I’m neck-deep in the creation of my forthcoming branding class, which mean that I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the last six months reading, researching and meditating on how brands get traction in the marketplace and build loyalty among their customers.  This week, I encountered two radically different experiences as a customer, each of which catalyzed the lens through which I see each of the companies involved. As I reflected on these experiences, I realized that I wanted to share some important take-aways that might help sharpen your customer service, too. I even went the extra mile and reached out to Norton Support Phone number Canada, and have garnered some real insights from them, which I will be sharing, too.

TALE #1: POTTERY BARN TEEN

In December, as my sweet 13-year old prepared to celebrate another birthday, she and I sat down and designed a new bedroom that was more to her almost-high-school liking. We settled on an awesome new wall color and ordered new lighting and new linens for her bedroom. She wanted an oversized bulletin board upon which to pin pictures and momentos and I dutifully scoured all my favorite stores. I was thrilled to discover this adorable number at PBTeen and happily forked over $169 on December 26, 2014 to score a monogrammed version for my Celie.  Before checking out, I was advised that the order would take 5-7 days to ship. Perfect!

As soon as I placed the order, I received an email with an estimated ship date of January 16th.  That’s not exactly 5-7 days, but hey- it’s the holiday season and we were in no particular rush. That date came and went with no sign of the bulletin board and Celie was eager to have the last piece of her room makeover in place.  The customer service rep confirmed that the item was on backorder and she estimated that it would ship in February. She was polite but unapologetic and not particularly keen on providing specific information. February came; February went. No bulletin board.

I rang customer service again for an update and was told it was still on backorder with no updated ship date in the system. I expressed displeasure to the customer service rep- that we were now 2+ months into a 5-7 day wait and that Pottery Barn had failed to take any proactive steps to notify me of the delay. She replied along the lines of “Yes, that’s unfortunate. It sometimes happens with backorders.” As a customer who had spent a princely sum on a long-overdue gift, that wasn’t what I wanted to hear. When I pressed for an updated ship date, I was simply told that there wasn’t one. I expressed my disappointment at the lack of communication and reiterated that I’m  a loyal Pottery Barn customer who’s spent tens of thousands of dollars over the last decade with the family of companies under the Williams Sonoma corporate brand. I’ve come to expect more from these companies, but the words “We’re sorry” or “What can we do to help?” proved elusive… that day and on every prior call.

I was elated upon receiving a shipping confirmation on March 20th, twelve weeks to the day after placing the order. I told Celie about the imminent delivery and we made plans to spend an afternoon this weekend hanging all the remaining items on her large blank wall- the finishing touches of her new room. As the bulletin board was the centerpiece, we hadn’t yet been able to hang several decor items on that wall. I received the bulletin board on Wednesday, without a monogram. Seriously, Pottery Barn?

I called (again) and a helpful service rep quickly looked up my order and confirmed that it should have been monogrammed. She apologized (hooray- thank you!) and told me that the bulletin board slipcovers had already gone on backorder again. They “hope” to have them in stock again on April 20th. I’m not exactly holding my breath. To the agent’s credit, she did offer a $25 coupon towards a future purchase, but I’m going to think long and hard before giving more money to a company that hasn’t refined it’s internal systems, struggles to communicate with its customers and hasn’t trained its customer service representatives in the art of empathy and smoothing things over.

I walked away from that experience feeling frustrated and under the impression that my loyalty wasn’t important to the company. It’s a pretty icky feeling.

TALE #2: JENI’S SPLENDID ICE CREAMS

I love ice cream. No, I really love ice cream. And my favorite brand, hands-down, is Jeni’s. I drive 40 minutes across town to pick up pints of Brambleberry Crisp and Goat Cheese & Red Cherries and I happily pay $12 a piece for them. I’ve stood in line, sometimes 40-50 people deep, at the Atlanta and Nashville scoop shops. These are gourmet ice creams, created in small batches using premium ingredients and unusual flavor combinations.

I’ve long been a fan of Jeni’s-the-product and earlier in March, I had the chance to learn more about Jeni’s-the-brand. Jeni herself served as a keynote speaker at the Makers Summit in Greenville and I settled into a seat near the front to listen to her talk. I was smitten- she’s a great storyteller and a brave innovator with a palpable passion for her work.  I met her briefly, snapped a picture and expressed my admiration for her company. She was a total honey and graciously mingled with event attendees all weekend. I quickly evolved from Rabid Fan to Super Fan that weekend.

I was scrolling through Instagram late last week as I sat on a plane, waiting for other travelers to finish the boarding process. I saw that Jeni’s had just made 100 pints of a now-discontinued flavor available as part of their “Throw Back Thursday” promotion. I squealed when I saw that it was their popular Gooey Butter Cake flavor. It just-so-happens that my very best friend makes the best damn Gooey Butter Cake on the planet and she’s a wee bit famous among our circle of friends for it. I instantly began loading a cart on the Jeni’s website (thank heavens for websites which are optimized for mobile use!).

It was a race against the closure of the cabin door and I quickly tossed six pints in various flavors into my shopping cart, double-checked my best friend’s zip code and began the checkout process. In that moment, I realized that the Gooey Butter Cake had sold out almost instantly! I circled back to Instagram to see if other people were seeing the same “Please remove the Gooey Butter Cake from your cart” message. Indeed, they were. I dashed off a comment to Jeni on Instagram.

Whaaaa! I had it in my cart and it sold out while I was checking out.  You chicks do not play about your ice cream!

I was disappointed to have missed an opportunity to bless my bestie, but I was stunned when they wrote me back and asked me to send over a private email. As soon as I touched down in Kansas City, I did just that. I asked that they let me know if there was a stray pint laying around somewhere as I was trying to create an order as a gift. I received an email shortly thereafter- not even 24 hours later –  the digital communications director was in LA for a new store opening, but she’d hook me up upon her return to the office.

No, seriously…did you hear that? The brand didn’t owe me anything. They hadn’t screwed up an order. They weren’t under pressure with a whiny customer on the other end of the line. They saw an opportunity to “wow” a customer and they took it. I half-expected for the request to fall through the cracks; I know all-too-well how easy it is for something to slip off a busy radar, especially when traveling. But I was delighted to receive a follow-up email and invoice a few days later. I paid it and, just 24 hours later, my best friend Sara excitedly called, coo’ing over the flavors that had just touched down on her doorstep in Indianapolis. Cue the new Super Fan!

I walked away from that experience impressed by the core values of the Jeni’s team, and feeling as though they valued my business and enjoyed treating their customers. Take a wild guess about which of these two companies I’m more eager to support moving forward?

As an entrepreneur, so many things are out of our control as we grow our businesses. One thing that’s firmly in our grasp? How we treat our customers. The sun rises and sets on them… and the savviest brands recognize that and celebrate their fans.

MY FAVORITE BOOKS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE

Want to read more about the value of customer service and the power of creating memorable customer experiences? These books are a few of my favorites on the subject:

• Zombie Loyalists by Peter Shankman

• How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life by Michael LeBoeuf

• Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, which just-so-happens to be the current #LuckyBreakBookClub selection.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCES!

Did a brand hit it out of the park for you? Are you a brand that’s hitting it out of the park for your customers? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment below and let’s celebrate customer service done right!