Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category

Feedback Frenzy

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

I just LOVE feedback from our great customers!!!!:

“Just wanted to thank your company for always being so responsive in sending me paint supplies when I ordered over the internet. Your website is very well laid out. Also, the people at Daly’s have been very courteous and helpful when I have called. Today, I just wanted to get a little advice on color choices for C2 paint, and Nedra was very kind and very helpful in helping me. Actually, I guess that I wanted some assurance from an expert that I was not too off base in the choices that I have already made. I feel much better after talking with Nedra.

Normally, I do not like to take people’s valuable time, but I do feel better for calling.
It is amazing how the desire to find the right paint colors can become almost an obsession. However, it is so important, because the choices will impact the quality of my home environment. In any event, your company made the adventure a little smoother.

Good luck in the continued success of your business.”

I have to agree – finding the right color EASILY can move one into the obsessive category. But that’s totally okay, it just shows us how important our home and surroundings are. I have always said that color is a universal language that we ALL speak (granted, some people have different accents) so it makes sense that finding the right color becomes important to the home improvement project.

Speaking of home improvement projects, one of the new terms I have seem bandied about lately is “Stay-cation”. In other words, you stay near home for vacation instead of traveling. I wonder if anyone sees painting projects as a desirable stay-cation activity? Hmmmm…

I few days ago, I was poetically (if you can call it that) praising Krud Kutter for it’s performance. Apparently the folks at Krud Kutter found the blog post, and they liked it too. While I’m pretty sure I’ll keep my day job and leave the world of poetry to those who actually posses some degree of wordsmithing skill, it was great fun to receive a letter from them (and the handy cup koozies/t-shirts!). Thanks Peter and Allison at Supreme Chemicals of Georgia!

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More Fabu Customer Feedback!

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Regarding Richard (again!):
“Just a quick note of thanks to tell you how delighted we were with Richard Cunnington’s service. Your in-home consultation is one of the best kept secrets in Seattle. As someone who spent a month buying paint samples all over town, only to score a series of ‘near misses’ for our exterior job, I was thrilled with how quickly Richard was able to get to the right answers, and to develop solutions we had not previously considered.”

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Great Daly’s Customer Feedback!

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Nothing makes me happier than hearing from our fabulous customers about their positive experiences with our staff. Here are a couple quotes from two letters that arrived yesterday (Two in one day! How cool is that?!?!?!)

This one is about Richard Cunnington, one of our Seattle designers:
“He listens so well, gives advice thoughtfully, is practical, unpretentious and, most importantly, enthusiastic, fun and positively brimming with good ideas.
Actually, we miss seeing him! We’ll have to find another project!”

I think we shall have to start calling him ‘Saint Richard’!

Here’s another excerpt from a letter praising Bill Davis, our Seattle Contractor Sales manager:
“I recently experienced incredible follow through and service at your store.”…”I wish to thank Bill for his attentiveness and assistance. Bill’s approach and expertise exemplifies what I expected when I went to Daly’s. I always prefer to do business with a local store like Daly’s and felt comfortable going there based on a recommendation from my contractor”

That’s high praise, indeed.

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Firing Our Customers

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

Yes, it happens – we have to respectfully break-up with our customers sometimes. It’s never fun, and it upsets everyone. But you have to know where your line is in the sand.

Yesterday, I was called upon to do just that. A small mix-up in communication (from our perspective, no mix-up, but that’s a story for another time!) resulted in the customer yelling, swearing and carrying on to the point where he not only alienated our two Design Resources staff, but the installer also insisted he would NEVER do work for that client.

I called the gentleman and as he was going on about our lacking service and attention to OBVIOUS details – I had to inform him that it was not acceptable to swear at THREE of our people over the relatively small issue at hand.

This is my favorite part, and the reason I wanted to share this: He hotly replied, “I swore at TWO of your people, not three!”. (Isn’t that like the sibling who tells his Mom, “Yeah, well he hit me back first!”)

… Sending him a refund… (and besides, nobody refers to my momma as “THAT woman!”)

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Retail Reflections

Monday, July 23rd, 2007

I had a few opportunities to be the customer this weekend, and I had three very different encounters that left me with impressions of the establishments I was frequenting…

Saturday Morning
I popped into my local bookstore to pick up our copy of Harry Potter – my ten-year old made SURE we were there when the store opened at 8am! Not too hard to do, since the store is only one house away. We practically rolled into the store in our jammies.

Yay! Harry Potter!

While there, I ran into my neighbor across the street. Just 2 days before, she mentioned that the store gave a “Good Neighbor” discount. How cool is that, right? They HAVE been good neighbors to everyone, so this just furthered that warm-fuzzy feeling of supporting the local INDEPENDENT bookstore. That’s why I bought Harry Potter there for about 30 bucks instead of at Costco for about 18 bucks.

So after making sure no other customers except my neighbor was in earshot (what retailer likes to have others hear that you are offering a discount that others might not be able to take advantage of?), I asked the guy behind the counter, who happens to be the manager, if we could sign up for the good neighbor discount.

“NO!” We all jumped.

He then said in what I felt was a very terse tone that they only did that for those directly affected by traffic that their store may have caused. I started to say that we were only a door away, on this side of the street … he was shaking his head NO, and we were basically cut off at the knee for even asking.

We quickly left, and my neighbor was apologizing, etc.

I believe there are skillful ways of saying NO, and he really dropped the ball. It left us all with a bad feeling, my neighbor felt guilty and I felt like he didn’t even care to know that I am a good neighbor to his business.

How did this leave me feeling about the business? Immediately I started to think of all the times that I HAVE been affected by their traffic!

If he had simply said “Gosh, I’m sorry, we no longer offer that discount” or something to that effect, it would have been a totally different experience. Instead I felt embarrassed and pissed at being treated like that. Will I go back? Yes, of course. Will I try to engage him? No, I won’t.

A great illustration for us here at Daly’s.

Saturday Afternoon
Popped into the local Starbuck’s to look for a new tea thermos. Found one that met my needs, and went up to the counter to buy it. It’s been a few years, but I remembered that I used to get a free drink when I bought a thermos or mug… That wasn’t offered, and when I ordered a tea to be put in the mug, I was rung up for the thermos and the tea.

Not a bid deal, especially considering my drinks costs something like $1.50 or thereabouts… But still, I left bemused and wondering… And after the morning experience I had, I wasn’t about to ask for anything special again!

Resultant thoughts: Felt let-down that I didn’t get my special treat. Next thought was “Oh well, they are so big, who cares?” Next thought after that was, “Why even worry about a single little drink, I don’t mind paying for it…” So why was I feeling a little let-down? Because it was there as a policy and now it’s gone. More sad for Starbuck’s than for me.

Sunday Afternoon
While shopping at Costco, I overheard an employee complaining to another shopper about how AWFUL this woman and her daughter were in the clothes area. They made messes, didn’t treat the folded clothes with any respect; not even when the Costco employee was right there, refolding their mess.

My reaction: I didn’t want to hear about her problems! In fact, I wheeled away from her table, so make sure I wasn’t going to be engaged in her drama.

I think it’s because when you are being the customer, it’s all about your own personal experience, not the staffs. It doesn’t matter if it’s the small business down the street or the large behemoth where cost is the name of the game. It is STILL about the customer’s experience.

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Posted in Costco, Customer Service, independent retailing, Starbuck's | Comments Off

Personalized Service

Monday, January 29th, 2007

Yesterday I ventured out into territory unknown – I went to Bellevue Square with the explicit intent of spending money on clothes.

More importantly, I had a girlfriend with me for the event (it IS an event when the last time I was in that mall was literally years ago!).

What was interesting about this was the variety of encounters we had with sales staff.

We popped into a boutique that neither of us had visited before… not bad stuff (pricey), okay service, but no barn-burner. Then off to buy a piece of chocolate for fortification (I prefer dark chocolate caramels, by the way).

We had better acquisition luck at Ann Taylor Loft. Attention from the saleswoman was again, fine, but no ace-in-the-hole. Actually, the best service we got was at Nordstrom Cafe.

Even though we ordered at the counter and sat ourselves down, the busboys and waiter-types were courteous and inquired about our needs. Got a chocolate with a copy of our receipt at the end… nice touch! They were just plain nice without being annoyingly “nice”. We actually talked about it, it was that noticeable.

Had GREAT experience at the Bare Escentuals cosmetic store. Very helpful staff, NO PRESSURE. Interestingly, my girlfriend needed to sign up for a makeup consultation (we were in the impulse mood, you understand), so we had to come back at a scheduled time. But it was handled in such a way that we didn’t feel inconvenienced. I think it’s all about approach. It didn’t hinge on snob appeal. That’s the key. Nordstrom cafe had same quality.

Off to Macy’s for the final leg of the mall crawl. Anonymous city! We were wandering around for quite some time and not once did anyone inquire if we needed help (I needed something red for the Red Party at Colori-Chicago on Thursday). Gick.

Speaking of RED – what is it with all this ugly tomatoy-red fabric out there? Women prefer blue-based reds and I was surprised there wasn’t more out there. Especially since Valentine’s Day is around the corner!

Oh, and don’t get me started on all the synthetic fibers. What is this, the 70′s all over again???

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Posted in Colori-Chicago, Customer Service, Shopping | Comments Off