If you notice, the last time I wrote on this blog is April 9, and today is May 30 - that's about two months. Why? We just haven't been blown away by terrific service lately.
There are two examples we'd like to mention, though. The first is Bice ("beach - A"), an Italian Restaurant on 5th Avenue. We had really top notch service there, and the food was great. Of course, we paid through the nose, but hey, it's Fifth Avenue.
The second is the local government, both the City of Naples and the County. Where do they get all these nice, helpful people? Having grown up in the North and spent most of my adult life there, too, this is... delightfully shocking. I'm not exaggerating when I say, I haven't met an unpleasant public servant yet - and recently, especially because of the CAN Ride I'm running, I've dealt quite a lot with different branches of the government.
...Am I trying to curry favor? No. I doubt anyone in the government will find this blog for a few months at least, by which time the CAN Ride will be long over.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
NCH
In my first book, Five-Star Customer Service, I slam hospitals hard for the abuse they have put me and mine through over the years.
That is why I am so delighted to say that NCH really did treat my family right the other day. Please click on the link below and read all about it.
www.spoilemrotten.blogspot.com
That is why I am so delighted to say that NCH really did treat my family right the other day. Please click on the link below and read all about it.
www.spoilemrotten.blogspot.com
Sunday, March 4, 2007
McCabe's Restaurant
"I've never seen a waitress actually clean a child's hands before." That is what Jane said as we left McCabe's Irish Pub on Fifth Avenue.
There's service and then there's service. You can't train someone to care about people - sure, you can train them to fake it, but it's easy to spot a faker. Jenn, our waitress, was no faker. She was exceedingly warm and highly efficient: that's the hallmark of Five-Star Customer Service.
For her performance tonight, Jenn wins this week's George Boldt Award, named after the first manager of the Waldorf-Astoria, who was paid $1 million a year back in the 1890s because of the superlative service he provided. (For more on George Boldt, go to http://www.coinetraining.com/).*
For employing Jenn, McCabe's gets this feature. Try them out. If your service is half as good as ours, you'll be glad you did.
http://www.mccabesirishpub.com/. 239-403-8777
*Editor's note: There is no actual weekly George Boldt Award, for one very compelling reason: you don't run into Jenns, or Tommys (see Wild Oats), or George Boldts more than once in a blue moon. We'd be lucky to find one award recipient per month; per quarter is more like it. And remember, the staff of trainers at Coine spends a lot of time "shopping" the customer service at all sorts of different companies.
There's service and then there's service. You can't train someone to care about people - sure, you can train them to fake it, but it's easy to spot a faker. Jenn, our waitress, was no faker. She was exceedingly warm and highly efficient: that's the hallmark of Five-Star Customer Service.
For her performance tonight, Jenn wins this week's George Boldt Award, named after the first manager of the Waldorf-Astoria, who was paid $1 million a year back in the 1890s because of the superlative service he provided. (For more on George Boldt, go to http://www.coinetraining.com/).*
For employing Jenn, McCabe's gets this feature. Try them out. If your service is half as good as ours, you'll be glad you did.
http://www.mccabesirishpub.com/. 239-403-8777
*Editor's note: There is no actual weekly George Boldt Award, for one very compelling reason: you don't run into Jenns, or Tommys (see Wild Oats), or George Boldts more than once in a blue moon. We'd be lucky to find one award recipient per month; per quarter is more like it. And remember, the staff of trainers at Coine spends a lot of time "shopping" the customer service at all sorts of different companies.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Eye Centers of Florida
Ted: "My frames are only two months old, and... look at them."
Jerry-Lyn (scrutinizing the twisted, damaged, really expensive frames): "I'll get you a new pair."
Jerry-Lyn switched the lenses out, fitted them to Ted's face, and said, "Last name?"
Ted: "Coine. C-O-I-"
Jerry Lyn: "Ted? You're all set." (Big smile).
That's it. No fuss, no muss, and - most importantly - no charge.
Granted, it should always go this way when your new product lets you down: just take it back and get a new one, no questions asked. But "should" is a long way from "does." When is the last time a return or exchange for a pricey item like designer frames went so smoothly? How gracious was the person on the other end of that exchange?
Jerry-Lyn was exceeding pleasant and helpful when Jane and I bought our glasses two months ago. That's rare enough; still, it's easy to be nice when you're selling something. The trick is to be just as wonderful to deal with when your customer is unhappy.
As I mention in my book "Five-Star Customer Service," the surest test of a company's true service quality is how it handles complaints. That more than anything earns the service provider its fifth star... or not.
Jerry-Lyn did what anyone could do; what anyone should do - but what fewer than 1% of all service providers out there actually do. Hats off to her.
www.ecof.com.
Jerry-Lyn's store, near Target on the corner of Airport and Pine Ridge: 239-263-4674.
Jerry-Lyn (scrutinizing the twisted, damaged, really expensive frames): "I'll get you a new pair."
Jerry-Lyn switched the lenses out, fitted them to Ted's face, and said, "Last name?"
Ted: "Coine. C-O-I-"
Jerry Lyn: "Ted? You're all set." (Big smile).
That's it. No fuss, no muss, and - most importantly - no charge.
Granted, it should always go this way when your new product lets you down: just take it back and get a new one, no questions asked. But "should" is a long way from "does." When is the last time a return or exchange for a pricey item like designer frames went so smoothly? How gracious was the person on the other end of that exchange?
Jerry-Lyn was exceeding pleasant and helpful when Jane and I bought our glasses two months ago. That's rare enough; still, it's easy to be nice when you're selling something. The trick is to be just as wonderful to deal with when your customer is unhappy.
As I mention in my book "Five-Star Customer Service," the surest test of a company's true service quality is how it handles complaints. That more than anything earns the service provider its fifth star... or not.
Jerry-Lyn did what anyone could do; what anyone should do - but what fewer than 1% of all service providers out there actually do. Hats off to her.
www.ecof.com.
Jerry-Lyn's store, near Target on the corner of Airport and Pine Ridge: 239-263-4674.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
"Spoil 'em Rotten!" - the blog
If you like what you read here at Naples Resource and would like to read more about the highs and lows of customer service, let us recommend our founders' blog based on their book, "Spoil 'em Rotten!"
www.spoilemrotten.blogspot.com
www.spoilemrotten.blogspot.com
Naples Social Action
Here is a gratuitous plug for another Coine Endeavor: Naples Social Action, a free service of the Coine Foundation.
Naples Social Action is a venue for charities and event organizers to get the word out to the entire Greater Naples community. It is a calendar of upcoming events - soon, every upcoming social event will be posted, along with a brief write-up, and contact information of the host organization.
The work we've begun here in Naples, our home, will be replicated in every community in the U.S. once we've ironed out all the kinks. You can say you were part of its genesis.
We urge you to take advantage of this essential resource.
www.naplessocialaction.org
To have your event listed, please contact me directly: ted.coine@coineinc.com
Naples Social Action is a venue for charities and event organizers to get the word out to the entire Greater Naples community. It is a calendar of upcoming events - soon, every upcoming social event will be posted, along with a brief write-up, and contact information of the host organization.
The work we've begun here in Naples, our home, will be replicated in every community in the U.S. once we've ironed out all the kinks. You can say you were part of its genesis.
We urge you to take advantage of this essential resource.
www.naplessocialaction.org
To have your event listed, please contact me directly: ted.coine@coineinc.com
Wild Oats
"Oh my God!" That is how blown away we were by the service - and the tangelos - at Wild Oats. As of this writing, Wild Oats is home of the most impressive customer service we have received here in Naples. Yes, it's that good.
Friend and fellow customer service expert Suzanne Willis recommended we give this store a try for this blog. Thanks Suzanne!
Now, there is nobody on Earth who knows more about the Supermarket industry than Jane Coine; our second book, "Spoil 'em Rotten!" takes place in the fictional Walsh's Supermarkets. Two of the 10 winners of this year's Coine Awards for Customer Service Excellence were grocers: Wegmans and Roche Bros. So Wild Oats had to work pretty hard to impress us.
...And it did. We walked in, and I turned to Jane, asking "Is this place organic?" Before she could answer, uber-associate Tommy answered for her.* Then he asked, "Is this your first visit?" It was, so he gave us a run-down of the store, recommending items we'd especially enjoy (for example, the warm soup - "But it'll be too hot for your girls, so let it cool off first.")
Every single employee we met was friendly and very, very helpful. Cashier Heather is another associate who impressed us, taking the time to explain some of why she left her previous employer to join the Wild Oats team.
Where do they find these people?!
Actually, we know perfectly well: Wild Oats follows the Platinum Rule ("Treat your employees the way you want them to treat your customers") and they live by our HIT maxim: they Hire for attitude, Inspire through pride in the company, and only then do they Train in skills. That's the easy part when you get the first two right.
Wild Oats gives the best of what Naples has to offer. Its prices on many items are completely in line with its lower-brow competitors. We think you owe it to yourself to check it out first-hand.
Located at the ridiculously-named Naples Centre shopping plaza, on Airport and Naples Blvd, right behind another favorite, Chick-Fil-A (see below).
www.wildoats.com. 239-513-1053
*Yes they're organic, but not exclusively - just like Whole Foods, which bought Wild Oats just recently.
Note: We'll be watching this store closely. While we're rooting for them enthusiastically, they have two issues that may affect the quality of their service. First is their novelty: this branch just opened, and morale - and service - is bound to be higher when that is the case. Second, the merger with Whole Foods may detract from this brand's excellence. Whole Foods is itself a terrific company, though, so that may prove not to be a factor.
Friend and fellow customer service expert Suzanne Willis recommended we give this store a try for this blog. Thanks Suzanne!
Now, there is nobody on Earth who knows more about the Supermarket industry than Jane Coine; our second book, "Spoil 'em Rotten!" takes place in the fictional Walsh's Supermarkets. Two of the 10 winners of this year's Coine Awards for Customer Service Excellence were grocers: Wegmans and Roche Bros. So Wild Oats had to work pretty hard to impress us.
...And it did. We walked in, and I turned to Jane, asking "Is this place organic?" Before she could answer, uber-associate Tommy answered for her.* Then he asked, "Is this your first visit?" It was, so he gave us a run-down of the store, recommending items we'd especially enjoy (for example, the warm soup - "But it'll be too hot for your girls, so let it cool off first.")
Every single employee we met was friendly and very, very helpful. Cashier Heather is another associate who impressed us, taking the time to explain some of why she left her previous employer to join the Wild Oats team.
Where do they find these people?!
Actually, we know perfectly well: Wild Oats follows the Platinum Rule ("Treat your employees the way you want them to treat your customers") and they live by our HIT maxim: they Hire for attitude, Inspire through pride in the company, and only then do they Train in skills. That's the easy part when you get the first two right.
Wild Oats gives the best of what Naples has to offer. Its prices on many items are completely in line with its lower-brow competitors. We think you owe it to yourself to check it out first-hand.
Located at the ridiculously-named Naples Centre shopping plaza, on Airport and Naples Blvd, right behind another favorite, Chick-Fil-A (see below).
www.wildoats.com. 239-513-1053
*Yes they're organic, but not exclusively - just like Whole Foods, which bought Wild Oats just recently.
Note: We'll be watching this store closely. While we're rooting for them enthusiastically, they have two issues that may affect the quality of their service. First is their novelty: this branch just opened, and morale - and service - is bound to be higher when that is the case. Second, the merger with Whole Foods may detract from this brand's excellence. Whole Foods is itself a terrific company, though, so that may prove not to be a factor.
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