by Francis j. Kong
I had a scheduled talk in Tagaytay.
It was a stormy day. But a commitment is a commitment.
And so early 6:30 morning, My wife Lilia, Pam my assistant and I left Manila and took the South Luzon Expressway. We arrived early. We haven’t had our breakfast. I know a very nice place called Santis; tried it before and fell in love with a dish they made called Tuna Sashimi salad. I’ve always wanted to go back and taste that dish again and now the moment is here.
The store opened at 8AM and we entered the place 2 minutes before eight. Judith the manager welcomed us. And when I told her I would love to taste their famous Tuna Sashimi Salad she said, “Sir, I am sorry but the chef will come in at 8:30AM but please do make yourself comfortable and I can bring you anything else you like.”
I felt sad. I really wanted to have my companions try it. I said, “Oh, to be honest, having a plate of Tuna Sashimi Salad is the reason why we are here this morning.”
Judith offered another option saying, “Sir, we have freshly baked bread and we have sausages and other things you may want to choose from and we will be more than happy to prepare it for you.”
I said “thank you.” I ordered coffee and sadly commented, “Maybe we can get to order that the next time we get here.”
Judith looked at me and asked, “Sir, do you really want it? I can try to fix it for you.” I said, “You would? That’s mighty nice of you.”
After a few minutes, the dish was served. And I was delighted. It may not be as good as the one prepared by the chef but it was better. Because it comes from a heart of one who really wants to serve.
I asked for a piece of paper. I wrote a letter addressed to her boss and complimented her on her dedication to customer service. And just before I left, the owner of the store happened to call up the store and I had a chance to talk to him. I told him I appreciated Judith’s effort, I will write about this experience in my column and I did say, “And oh yes, by the way, the food is great too!”
Suddenly we all realized that the food quality – as good as it was – becomes secondary to the excellent service extended. Now this is real customer service in action. I doubt it if I could really say, “Today, a chef was born.” But I could by all confidence claim, “Today, a loyal customer has been created!”
It would have been easy for Judith to say, “I am so sorry but we could not serve the dish without the chef.” But she went out of her way, inconvenienced herself, took on the responsibility of the task and served me what I wanted.
In other words, Judith found ways to serve and now she is recognized and I really hope she would be rewarded.
Successful people find ways. Excellent institutions find ways.
Is it any coincidence why the leading banking institution in our country today has it as their slogan: “We find ways?” And being with them as a trainer for quite a while I certainly know that they are really serious in living up to this claim?
Excellent people find ways. Mediocre people find reasons.
Excellent people improve. Mediocre people decline.
Excellent people smile. Mediocre people whine.
Excellent people think out of the box. Mediocre people rarely even think.
Excellent people do their responsibility. Mediocre people do their job.
Excellent people are committed. Mediocre people are compliant.
This is why excellent people succeed while mediocre people never do.
My wife The Ilocana and my associate Pam enjoyed breakfast. They did love the Tuna Sashimi Salad. I went to the venue, gave my talk and on our way back was trapped in the South because of the terrible flood that gripped the entire city.
We checked in a hotel. Spent the night there but still talked about our experience with Judith. It was just a simple Tuna Sashimi Salad but what a lesson we can all learn from it.
Excellent customer service after all is simply inconveniencing one’s self for the convenience of others. And it squares with Scriptures that says: “Do unto others… as if you were the others.” (paraphrased of course).
Oct 202011
Love for others should be what drives us in our business and in any endeavor, this is a great example of that, I hope you don’t mind me sharing this to our team
Praise God for your great experience in
genuine customer service. And thank you indeed for sharing such meaningful event. I’ll pass this on to my family and staffers/peers. God bless you Bro Francis
I truly agree with the commendation given to Judith. You don’t need a Master Degree to easily understand the needs of your customer. There is only one thing that Judith knows well about customer service and that is the ability to listen. Someone who can really understand beyond words is way much more better than someone who knows their job description well that they forget the real existence of their position. I just hope that there will be more Judith around who can add to the ‘WOW’ factor in customer service.
Wow!Have been with the service industry for more than a decade, and this is the only time i’ve read something like this. Great Sir Francis!
enjoyed reading the article. I agree with Francis that customer service should go beyond the your job description.
Hi Francis, that was a great sharing of your experience on customer service. Keep writing my friend, I am learning a lot from your insight. May God continue to use you as mouthpiece for other people like me to get better everyday! God bless you always.
you can really change people in just one snap sir francis. i do really love this one.
Very good article. This is a classic example of what a customer service excellence is all about…winning the client!Our company is really bent on this CSE (customer service excellence) initiative and your article is worthy to be shared to my peers.
Very encouraging and inspiring. I have a poster posted near my office door that want to share also. its by Albert Einstein – ” Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds.”
that what is thinking outside the box, thanks for sharing, rarely that i find people that goes beyond what is expected
excellent and humble people appreciate the the effort of others who always seek to serve from the heart… thanks Francis for inspiring us every day…God bless you, your family and your readers!
I don’t normally forward emails/blogs to friends and officemates. Today, I will make an exception and send this to as many people as possible. If I may add, heroes are ordinary people,like Judith, who do extraordinary things to serve otheres…
Dear Francis,
You will not remember me from amongst your avid readers but do know that i never miss an occasion to read your write up – am an advocate of customer service and i never fail to pickup something different (customer service is not new at all) from your first hand experience and stories about customer service, loyal customers, customer for life! stories…
Thank you most sincerely,
Ethel
i love this article
Well said Francis…Judith is an example of an employee that have “malasakit” sa negosyo..kahit hindi kanya…kahit tauhan lang siya! I know with her attitude she’ll go places.
This article really encouraged me to think beyond how I should be performing my tasks in the office and even at home. Thank you.
nice article! I LIKE the attitude of Judith & of course Francis for the appreciation. Super LIKE^_^
I’m really inspired with the story.Judith is a great example of employee…Thanks for sharing sir Francis I’ll share this story to our staff.
Excellent Customer + Great Product = Awesome Customer Satisfaction is how I can see this. This is so amazing story to tell Francis.
That article just made my day. Thanks for sharing Francis.
wow! i am so much inspired by this. working in a customer service industry, i can really relate to this. i will share this to my team.
thanks a lot!
Wow! What an inspiration. I just love this article, may the Lord grant me grace and all of my co-workers to continue to serve our customers with care. Thank you for sharing this to me. Rest assured Ill share this also with my co-workers.
God Bless
Your inspiring story of Judith’s way of executing customer service excellence, defines the measure of success in retailing – REPEAT BUSINESS! Meaning, you create a new customer again and again as you go out of your way and be willing to be inconvenient for the sake of your customer. KUDOS!
I am in a GOCC, and this blog entry opened my eyes: that you really have to inconvenience yourself for the sake of our farmer-clientele. Thank you and God bless, Sir Francis. I hope I will be able to convince our Director to invite you.
Great story! Thanks for sharing!