Chris Cody 's Journal

Customer Service is always the apex of the restaurant industry. It seems like many other industries can flourish without even being civil. Cable, government entities, plumbers, banks, and construction companies are a few that come to my mind. The other day, US Bank charged me a fee to cash a check that they issued because I didn’t have an account with them. Today, I got into an argument with a customer service representative with Dish Network. Needless to say, I talked to a manager and was told that I was right. The manager took a bad situation and impressed me enough to remove the sour taste out of my mouth. The lesson I took from it was that it really doesn’t take much to lose customers. I was pretty much ready to never use their service again because one person on their payroll wouldn’t look into my complaint. With customer service on the down trend, it really doesn’t take more than listening to people’s needs to be a cut above the rest. People want to feel important and they will be loyal to your business. Just show them that they are more than a number and a few dollars. Maybe it’s as simple as giving them an intermezzo, free drink, or gift certificate. Sometimes, it is as simple as being nice.