Are You Hug Worthy?

My wife Patty and I spent almost all of April on vacation in Australia Indonesia and Singapore.

Along the way we got phenomenal customer service.  In almost every case it’s the dozens of little things YOU do that gets clients, patients, members or customers coming back time after time and telling others about you.

Every business category has its low priced competition trying to take your customers.

Businesses who just a year ago thought they were immune from internet competition are no longer immune.  Patients are skipping the orthodontist and buying Invisalign Braces on the internet.  People and businesses are getting legal advice from internet businesses.  All types of businesses are being bombarded by competition from giant corporations, huge franchises, national chains, the internet and discounters.

The solution for staying in business and beating this competition is your extraordinary customer service and the little things you do to excel.

Here are some of those little things… the “…and then somes” we experienced in Australia and Southeast Asia.

…and then some

When you were a kid, and your mom said you needed to clean your room before you could go out and play, if you did what you thought mom wanted and then some, you probably got to go out and play quickly.

If you needed to weed the garden before you got to go play and you weeded it like your dad wanted, and then some, you probably got to go play quickly.

When you got to school and you did what the teacher asked, and then some, you probably did pretty well.  If we do …and then some with our customers we’ll probably do a darned good job.

Here are some little things, some …and then somes, we experienced on our trip.  Hopefully some of these will help you think of little things you can do to insure customers come back time and time again and enthusiastically tell their friend about you.

Here’s Clifford at The Amora Hotel in Sydney, Australia coming back after literally running down our Uber in Sydney.

He saw that the driver missed the turn into the hotel and sprinted out to catch him.  Now that’s service.

But that’s not all Clifford did.  As we were waiting for our Uber he engaged us in conversation.

Disney calls this being Aggressively Friendly – not just being friendly but going out of your way to be friendly.  An example of this at Disney is, a cast member seeing a family taking a selfie and offering to take the picture, or a cast member seeing a guest looking at a map of the park and asking if they can help.

Clifford could have just stood there while we waited or messed around on his cell phone but he didn’t.  He was Aggressively Friendly in asking where we were from.  When we told him Seattle, he WOWED me with his knowledge of American baseball.  I had no idea anyone in Australia followed American baseball.

But that’s not the point, the point is he was Aggressively Friendly in asking us where we were from, and regardless of our answer I’m sure he would have continued the conversation in a friendly manner.

As a post note.  I am absolutely positive that Clifford will soon be promoted at The Amora and if not, someone who gets his great Make-You-Happy Customer Service will offer him another job.

Clifford was so nice that soon Patty was greeting him with a hug.

Are you hug worthy?

I did a pretty good search for a hotel in Sydney and determined that we want to stay close to the Circular Quay which put us near the ferries, the Opera House and The Royal Botanic Gardens.

Trip Advisor told me that The Amora was the place for Patty and me.  They were rated the 5th best value out of 500 hotels.  There were some places that Trip Advisor rated as a “better value,” but Amora was the only one in the location we wanted and we were happy to pay a little more for the amenities we wanted.

The reviews consistently mentioned the fabulous staff and Clifford and the rest of the team delivered Make-You-Happy Customer Service during our stay and The Amora got another 5 star review.

This story was originally shared in the Make-You-Happy Customer Service Team Member monthly newsletter for employees.  Would reminders and ideas like this help you and your team WOW customers so they come back time and time again and tell their friends and family about you.

Follow this link to check out
The Make-You-Happy Customer Service System.