A Nice Phone Call

[Lisa Lyons]

Thought I would share a nice call I got yesterday especially since it's Christmas time. It's been raining here in southern California, but a regular customer (10 years he said) called me out of the blue to tell me that my employee had dug in the dumpster to find his coffee mug that he had accidently thrown away. My employee found the mug, cleaned it up for him and he just wanted to let me know how much he appreciated that. He went on telling me why he keeps coming back to my business - clean, everything works & I have good people working for me. He just wanted to say thanks. We all mostly get calls complaining about something - it was just the best Christmas gift to get a call saying someone appreciates how you run your business. Merry Christmas!

[mjwalsh]

Lisa,

It is surprising how uplifting little acts of kindness can be----especially when they are mutual. We have a suggestion box & over the years we have received Christmas cards & even random cards (all year long) either in the box or in the mail actually detailing why they appreciate us. The verbals are also nice like you received especially when you can tell they are sincere.

It kind of offsets some of the negatives --- subtle or otherwise. With our new dog wash opening recently, public relations are so fragile & with first impressions so critical it is a real joy when people go out of their way to express their appreciation for the the new unique facility & option for them.

When I was in Des Moines at the HCA show a few years ago it was kind of disheartening to hear at one of the presentations the effort to reclassify car washes as a non service because of some insurance technicality if I remember right. Words can have power!

Mike Walsh of Bismarck

[bigleo48]

Lisa,

Sounds like your attendant needs a free lunch for going over and beyond!

When I get good service I always try to contact the manager and let them know that I have received great service from a particular individual. Funny, when I ask for the manager, the typical response I get is "is there something wrong sir?"

As you likely also realize is that most customers don't say anything...they just vote with their $. But it's nice to get a pat on the back every now and then.

[Waxman]

It's always nice to be recognized for a positive rather than a negative.

Good work!