What is your favorite story of exceptional customer service where you find yourself looking forward to interacting with the company again and spending your time and money?

Here’s my favorite story that may have some things in common with yours:

My daughter and I were going to one of our preferred restaurants for lunch where we helped ourselves to a seat and waited for a server to bring us our menus (the usual protocol for eating in the more casual saloon area).  We were so engrossed in our conversation we didn’t notice we’d been waiting for a server for about 30 minutes or more.

One of the staff eventually realized we weren’t being helped, and sent a server over who graciously apologized for the wait, and thus offered us a complimentary appetizer.  That was nice, we thought.  But upon deeper consideration, my daughter and I weren’t all that hungry, and didn’t want to spoil our lunch with an app.  When the waiter returned we said thanks, but no thanks, and no problem!  We were impressed with their effort to make it up to us!

Our kind refusal of the appetizer, however, did not satisfy the manager.  The server returned at the end of our meal and offered us complimentary dessert instead!  Oddly enough, my daughter and I didn’t want a dessert either and kindly turned the offer down (we were nice customers, weren’t we?!).  Still, the manager was not satisfied because the server finally came back with our bill paid, on the house…Nice!

On the drive home I kept thinking how awesome it was that the manager went out of his way to make up for having us wait longer than usual for a server.  He wasn’t satisfied unless we were compensated in some way!

What’s more, his objective to create a positive experience between the restaurant and us resulted in two highly loyal customers (although my daughter is too young to buy lunch, she sure has influence!). I tell this story to many people who ask about the quality of the restaurant, and it remains one of my favorite places to eat with fresh, healthy food options and exceptional customer service.

And like a good, loyal customer does, I naturally provide free advertising for:  Mitchell’s Fish Market in Brookfield, WI (Props!)

What is your favorite story?

How do you and your organization (regardless of industry) create exceptional customer experiences?

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