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What Would YOU Do In This Situation?
By JLP | November 14, 2007
While thumbing through my old copy of The Leader In You
The story:
As Bill Geppert says, “Take care of your people, and the business takes care of itself.” Geppert is general manager of Cox Cable, Inc., in New Orleans, a position that makes him responsible for three hundred employees. One of them is a young technical construction specialist name Brian Clemons, who works for Cox in suburban Jefferson Parish.
Clemons was on vacation one morning, and he happened to stop in at a Home Depot store to buy some lumber. While waiting for his lumber to be cut, he overheard a man complaining about Cox. As the man spoke, eight or nine other Home Depot customers were gathered around, listening to this tale of cable-television.
“Now, Brian could have done a number of things,” Geppert said later, recounting what happened next. “He was on vacation. He had work to do, and his wife wanted him home. So he could have just gone about his business, ignoring what was being said. What did Brian do? Brian Clemons walked right up and said, ‘Sir, I couldn’t help but overhear what you were telling these folks. I work for Cox. Would you please give me an opportunity to make the situation right? In fact, I guarantee we can take care of your problem.’
“Well, you can imagine the looks on those eight people’s faces. They were astonished. Brian, who wasn’t wearing his uniform, walked over to a pay phone, called the office, and dispatched a repair crew to the house. The repair crew met that customer as he arrived home and took care of the situation to the customer’s satisfaction. In fact, we found out later that Brian even went a step further. He followed up when he came back to work to make sure that the customer was satisfied with the result. And he gave the customer two weeks’ credit on his account and an apology for the inconvenience.”
Awesome story!
What’s sad about this example is that this employee was simply doing his job and yet his actions are so rare that we are amazed at his level of customer service. As sad as that is, it does offer an opportunity for employees (sorry, the more appropriate word is “associates”) to really stand out by just doing their jobs! If they go above and beyond just doing their job, they’ll REALLY stand out!
If you haven’t read The Leader In You
Topics: Books, Personal Growth |
