Panera Bread (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Every so often a trend will come around in customer service and marketing. You might not notice it at first. Its growth is subtle, sly, sneaking its way into your everyday selections. Suddenly you realize – it’s everywhere! All the stores have adopted it, for better or worse, and there’s no escaping.

My tone may sound insidious, but my point is the opposite. I realized a little while ago that such a trend was noticeable in customer service – the option to “Pick 2″ smaller portions at a restaurant and together they make up your entree. Whoever invented the idea of Pick 2, I’d love to give you a hug!

I’ve noted in previous posts that companies have figured out that when you give a customer the illusion of choice, they’re happier after their purchase. The Pick 2 idea goes along with this, but essentially it’s just a brilliant option for someone as indecisive on food as myself. Sometimes you want just a little bit of soup with your sandwich – a sandwich by itself is too dry, but eating only soup doesn’t feel substantial enough or filling. Sometimes I want not only a taco salad but actual tacos to go along with it.

Pick 2 caters to Americans’ new-found desire, or, arguably, need to multitask and move on to the next thing. Don’t worry – you don’t have to stand there and spend time making a big decision — get a little of both instantly! You can now have two cakes and eat them, too; surely, somewhere in our nation, there is a dessert place with a Pick 2 like this. Heck, the concept of pie with ice cream was a forebear of Pick 2 – let’s combine two food stuffs that are slightly in the same category (dessert) and put them together to see if they work. Any fast-food combo meal is similar – do french fries (potatoes) and sweet red sauce (ketchup) really match the culinary attitude of chicken tenders?

In my memory, Panera was the first to offer a Pick 2 option. And it’s perfect. It’s the only thing I eat there now. I’m somewhat abashed to say that math, in this instance, has improved my life as an English major. The rules of permutations and factorials apply here to bring you, the hungry customer, a huge number of choices you previously didn’t have. Say you offer 5 sandwiches, 5 soup flavors, and 5 salad types. Really, that only offers you 5 choices total as an average consumer because when you go to eat, you only will eat one entree and you have a certain food genre in mind before you arrive. (If it’s cold, you want warm soup or a grilled sandwich, for example.) But…if you offer half-size portions of each of those 15 items, you are now armed with …well, hold on….I have to draw a chart because I clearly don’t remember this well from school…this…I’ve gotten three different answers here. However, I’m going to say you get between 100 and 150 choices. I won’t even claim to stand behind my vague math. Moving on, I’ve seen this concept offered at a large number of restaurants – T.G.I. Fridays and Logan’s Roadhouse, to name a couple. They’re siblings to the Pick 2 in that you don’t pick two things for a regularly priced entree, but you pick two items within a certain amount, so “Pick 2 for $10.”

Apparently, though, the concept of Pick 2 can spread, while the name cannot. In July of 2005 (clearly I’m slow to pick up on trends, y’all), the Dunkin’ Donuts family of brands was forced to remove all of their “U Pick 2″ options and signage because Panera has “You Pick Two” as a federal trademark registration. Who knew?!  Now that I’ve written this post, I can be more of a nerd than I already am, since I can say that “Pick 2″ is really just a proprietary eponym, such as requesting a “Kleenex” to refer to just facial tissues or saying “Coke” when you mean a soda. You get quadruple Scrabble points in my book, by the way, if you use “eponym.”

Perhaps I’ve offered some minuscule bit of insight into the psychology of your food selections for today. Customization is the Top 2012 Trend to watch out for in restaurants, after all.

So when you next go somewhere to eat and you’re suddenly presented with more choices than you were initially prepared for…don’t stress. Just know that you’re a very trendy person.

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Service Sprite

Service Sprite Nora has never broken a bone. She firmly believes in snack time (and nap time!) and that dinosaurs once roamed the earth. Do not talk to her about Pluto not being a planet. IT IS.

An example of a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. This one was installed at a Wendy's in Irving, Texas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes you just want a burger. You think you’re fine, putzing along through life, tryin’ to make healthy choices. And then, after a few weeks of vigilance, BAM. You gotta have that red meat. And past experience has taught me that Dairy Queen french fries are really good – neither squishy nor crunchy, a perfect mix in the middle. Delightful potato-y carrier sticks for ketchup.

I gave in to my inner culinary voice today and decided to try my local DQ. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten at a Dairy Queen. Yes, you need the obligatory summer Blizzard, but that doesn’t happen very often. No, this was a trip with a purpose – acquire burger for mission complete status! I didn’t start my lunch break with thoughts about customer service expectations. Heck, I had no expectations. As we all do, every day, I was on auto-pilot to complete my mundane goal.

I called my friend on the way there to see what’s exciting in his life. As I talked, I did one of those silent mental life comparisons we all do but never confess. What was he doing just then? Having to work on making a presentation for school. What was I doing? About to get a glorious hamburger. Which of us was luckier at that moment? No contest there.

So I’m feeling pretty jazzed as I get off the phone and order my food…which is where I proceed to wait. …and wait. …and wait. Not a good sign. The second not good sign, in fact, after encountering the apathy of my cashier when I placed my order. To stave off my impatience and thoughts about how very un-full my stomach is, I go around the corner to get my drink.

And I’m dazzled.

You need to know I like technology. I like gadgets and I like shiny things; I like electronics that make my life better and I have a child-like glee when I’m allowed to press buttons. You think I’m kidding? I scared my boyfriend half to death the other day as I screamed when I spotted the new model of Toyota Prius on the road. But there in front of me in a Louisville fast food restaurant…is a giant Coca-Cola machine. I don’t mean to say it was larger than normal. Its presence was large in spirit and technology. What’s consumer-centric technology doing on a machine that burps out ice and always gives you soda residue when all you wanted was water? This baby had it all – sleek curves, a mysteriously appealing red tone, simplicity in form and function reminiscent of Apple products. One single touch screen yielded me with…gosh, I’m not sure, but probably close to 30 options for my beverage selection. There’s probably some funny surveillance camera footage of me because I literally stopped when I saw this thing. I am an absolute repeat customer if only for the fact that this drink machine could magically conjure seven flavors of sparkling water. Dasani “Sparkling Sensations?” You’re clever, inventors, you.

The rest of my DQ experience I have to say was sub-par. I waited for quite a bit longer since my employee friend took the orders for a chain of customers before fulfilling orders that had been sitting there for a while (e.g. mine). I ended up with a burger and fries that were not very warm. And my burger had mayonnaise on it, which I was explicitly told would not be featured on today’s entree. And I don’t even care. The glistening glory of that Coke drink machine made all other worries melt away. I’m being sincere, too.

Sometimes I think about the trend in customer service and marketing towards giving customers “options.” I say “options” because the things freshly presented to us rarely vary much in quality from an original product. Regular drink machines still give me lots of options to quench my thirst. But if you give a customer a panel of options, then stealthily slip away, leaving them with the impression of everything resting in their hands – you always have happier customers. Maybe not as dramatically happy as myself (I am easily amused), but on a subtle, psychological level, marketers have got us good as they learn what we like and dislike as shoppers. ”I have made the perfect selection,” you may say to yourself, and everything is okay because no one else influenced your decision. We are the masters of our fates and companies know we don’t care so much about the quality of a product as the feeling of having picked something ourselves.

I’m aware of this fact and amused whenever I catch myself being so psychologically weak. The feeling never lasts long, though. In this age of increasing momentum in product launches, like a good little sheep, I’m drawn to the next great product. And if it’s shiny enough and completes my middle class illusions of grandeur…I may just write about it.

There will definitely be a DQ run next week.

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• DQ – You’re Back! (ak49state.wordpress.com)

Service Sprite

Service Sprite Nora has never broken a bone. She firmly believes in snack time (and nap time!) and that dinosaurs once roamed the earth. Do not talk to her about Pluto not being a planet. IT IS.

Flower Power

My husband had a customer service fail with 1-800-Flowers. This past weekend, a co-worker of my husband called to let him know that her father had passed away. He has battled with illness for a few years, and ultimately, lost his battle. As a respected co-worker, my husband felt that it was appropriate to not only send flowers from the company, but also a personal bouquet from us to offer our condolences.

So, who were we going to call. 1-800-Flowers. Who else?! The number just immediately comes to mind. Obviously, the brand awareness must be off the charts. And if everyone knows you, you must be good, right??

My husband went online, chose the various arrangements and entered all the information for delivery to a funeral home in NJ. The website correctly pulled up the proper spelling, location, and zip code for the funeral home. The website allowed him to enter the time of the service as well, just to ensure that the flowers were delivered for the service. The arrangement that was ordered offered “same day service”, but the service wasn’t until the next day, so no worries. Overall, the experience on the website was very easy to maneuver, select and pay. No worries. Felt good about sending something to let them know that they were in his thoughts and prayers.

This AM, was the service for the co-workers father. Given that it was in NJ, he was unable to attend, but spoke to fellow coworkers who said it was a very touching service. When asked if the arrangements were there from my husband, co-workers said that they didn’t see any flowers at all from him, nor did they see any flowers from the company either. Not long after this call, my husband got a call from 1-800-Flowers, saying that when they arrived to deliver the flowers, the service had already happened and they needed an alternate address to send the flowers to. Why ask on the website what time the service is, and not plan ahead to make sure that flowers arrive prior to that? He was so angry, not only because the flowers didn’t arrive, but also that he didn’t have an alternate address to send them to. Ultimately, after several phone calls to his HR group, they were able to find an alternate address, but no telling if/when the co-worker would be returning home.

To top it off, he learned that the flowers ordered separately by the company were delivered to the wrong funeral home, despite having the information correct on the confirmation.

Sorry 1-800-Flowers, but looks like ProFlowers, or one of your competitors, will be the right number to call next time.

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Kimberly Nasief

The Service Witch roams around with hidden cameras, and captures the good, bad and ugly of customer service. Then she discusses it. She also has minions out there doing the same thing. All over. You never know what they will catch. (@theservicewitch, @measurecp)

  

I’ve loved the Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft brands for years.  I remember wandering into the Loft store in my city back in 2002 or so.  Something cute in the window caught my eye.  I specifically remember thinking, “Ooh, Ann Taylor.  It’s expensive in there.  I can’t afford anyth…Oh, look-it’s so pretty!” My next thought was, “Oh, I can afford that!”  That was my downfall.

Anyway, I haven’t been shopping for myself in some time. Like a really, REALLY long time.  That’s what happens when you have a baby, and then another.  Lots of maternity wear in the past three years.  And I was unwilling to commit to buying anything until I got my body back for good.  My dad, in the spirit of birthday benevolence, bestowed on me an Ann Taylor gift card.  Lots of things have been going on recently.  Big things in my personal life, and not fun things.  I decided that I needed some retail therapy.  So, I walked into the nearest Ann Taylor today, and was dumbfounded.

Now, I had heard about the new concept Store recently.  Something about it being easier to shop in, a layout more conducive to purchasing more.  While I can’t say one way or another whether or not the layout did make me purchase more, I can say the whole experience did make me want to purchase more-which I am going to assume means that the concept behind the Concept store is working.

From the retail experience perspective:  Quick greetings:  Check.  Start me a fitting room:  Check. Associate’s not hovering, but easily accessible:  Check. And the last thing, the one thing that would make Paco Underhill proud, was the fluid way the associates whisked whatever was in my hands back to the dressing room, without my even noticing (or getting annoyed by).  Folks, its true.  Free your hands, and your wallet will follow:  People will purchase what they can carry in their hands.  Let them carry more (either by cart, basket, or hanging everything touched up in the dressing room), and the idea is that they will purchase more.

Skinny mirrors in the dressing rooms always make me feel great.  What makes me feel better is that Ann Taylor and Loft associates are honest, as well.  They know how to phrase what looks good, and what doesn’t look so good on the body, and they do it in a way that still makes the “any shape and size” customer feel beautiful. (My only suggestion-float them in and out of the dressing room more so that sizes can be exchanged)

Today’s special:  Everything in the store 30% off.  Yep, I knew I was in trouble when Heather calculated that 30% off at the register, and helped me decide between shoes and another dress (I went with the dress.  More wear, more visiblility, and more fun).  She even got me to sign up for the credit card offer so that I could get an extra 15% on top of the 30%.  Hell, I had a gift card. I needed to maximize and accessorize, and Heather helped me do it.  Heather did more for me than that though. She got my mind off of what has been weighing heavily on me.  She personalized the sale (which is important to the brand), she added to my purchases (which is important to the bottom line), she sold me on the credit card (I don’t even need to explain this one), and she connected with me as a person (so I didn’t feel like another sale-I felt like a friend)-And she did it genuinely, gently, and with great finesses.

I got out the door, having blown my entire gift card plus $17 (which went on my new Ann Taylor card).  I got 45% more for my money than I would have yesterday or tomorrow.  And I wanted to spend at least 100% more than I did.  I loved the new concept store. I loved the clothing. I loved the service.  The experience hit home. So, Ann Taylor, will you marry me?  If you say yes, I’ll ask Heather be my maid of honor.  Now, if I could just get you as one of my mystery shopping clients.

Related articles

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Kimberly Nasief

The Service Witch roams around with hidden cameras, and captures the good, bad and ugly of customer service. Then she discusses it. She also has minions out there doing the same thing. All over. You never know what they will catch. (@theservicewitch, @measurecp)

  

filling capsule (Photo credit: pennstatelive)

Yes, drug making is an art. I finally discovered this when directed to the Art Jacobs Prescription Shoppe (yes shoppe, like the kind that probably also sells toy trains) to fill a “compounded” prescription. Heretofore I’d never ventured far from CVS or Rite-Aid to get my prescriptions filled, yet in Art’s Shoppe I discovered a new world of alchemy and wonder.

Art is the senior proprietor for his drug shoppe, located in an obscure strip center near a hospital row. His son Mark now does most of the drug mixing magic while Art greets me as I walk in with a big smile; he clearly wants to help and values a new customer. I’m guessing that Art, who has operated this shoppe for 31 years, remembers every customer by name and need. He has a friendly tenor and looks as if he need only add a cape and hood to become Merlin. All fun.

My prescription is for an annoying ear infection and must be blended up on a mirrored plate (finally, a legitimate use) and placed in little capsules that are inserted int a bulbed puffer. I’m visibly confused by this most complicated drug delivery device so Art walks me through it in detail, twice. He even offers up his cell phone should I get home and prove unable to puff my ear. All the while he keeps me from feeling stupid or inept (I was both in this case).

Funny thing is that Art doesn’t take insurance. He says that he quit taking it 30 years ago and those that have continued have bankrupted. We discuss his business model, which includes filling more animal prescriptions than human, and I came to see his wisdom. We ring up the bill, which comes to $35; surprisingly that is less than the $40 formulary co-pay on my insurance card. Art explains that big pharmacies keep that extra $5.

After perhaps 15 minutes of chatting and explaining I walk out happy as a clam that I’ve found this gem of a place and person. Didn’t take long for me to get home and gush to my wife about my great customer service experience. She tells me “oh yeah, Art Jacobs, everybody knows about them, they’re great. ” Pop goes my bubble! Secret is out.

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Kent Oyler

Not Neil Huffman Nissan, but the signs are cool...

The leasing office of a car dealership is not where I would normally seek shining examples of customer service, but here’s an exception.  Ros, short for Roselyn, is the office manager for the local Neil Huffman Nissan Dealership.  She’s been there 21 years and tells me that she’s done every job on the floor – finance, sales, clerical, probably even changed oil in the shop.  Her business card notes an award she won for top customer service, which should have tipped me off despite my low expectations.

So I’m in Ros’ dealership not to buy or sell a car from her, but to transfer a car coming off lease.  In the world of Nissan finance you do such transactions at one of their dealers with someone like Ros.  You know, the green eyeshades guy who you never see while your salesman is running back behind the curtain with your latest “go check with the finance guy” offer on a new or used car.  Well that isn’t Ros.  She comes bounding out of an office and greets me with a big smile.  After I explain my dilemma she gets me copies of the endless forms we’ll need to fill out and gives me her card along with a “don’t worry, I’ll take care of all this for you.”  And she does.  We set an appointment and I call ahead with some key info, she gets the payoff (despite the tornado warnings that had everyone in Nissan’s Dallas lease payoff HQ hiding in the basement) and fills out the forms for me; for whatever reason there are still way too many trees dying to make paper payoff forms.  The whole process, which I don’t even begin to fully comprehend, wraps in about 20 minutes as I happily munch on the free popcorn and chat with ever-friendly Ros.  She never tries to annoy me by selling me a car, she just make me feel smart for successfully doing whatever it is we just did.

So I’m not in the market for a new Nissan just yet, but if I am or hear about a friend looking, I’m calling my new customer service pro Ros.  Personal greeting, minimized my time consumption, filed in the forms for me, got it done, made me feel intelligent, and free popcorn.  Overall a 5-star experience that I wasn’t expecting.

 

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Kent Oyler

Two bovine ladies livin' large

The pleasant jingle-jangle of a cowbell greets us as my boyfriend, dog, and I visit our local Comfy Cow shoppe, which sells “handcrafted” ice cream and desserts. This diversion had a purpose: I’ve been trying to learn a Major Life Lesson (said in dramatic voice), which is to take a few minutes each day to slow down and enjoy life. I’m not very good at doing this yet, but I’m slowly getting better. After all, if you’re too busy to enjoy homemade ice cream… well, let’s just say it’s a darn good way to boost your life appreciation.

So while the Kentucky weather gods still grace us with 80 degree sunny days in March, I take my troop to get some ice cream to show I care. Honestly, you could give your worst enemy good ice cream and hostilities would soften. And Comfy Cow makes really good ice cream. This means I obviously care a lot.

While I tend to the dog, my boyfriend entered the shop to decide what he wants. I contemplate the last part of sunset as my dog contemplates all of the tossed-off food bits gracing the pavement. Both of us are very content. After Boyfriend returns and tells me his decision – can one ever go wrong with chocolate chip cookie dough? – I go inside to order. I stare in awe at all of the clever concoctions they’ve come up with at the Comfy Cow – Pooch Pops for your dog (umm, not today: maybe when it’s hotter, pup), gigantic chocolate-covered bananas, sugar-dazzled cookies larger than your hand. After I’ve placed my order, one of the employees asks the three people behind me what they would like. Gasp! I realize by their comments that they’ve never been here before. I immediately turned around to confide in them that they had made an excellent decision in coming to Comfy Cow.

And here’s the kicker – almost as fast as I make my comment, the sales associate rattles off a genuinely prideful pitch for her employer. The comments struck me as sincere — not some obligatory point of sale that’s been drilled into her head by her bosses the day after she started work. Her voice is warm and enthusiastic. She talks fast but clearly; she’s not rushing to get an annoyance over and done with like so many employees with a required tagline that nobody wants to hear. The fact that they’re only 2 years old and have won Louisville’s best ice cream award for two years running plops out of her like ice cream from a scoop.

As she finishes, her coworker turns to her and expresses how impressed she is. And as I finish checking out and walk outside, I, too, congratulate her in my head, but not quite for the same reasons. I like the sales associate’s fervor, but I’m also glad that I chose today to support local businesses. I don’t do it as much as I should – I rarely stray out of my way to find local alternatives. But I’m awfully glad they’re still around in the supposed heyday of Wal-Mart and Starbucks to provide unique atmospheres and customer relations.

And this episode makes me wonder if customer service is necessarily better at local stores. Is there something about a personal touch that makes customer service more convincing? More truthful? More friendly? I think that there is and that, on some deep level, we all know this. You can train an employee as long as you want (and some companies try for an awfully long time to beat a dead horse, as one might say), but if that employee doesn’t believe the message you’re espousing, it’ll show in their actions and attitude. And all customers will pick up that negative attitude consciously or not. And then they’ll be less happy. And then they’ll buy less of your product. And then… dun dun dunhhhh… they’ll tell their friends of their displeasure via the Internet. Such postings can spread to tens, or hundreds — even thousands, of other potential or current customers. This dissatisfied customer ripple effect is of course quite a subject for study these days, generating lots of books and blog articles (ironic, right?) written on the subject.

Why does an employee need to make a corny pitch anyway? What every company should be striving for, when it comes to customer service, is authenticity: the genuine connection. Nowadays there are vast marketing realms within many companies that spend literally millions of dollars to ensure that a company’s name comes in front of you, the consumer. But a company name in your face is not the same as face-to-face sincerity. On some level, that eye-to-eye, face-to-face directness of “this is why my company is a winner and what I’m saying is important” redeems all of us. We want to hear and believe what companies tell us, but we’ve become immune to it after we encounter daily false promises and spouts of pompousness. Like having one too many bad dates, we shy away from genuine connection.

So when we receive genuine connection these days we take note. And tell our friends. And write blog articles. More than all of that, we enjoy the product we came to enjoy; our decisions to frequent a business where we encountered a genuine connection are reaffirmed so that in the future we buy more of it and we bring our friends and families.

Will I come back to my local community-created ice cream shoppe? Absolutely. I’m totally committed after today. As my boyfriend summarized our experience this evening, feeling awfully proud of himself for his cleverness, I just have this to add – “There’s nary a dairy dilemma in this establishment.”

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Service Sprite

Service Sprite Nora has never broken a bone. She firmly believes in snack time (and nap time!) and that dinosaurs once roamed the earth. Do not talk to her about Pluto not being a planet. IT IS.