A Level Of Customer Service To Strive For

Every now and then, I experience a level of customer service that's so delightfully good that it's actually worth telling other people about. This is the level of service I would like to achieve with www.awkwardengineer.com. It's a high bar, and limited resources (especially time) may stop me from getting there, but I know that's where I want my company to be.

Story 1: ULine

ULine.com is the packaging supplier equivalent to McMaster-Carr. If it's related to shipping stuff, they have it. Boxes, envelope, tape, labels, pallets, mailers, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, shrimp, deep fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp gumbo, etc... I was in the process of figuring out how to pack the Blueprint Placemats for retail sale. I found a few items on their website, but I really have to insist on getting hands on with an item before committing to it. So I called them to request samples. I called them on Sunday night. At 10pm. They answered on the second ring. And spoke flawless English. Them: "Hi, is this Sam from Awkward Engineer?"Me: "Yes, how did you know?"Them: "We have the CallerID linked to your account." I requested a few samples, they had my address on file and were able to send samples free of charge, ship them them on Monday, and have them arrive on Tuesday. I mean WOW, talk about knockout service, and late on a Sunday night, too! They decided they were willing to spend the money to staff a call center and were willing to spend the money on sending samples. Of course, they can afford to do that, as they have much bigger customers than me, but now I'll hardly even bother to look elsewhere the next time I want to buy packaging.

Story 2: My Logistics House

Have you ever been happy to pay someone to do something? That's how I feel every time my logistics house puts something in the mail for me. They are fast, accurate, consistent, on the ball, local, are already tightly integrated with my suppliers, respond to emails nearly instantly, are friendly, and generally awesome. And the owner believes in the principles of the book Conscious Capitalism, and views his company as a partner in helping my business grow, because what's good for my customer is good for me is good for him is good for his employees and so the virtuous circle goes. Anyway, through the magic of the intarwebs, when an order is taken through our webstore they get a notification in their system. Then they put it in the mail and notify me. For this service, I pay them money, and I'm happy to do so. Because this is what my inbox has looked like at times.

I don't think I could be happier with a business partner.

Conclusion

Clearly, good customer service still exists these days. In fact, I think the competitive nature of the internet has made good customer service more common, which is a good thing. It's something I try to keep in mind, because it's something that I would want, and that bar, having a customer be happy to spend the money, is what I will always strive for.