There are so many negative, or strange customer service stories out there (I even share them), it’s rare to hear a positive customer service experience. I love to share stories about great customer service though, because I feel they aren’t heard enough.
There are more restaurants per capita in my region of north Texas than anywhere else in the country—so providing exceptional customer service is a must if you are going to keep repeat/regular customers. I recently went to a Tuscan Grill called Brio. I grew up in St. Louis, known for its authentic Italian food, and Brio provides (what I believe) is pretty close to St. Louis Italian and I decided I would take my family there for dinner. It was packed, standing room only. We ended up having a longer wait than expected, which could have been disastrous because of all the hungry and thirsty guests. However, the hostess quickly brought out a few large treys with delicious flatbread pizza and other appetizers. The guests who had been moaning and groaning quickly stopped, as their mouths were full with amazing food to preoccupy them. We finally got seated and had an amazing waiter. Although they were slammed with guest after guest, it still felt like we had our very own waiter. It did take a little longer for our food to come out, but the service was so friendly, I barely noticed.
The manager came out and asked us how our meal was and apologized for the slow service. We said we enjoyed our meal, but the wait was quite a bit longer than expected. She apologized in a very sincere manner, and ended up buying our near $100 meal. Brio is obviously popular enough that they don’t need to buy meals for an extended wait. However, they went above and beyond—between the complimentary appetizers for everyone waiting, the great waiting service, and the free meal—my expectations were well exceeded.
This is an example of going above and beyond in customer service, even when it’s not necessary, to keep your customer’s satisfied. If you want to be successful, you have to do just that.