Thursday, May 12, 2005

Give 'Em The Pickle!

Tonite's foray is about the decline of customer service in the good old U.S. of A. We've all been there, done that. And every company wants to improve customer service. Or at least they try. But some won't spend the money. ( Labor cost and all that ) Plus it takes time and money to train people. And some folks won't get it no matter what. And most denizens of the service industry think they give good service when in fact they don't.

The writer of tonite's story believes he knows what it takes to give excellent service. Unfortunately, he is in the minority. Today I got to watch a short 18 minute film. Bob Farrell, the owner of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant was the star of today's film, whose purpose was to enlighten the masses when it comes to giving better service.

The following article sums up what is in the film. Submitted for your approval, v.c.:

Give 'Em the Pickle Video Program
Runtime:
18 Min

Your business is not what you sell, it's who you serve. Meet Bob Farrell, founder of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant, as he serves up the most important aspect of any service business taking care of the customer. We're all in the same business, the people business. Our job is to make customers happy. What's the best way to do that? By giving out pickles. Pickles are those special or extra things you do to make people happy. The trick is figuring out what your customers want and then making sure they get it. That's the pickle.

Make sure your employees have the scoop on effective customer service with this fun, lighthearted and highly effective training tool. Viewers will learn what it takes to foster and maintain customer loyalty.

Participants will learn to:
Service-Make serving others your #1 priority. You work in a noble profession, be proud of what you do.
Attitude-Choose your attitude. How you think about your customers is how you will treat them.
Consistency-Set high standards, and stick to them. Customers return because they liked what happened last time.
Teamwork-Look for ways to make each other look good. In the end, everything ends up in front of the customer!

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1 comment:

Hoots said...

Good find.
It's a great little film. Once you've seen it you never forget the point. If a bunch of service people all see it and one of them is tempted to complain about a customer who is requesting something out of the ordinary, one of his peers is apt to dismiss the complaint with "Give him the Pickle!"
A corporate culture with an us vs. them mentality among service people is poisonous to good service. The film promotes the idea of trying to see how much, not how little we can do for a customer.