If The Shoe Fits... Lend It!

Here is a wonderful story from Ed Horrell, author of "The Kindness Revolution"

All of the customer service stories I write about are interesting. Some stories are the stuff of legends.

This story is one is the latter.

One of my favorite companies is Davidson Hotel Company in Memphis, Tennessee. The reason is that the principals of the company, John Belden and Pat Lupsha, emphasize the importance of values (dignity and kindness) in their guest service. They discuss it often and it is reflected in the actions of their employees and on their website at http://www.davidsonhotels.com/.

They are among the leaders in the Kindness Revolution.

But discussing service is different from providing it. This story shows that constant emphasis on service leads to results.

Last month, Kris checked into the Renaissance Chicago North Shore Hotel, one of the Davidson families of hotels. He is a claims adjuster for a major insurance company and was there for training. He checked in on Sunday night.

"After a good nights rest, I woke up on Monday ready to tackle the first day" says Kris. "After my morning routine, I put on my finest shirt and prepared to go make an impression on the other adjusters."

Imagine Kris' shock when he realized that he had not brought a pair of dress shoes, only the tennis shoes he had worn to travel. Calling the front desk, he knew that he wouldn't find a shoe store open in Chicago at 7:00 AM!

"Of course it was a long shot and I knew it" says Kris. "Imagine the horror I felt at that moment. I was about to go into my first day of training in my business attire and a white pair of K-Swiss sneakers! I looked foolish."

To his delight, however, the constant emphasis on guest service at Davidson paid off. Kris got a call back from a customer service rep who asked what size Kris wore. When he answered "a size 12", the rep, Christine Miks stated that her boss, Chris Dugenske, wore a size 13 and would lend Kris his shoes for the day.

In a time when most customers would expect to get a call back simply saying "we tried...nothing is open", this guest gets a call saying "we've solved your problem."
"To my knowledge", say Kris, "Mr. Dugenske worked the entire day with no shoes, and he did that for someone he didn't even know."

This is an impressive story and makes one point which is worth remembering in order to provide the BEST in service. The point is this...when a customer has a problem, it is wise to determine the real problem when making the decision as to what action to take.

In this case, most companies would consider the obvious problem to be that no stores are open early on Monday and how they could fix that (which they can't)? The Davidson employees addressed the real problem; their guest needed shoes!

Companies like Davidson Hotel Company are leading the Kindness Revolution by listening to their customers and solving problems as opposed to keeping lists of complaints. The old cliché "he'd give you the shoes off his feet" is true!

Ed Horrell is the best-selling author of "The Kindness Revolution" and nationally syndicated columns. For more information on how to start a kindness revolution in your company, go to http://www.edhorrell.com . For information on Davidson Hotel Company, go to http://www.davidsonhotels.com .

(c) 2007, Horrell Communications.