Wowing your customers and clients is not difficult at all. Just inject a bit of humanity into your business. Show your customers and clients you care.
Today, I saw first hand how powerful a caring human being can be.
Around 3pm yesterday, I had a hankering for some BBQ black beans from El Pollo Loco. I was in a rush to get to Coffee Bean to start writing, so I chose the drive thru.
With only two cars ahead of me, I imagined it’d take just a few minutes.
But something was up. Something was wrong. They weren’t bringing the first car it’s food.
After about 15 minutes, I started getting antsy. So I pulled out my phone, launched Twitter, and sent the following Tweet:
“Drive thru is taking forever. Wtf el pollo loco. I just want beans.”
It went out into the Twittersphere, unnoticed by most, except when it landed in THE corporate headquarters of El Pollo Loco.
They could tell how frustrated I was, just by the fact that I included the acronym “wtf.”
El Pollo Loco wouldn’t let this injustice stand.
Today, I got a tweet from El Pollo Loco Guest Support (@eplguestsupport) extending their apologies and asking me to fill out a feedback form so they could right this wrong.
Partly out of amusement and partly out of a belief that I was important enough to get a tweet from El Pollo Loco, I filled out the form.
Of course, that form would just go to some desk clerk who would probably just file it in some random folder that no one ever looks at.
But, a few hours later, I actually got a call from the manager of the El Pollo Loco I had visited, apologizing for what had happened and offering a discount the next time I came back.
I was stunned. El Pollo Loco actually cares.
Now, I love El Pollo Loco, and I’ve been telling everyone about this.
A lot of businesses discount the fact that just showing a little care and sympathy can really make a difference with their customers.
Next time a customer experiences a problem, go out of your way to show you care. Call up your customer, personally, and extend your apologies. Don’t email. Don’t tweet. Don’t have an employee do it.
You do it. You make the effort. You show you care.
It’s all about showing that you care.
What experiences have you had where a business was surprisingly human? Tell me about it in the comments below.
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My name is Brandon Yanofsky. I'm the Relationship Marketing Specialist for small businesses and startups. I'm here to show you how to build better relationships with your clients that lead to more sales.
This is a great example of how businesses can (and ought to be) using social media. It's not just for networking and promotions. Reputation management and customer service is the best way you can promote your business. Great to hear it's working!
My recent post The New Klout
Agreed. Too many companies jump on Twitter and start promoting. Instead, allow a two way communication, just like El Pollo Loco did here.
Thank you so much for posting this! We really appreciated the opportunity to reach out to you!
It's all you Christina. You and El Pollo Loco.
We just need more companies following your lead.
And yeS that was me who reached out to the customer
This was a great example of online service… I have a similar story.
I think Twitter has changed customer service for the better, if not actaully creating a new type of customer service altogether.
When will such innovation ever stop – probably never! I can only think what the future holds for us.
My recent post All You Need to Know About ‘TheCookieCrunch’
I agree with Gabriella that social media visibility and especially Twitter have changed customer service forever. Companies who ignore complaints will not be happy about the negative buzz but that should lead to improvement at many companies.
I have a tip you can share with the Manager of your El Pollo Loco and other fast food restaurants. (When I was an IBM road warrior I spent a lot of time in drive-throughs.) When an order is taking longer than usual, simply ask that vehicle to move to a parking space (or up along the curb if there is room for other drive-thru customers to pass) and let them know you'll bring the order out to them.
That way the drive-thru doesn't get slowed, the person who has to wait feels special that someone ran the rest of their order out to them, and everything benefits.
My recent post Your Newsletter Tastes Like Spam
That's a great tip. And makes perfect sense. Too bad more fast food restaurants don't actually think of ways to improve customer service. To them, it's all about getting food out fast. But they don't realize, it all comes down to satisfying customers.
That's a great point Gabriella. Too many companies are looking for that ONE answer for customer service. But like you said, it's a constant, never stopping, ever evolving process.
It's not the destination, it's the journey.
You guys know I was that manager who called back
… I wouldn’t like to wait for long for a order of beans either…so of course I would understand too 
…. But yes ppl it was me who called the customer back 
You were the manager? I definitely failed to mention that you did. You were an integral part of it. Thanks. The person to person contact is much more powerful than anything done over the internet
Brandon,
Great to see that El Pollo Loco cares since so many other businesses do not. I'm always amazed when my customers thank me just for returning their calls. (Why would you bother to be in business if you are not returning your customers' calls?? Unbelievable, but it happens more often than not).
I completely agree with you, as I'm writing this reply very late. Sorry about that. My commenting system stuck you in the spam folder.
You'd be surprised how many businesses get into business for the wrong reasons, this being just one of them.