Perfect 10

I know sometimes it seems like I have more complaints than I do uplifting, heartwarming stories like the ones you'd find on the Hallmark Channel. But every once in a while, someone gets it right. Nails it. Perfection like Nadia Comaneci.

This particular individual of whom I speak was slightly less athletic than the sprite-like Nadia. Okay, a lot less athletic. About 6'2", 280. With a mountain man beard. But that didn't matter because his skills in the service arena were absolutely spectacular.

It was a bright, sunny afternoon and I was performing one of my regular jobs - I was the IT guy for the day. It's amazing how much maintenance running a home wireless network consisting of kid's PC's, laptops, XBoxes, and other peripherals can be. But it's better than my other two jobs as plumber and chief bug killer. Anyway, it was time to install the new printer. Everything was hooked up just dandy. But where was the wire to make the final connection to the PC? I emptied the box. I went through the 18lbs. of packing materials. No wire. I read the box and in the modern-day equivalent of "batteries not included" in tiny 10 pitch the box said "USB cable to connect to PC not included. Sucker." I swear, the "sucker" part was on there.

Needless to say I wasn't pleased. This particular printer company preferred to omit a key component and price the printer a few dollars cheaper. The tradeoff they made for the lower price was back-end annoyance for the consumer (as an aside, this particular printer company's customer disservice will be the subject of many future blog posts). So I made note of what I needed and headed to Best Buy (some blog readers have asked for the names of companies - I'll only provide the names of those who do well like I did in Customer Service Without Boundaries. Naming companies who mess up isn't helpful for several reasons I've articulated in the comments section here).

As I searched the aisles with laser focus looking for my cable (okay, maybe I stopped to play a couple of songs on Guitar Hero III which is the coolest video game since Atari's Berzerk) the Mountain Man noticed I clearly still hadn't found what I was looking for (I must have looked like Bono).

"Can I help you find something?"

"Yeah. I need one of those newfangled doohickey's for the thingy I bought the other day." I knew I had dazzled him with my understanding of technology and my ability to articulate complex technical terms in lay-speak.

"Sure! You bought one of those printers that didn't come with the cord, huh? We see that a lot."

He walked me to the appropriate aisle and pulled the Holy Grail off the rack. "Here you go. This should work just fine."

Yeah. For $37.50 it better work just fine. I mean, I know copper is more expensive these days but $37.50 for a frickin' cable? Talk about a conspiracy. He saw me wince as I looked at the price. My $125 printer just jacked me for another forty bucks and I still hadn't bought my $9,642 ink cartridge yet.

"Is that all you're buying today? Are you a Reward Zone member?" (If you haven't signed up yet, Best Buy's Reward Zone is an awesome customer loyalty rewards program. I highly recommend it.)

"Yes. I have my card with me."

"Well, come with me." he said in a hushed tone. He had a secret... We rounded the corner and I prepared to be flabbergasted by what I'd see next. And it was... it was PAPER!

"Paper?"

"Yeah. We have a special where if you buy one of these cables and two reams of paper, you get the cable for $17 and the paper is free." I was dumbfounded. He just gave away $20 of pure margin on the cable not to mention the margin on the paper. He just cost Best Buy about $30 in profits. Some of you get it. Some are you are sitting there saying "That's insane!" Personally, I found it to be a brilliant example of client service.

He knew that $20 was in my best interest. He didn't want to take advantage of me because I was unaware of a special (imagine the blog post I'd write if he let me pay the $37.50 and I later found out there was a special and I deliberately wasn't told about it...). He had been trained to know he should put the best interests of the customer first. Ahead of his own goals. Ahead of short-term profit. His training was outstanding and his execution was flawless (sorta like Nadia's).

The business impact of the $30 in lost current-period margin? A loyal Best Buy customer who has since spent hundreds of dollars more in their store since that event. A customer who is a raving fan of their business. A customer who tells others about their great experience and gets them to try shopping there (it's early in the morning as I write this so forgive me for not doing the math of what this $20 is really worth. Suffice it to say it's a lot).

Kudos to Best Buy. They've trained an Olympic-class customer service athlete. He nailed the landing (despite his girth and the aerodynamic drag created by his mountain man beard). I'd put him head to head with Nadia any day.

How are you training your associates to put your customers first? How do you explain long-term customer relationship value to them? How do you empower them to make the right decisions for the long term despite possible deleterious short term effects? You want raving fans? It's simple. Put them first and treat them right. Everything else falls into place after that.

- Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC