A Customer Service Experience That Won’t Pull Your Hair Out

Great customer service comes in all shapes and sizes. All great service experiences and all outstanding service providers usually have one common ingredient; the ability to anticipate a need and take action without being asked to do so.

Such is the experience I had one Saturday morning in December.

I have been going to Glamorous Hair and Nail for my haircut every month for the past six years. ARIF has become a friend. He is from Turkey but a long time native of Baltimore. His two grown kids, three years apart, were not only born on the same day but on my Birthday. As ARIF and I are catching up on what action he has taken to quit smoking, his electric trimmer begins to make noises. ARIF tries to fix it but the noise continues. A couple minutes go by and from around the corner came an associate named Ali, with a trimmer for ARIF to finish my hair.

Now you might say so what!!! What Ali did really caught my attention, and I told him so, because of the following; Ali was completely on the other side of the room and separated by a wall. Yes, he could hear but not see; Ali was also working on his own customer. Ali demonstrated that good customer service requires use of all your senses, in this case, his hearing. Ali could hear that there was a problem and stopped what he was doing to help out without being asked to do so. I sat with amazement as ARIF finished my hair.

I confirmed with ARIF that what I thought had happened really did happen. Ali’s actions have had a tremendous influence on me and maybe the hundreds of people I have told this story to. You just never know when or how someone is going to influence you or when you will influence others. But chances are, the greatest influence will come from the smallest of actions. Thank you Ali for the lesson.!!