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Are You Using the Good China?

The holidays are coming. As I’m thinking ahead to this Thanksgiving, I’m also thinking back to holidays past and a smile crossed my face while remembering a funny occurrence a few years ago. It made me think about how often we take things for granted. Are we taking the relationships we have with good customers for granted as we perhaps struggle with building relationships with the “difficult” ones?

The holidays are coming. As I’m thinking ahead to this Thanksgiving, I’m also thinking back to holidays past and a smile crossed my face while remembering a funny occurrence a few years ago.

My whole family had gotten together at the folks’ house in NY. A few days before Thanksgiving both my daughter and I flew to NY, she, then, from New Mexico and me, from Florida. We were preparing dinner one night with my Mom and suggested that we have a nice bottle of red wine with dinner. Mom said she didn’t have any.

Right in front of us on the counter were two very nice bottles of wine that had come just that day, beautifully packaged as a gift from one of her clients. “What about those?” asked my daughter. “Those?” replied Mom. “Those are for... company.”

My daughter and I looked at each other and laughed a hardy laugh as I exclaimed “We flew half way across the country to get here – that makes us company!” We proceeded to open and enjoy a lovely bottle of Australian wine that night.

It made me think about how often we take things, especially those things right in front of us, for granted. Are we taking the relationships we have with good customers for granted as we perhaps struggle with building relationships with the “difficult” ones? Are we overlooking the importance of a co-worker who is critical to delivering value to the customer? Are we forgetting to say “Thank you” or “I appreciate you” to anyone in our lives that deserves to hear it?

I am reminded of a client of mine who uses a personal story to illustrate to her staff the importance of a certain level of customer service. She tells of a night she got home from work late. Her then husband-of-just-a-few-months had prepared dinner for her. He wasn’t a spectacular cook, but he served dinner in such a caring fashion and he served it on the good china, that the dinner made a lasting impression on her.

The phrase “Using the Good China” is often heard at her company as “shorthand” for making sure that they are making the best impression possible on with whomever they are dealing. It brings up the awareness that no matter what we have to deliver to the customers, internal or external, they always deserve to have it served on the “good china.”

Are you serving your customers and your staff members on the good china?

Perhaps it’s a good time to take a good look at your customer care practices for internal and external customers. Are you treating them like “company?” Do they feel special? What is it you uniquely deliver and how do you deliver it? Do you provide your employees and customers an experience they want to come back for?

Hey, what do you want to be famous for?

Have a great week.

JoAnna Brandi

JoAnna Brandi is Publisher of the Customer Care Coach® a weekly training program on mastering "The Art and Science of Exquisite Customer Care." She is the author of books such as "Winning at Customer Retention - 101 Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal, and Keep 'em Coming Back" and "Building Customer Loyalty - 21 Essential Elements in ACTION."

A Speaker and consultant, she is publisher of the bi-weekly Customer Care Tips Bulletin. To receive her free bi-weekly tips bulletin, sign up at www.returnonhappiness.com. You can also reach JoAnna at 561-279-0027 or e-mail joanna@customercarecoach.com.