Why Good Customer Service is Just Not Enough In Your Insurance Agency
Part 1: Would You Put Up With This?
Now it is easily said that in what I do I am hyper sensitive to the service I receive. While it is true I also make sure to go out of my way to be pleasant and nice to any service person. This includes using their name, thanking them and starting the experience off by chatting with them about how they are doing. I make it a point to put deposits, even small ones into every service person, as I know their jobs are certainly not easy.
3 years ago my husband and I tied the knot. For our first anniversary, we decided to check a bucket list item off and eat at Mario Batali restaurant in New York City. At the time a $350 meal was big deal to us (truthfully it still is!). So I obsessed over it, so much so I was convinced that the experience would be terrible, how could it possibly live up to my expectations, right? Well, Mario nailed it. Everything from top to bottom was fantastic! The food was one of the best meals of my life. We had 5 different people attending to us for water, bread, wine, dessert etc. It was like every detailed had been planned out so carefully that we were the only customers in a packed to the gills restaurant. I left there raving about my experience.
We decided to return for our third anniversary. I wanted to relive it all again. Well, this time was less than spectacular. We waiting for 45 minutes in a standing room only bar, and when we were seated, someone was almost in my lap. I was able to put it all aside for the food (the second glass of wine helped too). When the waiter came to the table, it all went downhill. He was rushed, didn’t make any recommendations at all, no appetizers, no wine, no nothing. I’ve had better service at a Subway. The food was still divine but the lack of interest and attention by our waiter in combination with a loud on top of your restaurant set up lead me to eat and go. Our bill was ½ as much as our first trip there, not on purpose but just due to the feeling they wanted us to go.
The next day, my husband sent the restaurant an email with his concerns. The manager did call and apologize which was great. He also did a fabulous job in his apology.
Here is how it all relates to insurance, you have to be amazing every time. Your customers don’t care about the one day someone is off. They may only call in twice in 2 years the service bar has to be impeccable every time, all the time. Good service is no longer ok, great service has to be the norm. Truth be told, I’ll probably never go to this restaurant again. This experience took me from I couldn’t wait to get there, so I’d take a chance and try something new. The next night we had a great waiter at a great restaurant. Remember someone always wants your customer’s money if you aren’t willing to exceed their expectations.
