In the previous two posts I commented on something I had read from Randy Pausch’s book, The Last Lecture. I thought two comments from his book would be enough, but I found a third story that I would like to share with you. It’s a little longer than the previous two stories, but I think it’s worth the time.
Randy talks about a trip he and his family took to Disney World when he was 12 years old. He and his sister wanted to say thanks to their parents for the trip and so they bought them a set of ceramic salt & pepper shakers as a gift. As Randy and his sister were walking to the next attraction, Randy dropped the shakers and they broke, leaving both he and his sister in tears. An adult passing by suggested that they return to the store and that the store might give them a new set. Randy said he couldn’t do that, it was his fault for dropping the gift, why would the store give him a new one? The adult said that he and his sister should try anyways, you never know what might happen. So Randy and his sister went back to the store and told them the story, including the detail that it was Randy’s fault for dropping the shakers. Not only did the store give them a new set of salt & pepper shakers, but suggested it was the store’s fault because they hadn’t wrapped the original set well enough. When Randy & his sister told their parents this story, “…it really increased their appreciation of Disney World. In fact, that one customer-service decision over a ten-dollar salt and pepper shaker would end up earning Disney more than $100,000” (pg. 167).
Randy goes on to explain how his parents made trips to Disney World a key part of their volunteer work and over a span of twenty plus years the family spent over $100,000 at Disney World on tickets, food and souvenirs for themselves and others.
As an adult Randy went on to work with Disney as a ‘Disney Imagineering consultant’ and he would often tell them the story about the salt and pepper shakers. After telling the story he would then ask the executives he was working with, “If I sent a child into one of your stores with a broken salt & pepper shaker today, would your policies allow your workers to be kind enough to replace it?” The executives would squirm at that question knowing that the answer was, ‘probably not’. In Randy’s words:
“That’s because nowhere in their accounting system are they able to measure how a ten- dollar salt and pepper shaker might yield $100,000. And so it’s easy to envision that a child today would be out of luck, sent out of a store with empty hands. My message is this: There is more than one way to measure profits and losses. On every level, institutions can and should have a heart” (pg. 168).
Customer service is not an exact science, but organizations that find a way to leave this kind of impression with those they serve are great places to do business with, and great places to work for.
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Customer Service
Randy talks about a trip he and his family took to Disney World when he was 12 years old. He and his sister wanted to say thanks to their parents for the trip and so they bought them a set of ceramic salt & pepper shakers as a gift. As Randy and his sister were walking to the next attraction, Randy dropped the shakers and they broke, leaving both he and his sister in tears. An adult passing by suggested that they return to the store and that the store might give them a new set. Randy said he couldn’t do that, it was his fault for dropping the gift, why would the store give him a new one? The adult said that he and his sister should try anyways, you never know what might happen. So Randy and his sister went back to the store and told them the story, including the detail that it was Randy’s fault for dropping the shakers. Not only did the store give them a new set of salt & pepper shakers, but suggested it was the store’s fault because they hadn’t wrapped the original set well enough. When Randy & his sister told their parents this story, “…it really increased their appreciation of Disney World. In fact, that one customer-service decision over a ten-dollar salt and pepper shaker would end up earning Disney more than $100,000” (pg. 167).
Randy goes on to explain how his parents made trips to Disney World a key part of their volunteer work and over a span of twenty plus years the family spent over $100,000 at Disney World on tickets, food and souvenirs for themselves and others.
As an adult Randy went on to work with Disney as a ‘Disney Imagineering consultant’ and he would often tell them the story about the salt and pepper shakers. After telling the story he would then ask the executives he was working with, “If I sent a child into one of your stores with a broken salt & pepper shaker today, would your policies allow your workers to be kind enough to replace it?” The executives would squirm at that question knowing that the answer was, ‘probably not’. In Randy’s words:
“That’s because nowhere in their accounting system are they able to measure how a ten- dollar salt and pepper shaker might yield $100,000. And so it’s easy to envision that a child today would be out of luck, sent out of a store with empty hands. My message is this: There is more than one way to measure profits and losses. On every level, institutions can and should have a heart” (pg. 168).
Customer service is not an exact science, but organizations that find a way to leave this kind of impression with those they serve are great places to do business with, and great places to work for.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.