Bring on the Chick-Fil-A-ification of every business
I had the strangest experience at Home Depot today.
I placed a "curbside pickup" order for a dozen bags of gardening soil and five bags of mulch. I pulled into the Home Depot pick up parking spot and marked "I'm here" on their app. The screen read: "Sit back and relax. An associate will meet you at your car with your order."
And relax I did. But after 30 minutes, I had enough relaxing and just wanted my order.
I went into the store and went up to the customer service desk. I told him I had been waiting for my curbside order for half an hour and heard and seen nothing since.
He said, "oh yeah, it looks like your order is in the locked area, I can show you." He took me to a gated and locked area where many people's pickup orders looked to be waiting.
That's strange, I thought. I ordered curbside pickup. I don't need to be shown where it is. I need it in my car.
When I politely asked him about this fact, and if it was standard Home Depot practice to not bring the order out to people's cars when they order "curbside pickup" and the app says an associate will meet you at your car, he just shrugged. "I don't know, I don't usually work with them [the curbside pickup guys?], but I could help you today, I guess."
To his credit, he did take it out to my car and help me load it into the trunk. But as I left for home, I was totally bewildered that this guy gave no indication that anything was wrong or Home Depot had messed up.
This made me think a) yes, customer service may be dead, but then b) wait a minute, a few places are known for their outstanding customer service. Chick-Fil-A immediately rushed to my mind.
I wish dearly that every retail and consumer business should make it a priority to Chick-Fil-A-ify their customer service experience. Every time I go to Chick-Fil-A, the employees smile. They are helpful, clean, and efficient. If I've ever had a problem, they resolve it on the spot.
I'd actually say Chick-Fil-A isn't my favorite fast food chicken sandwich, but their experience keeps me coming back every time. More retail businesses should take to heart that they are in the customer service business at root.
It's a huge advantage for Chick-Fil-A as they are in a ruthlessly competitive industry. Nevertheless, it's surprising that other companies don't capitalize on it in their respective industries. It's a win-win trade of unequal value, employees will like working for you more, and customers will think more highly of you.
Bring on the Chick-Fil-A-ification of every business!