There are times I think that authentic customer service – that art of truly listening to our fellow citizens and working to exceed people’s expectations – is dead.
If you agree, read on because there is hope…
This weekend we worked with Homes for our Troops to build a new home for a disabled marine vet. One of the volunteers was a roofer and as we got to talking, we showed him the shingles that had been delivered for the project. As we reviewed the delivery, we saw that the supplier had mistakenly included two different types of shingles. This made the delivery worthless because we didn’t have enough of either type of shingle to finish the job.
Guess what this volunteer did. He said “no problem, I can fix that.” Right then and there, he called an entirely different supplier who agreed to (1)get us a full set of new shingles (2)by that afternoon (3)free of charge. Unbelievable that a volunteer – someone we had never met – would jump in and make such miracles happen. Unbelievable that the supplier he called would help us out in such a way.
This is just one of many examples we saw over the weekend of the power of the human spirit. Everyone put egos aside and focused on getting this marine, his wife and 15 month old son a new home. That is what true customer service is. That is what makes America great.
