Customer Service - It's As Easy As Giving a Pickle

In the business world everyone has customer service standards and everyone knows the basics of customer service. Sometimes it's tough to get an edge in service because everyone has about the same service standards. If you've reached this point, it might be time to hand out some pickles. I don't mean pickles literally. Customer service guru Bob Farrell defines pickles as the extra things you can do in service that make the customer happy. In other words, what can you do beyond the norm to "wow" the customer with your service? In Bob Farrell's case it was literally pickles. He gave extra pickles for free. In your case, it's probably going to be something else.

Here are some examples I've found.

An ice cream shop in Ohio puts a candy face on all of their kids scoops - two candy eyes, a candy nose and a candy mouth cost almost nothing but are huge for kids. They will pester their parents to go to the ice cream shop with the face.

A car dealership in Kansas has free soda, bottled water and donuts to guests who are waiting for their car to be serviced. They also have a couple of nice flat screen TVs, comfortable chairs and plenty of magazines. Customers want to hang out there even when their car isn't being serviced.

A Golf course in Las Vegas has golf tees and free ice cold bottled waters waiting for you in your cart. A nice touch in a world where Golf courses try their best to nickel and dime you for those items after charging you $100 for a round.

An online toy company offers free shipping on all orders over $25. In a world where every online order seems to involve an outrageous shipping charge designed to make even more profit, they stand out. The toy company makes way more money by the extra volume this little "pickle" generates.

A restaurant in Florida offers a free kid's meal for every adult meal purchased. Kid's meals are really cheap to make and they make up for the loss with massive extra volume and drink purchases.

Add that extra something to your customer service standards and you will get that all important leg up on the competition. Find those special things that don't cost that much money but are memorable for your customers. You will you stand out in the crowd.

Charlie Bentson King is a writer and producer of customer service video and DVD training for TrainingABC. TrainingABC is a distributor of videos like Give em the Pickle.