I FOUND IT!

A local warehouse club by me, of which I am a member, is closing. I went there today to pick up a few things and saw the banner announcing the closing AND stating that until the 17^th when they close their doors the club is open to EVERYONE no membership needed.

I GOT A LITTLE UPSET to say the least, not only are they closing the club, but now my membership isn’t even going to give me the opportunity to take advantage of the sales any more than anyone else in the area.

I walked up to the customer service counter to have my membership fee refunded looking for a fight. I squared my shoulders, put on my I AM NOT HAPPY FACE, walked to the counter when it was my turn like I was going to the gunfight at OK Corral. I handed the woman my membership card and asked, “Where is the nearest club from here?” I already knew it was about a 40 minute drive because I go to the lake where it is. She looked at me and said with a big smile, it is just up the road about 20 minutes. I thought to myself, OK here we go! Then she looked at me and said, but don’t worry sir, a check for the full refund of your membership has already been mailed and your membership will still be good at the other clubs.

WOW! I didn’t know what to say. Imagine my surprise, a company giving better than expected customer service. I thanked her and walked away a very happy customer. (And member)

This company thought ahead. It looked at what it was about to do, thought about the problems the action would cause, and were proactive in solving the problems which in turn makes RAVING FANS out of their members. Now I know the club is closing and I won’t have the same access I had because the other club is so far away, but at least I was thought about.

Do you see where this posting is going? I hope so. We all need to think about the actions we take and how those actions will affect our customers and clients. Once we identify the potential problems we need to develop plans to resolve them BEFORE the customer gets upset.

If your customers were writing a blog post about you, what would they say about your customer service? Would you be the CUSTOMER NO-SERVICE rep that we all dread or would you be like this membership club, and even though you were taking an action that affects your customer negatively, they would be happy with you because you thought ahead and took the actions necessary to satisfy them?

It is so much easier to make a customer or client happy the first go around than it is trying to play catch-up and make them happy after a bad experience. THINK, THINK AGAIN, AND THEN THINK A THIRD TIME before you take an action. Put yourself in the customers shoes and THINK like a customer so you will have an insight as to the problems you may be creating and what solutions you can offer to keep them happy and buying.

BJ’s Club, Norcross, I will hate to see you go but I want you to know how grateful I am for thinking about me.

Lorin