customer service.
How many times has this happened to you, where you have a bad experience somewhere or with a company you really like but, the service was so bad you stopped going or ordering from there?
So, where do you fall, do you have a great product and poor service or poor product and poor service. Or do you have a great product and outstanding customer service?
Here @ In The News Inc it's a great product and great service. If you too, have great customer service, are you rewarding your customer service representatives with a recognition award or a plaque.
Why do we continue to be as successful or more so than the next company give us a call and find out 800-548-3993 or email @ bbrady@inthenewsonline.com
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