This is the 8th edition of the “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Decisions” series where we highlight another person who embodies the statement: “Change the way you think, and you can change the world.” View the entire series here.
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After a night of gustnadoes, active storms and “hen egg” sized hail, I wasn’t surprised when my husband called and said my car had minor hail damage. So, I called my American Family Insurance agent (Michael Sloan), and left a message asking for his advice. I wasn’t surprised that I reached his voicemail because I assumed he was inundated with calls from customers. Within the hour, he called back and apologized for the delay in his reponse.
I told him I completely understood and assumed he was super busy taking calls for hail claims all day. He said the phone hasn’t stopped ringing, but that my call was a priority on his list and he didn’t want me to have to wait for an answer (I love feeling important!). Again, I said I appreciated how quickly he called back and I asked how bad the damage was in other areas. He said he actually just returned to the office because a customer called and reported that a tree had fallen on her car and she wouldn’t be able to get to her doctor’s appointment on time.
He stopped what he was doing, drove to this customer’s house, and drove her to the doctor. Now THAT is phenomenal customer service!
Conventional wisdom would say that he should have stayed in the office and continued fielding claims calls. Yes, some customers had to wait for a call back while he cared for this one particular customer. However, I’m happy to leave a message and wait for a returned call anytime if my Agent is delivering that kind of personal care for customers.
The truth is that Michael likely doubled his work today while he cared for this one customer, but that didn’t matter to him. He put the customer first.
In the “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Decisions” series, we’ve covered some phenomenal people who have influenced hundreds of thousands of lives. It is important to remember, though, that one person can make a huge difference in just one person’s life. Those simple decisions are just as important as creating free education, rescuing animals, or solving world hunger.
Michael not only embodies the phrase “Change the way you think, and you can change the world” but also “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”
Kudos to those who provide phenomenal, personal customer service all over the world!
Have you had a great customer service experience lately?
Want to read another story like this? Register to get updates for the soon-to-be-released “Now You’re Thinking” book which will inspire you to think differently about how you approach making a difference. Learnmore here.
Editor’s Note: Breanne Harris is the Solutions Architect for Pearson TalentLens. She works with customers to design selection and development plans that incorporate critical thinking assessments and training. She has a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology and has experience in recruiting, training, and HR consulting. She is the chief blogger for Critical Thinkers and occasionally posts at ThinkWatson. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter for more of her thoughts.
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I’ve realized fairly recently, that one of my favorite aspects of what I do is the relationships I build with my clients. I hadn’t been so aware of this until the past year, but honestly I miss my clients after we’ve finished working with them. People always seem surprised when we offer more than just what the scope of our services our, but that’s what makes it fun.
Isn’t it sad that people are surprised when you do more than what is expected? The bar is so low, and it’s so easy to exceed expectations these days!
Thats awesome service! Good customer service goes such a long way, great service blows me away!!
Chris- I once had a phenomenal server at a restaurant and called the next day to share the story with the manager. He said in his entire career in the restaurant industry, he had never received a compliment call…only complaints. That’s so sad!
See folks, you are right when you say that the bar is too low now a days. But it is what Customer Service & customer focus is all about. It was heartening to see that some individuals are going for extra length in troublent time. Don’t you think that the corporate leaders must put such heroic examples to their customer-facing executives & managers? Shouldn’t they be encourage to do the same?
Am looking foward to your next post!