What have we said over and over again on this blog?

Deliver a remarkable customer experience that creates positive WOM (Word-of-mouth) and then enable the story to spread through social media.

Well let me tell you this: T-MOBILE FREAKIN' ROCKS!! 

Can you imagine a scenario where a cell phone customer service rep tells you they would be willing to look at your usage in a date 3 weeks from now and then back-date the beginning of a new plan so that you don't get nailed by overage charges?

Before this morning, I couldn't.

Well, that happened to me this morning and it shows you the power of empowered customer service folks.

Now, I've been a T-mobile customer for almost 10 years now.

With my recent change of careers to "Marketing Navigator for the Attention Economy" [beta 1 of the story, feedback welcome], I'm on the road much more.

I realized that my current plan wasn't going to work, so I called customer service.

Got a voice recognition system.

Like you, I thought "uh-oh," but you know what? It actually worked...really well. I learned a lot, quickly.

Then, when I said "operator," I was connected to Euretha S. and you know what she did?

First, she listened. Then, she asked questions about my lifestyle, my wife's usage, etc.

I explained that I wanted to avoid getting locked-in, wanted a new phone, and asked about the All-You-Can Eat option that AT&T offers.

She told me that T-mobile has an All-You-Can Eat option as well, but she suggested a different plan than the one I was considering (not the all you can eat) because it offered me MORE minutes for the same amount of money.

Next, she did a 3 month usage analysis of my calling patterns (minutes) and offered me 200 minutes just because I am a "loyal T-mobile customer."

Next, she worked with me to figure out the optimal day to start my new plan, May 30th.

Not only that, but she said she would come in on that day and see if, in the interval, I had exceeded my current plan's minutes...in which case she would back-date the start of my new plan so I wouldn't get hit by overage penalties.

What's more, she comped me some additional minutes to give me a buffer, so I wouldn't have to stress about it.

By this point, I didn't care, I was ready to commit to a year's worth of service!

I'd also arrived at my morning meeting and time was running out..."what about the free phone?"

"You know what," she said. "Normally, the loyalty department takes care of this. I will call them, explain what a great customer you are and make sure they get you the free phone, without a 2nd year of commitment required. Then, I will have them call you when it is done."

I was flabbergasted. She'd do this and I wouldn't have to stay on the line. I could go on with the other, more important things in my day.

I asked to talk to her supervisor, LaTasha B., because, for me, "Euretha is in the customer service Hall of Fame."

Then, I said to LaTasha:

"I'm a blogger. I want to write this up and post it. I'd like to email it to you so you can see it. Actually, you probably won't give it to me, but can I email the CEO?"

"Sure," she replied, "his name is Robert Dotson and his email is rdotson AT t-mobile.com" (no link since I don't want him to get spammed.)

"Are you kidding me?!"

Even if his assistant responds back, that's good enough. Even if I don't email him, the fact that I could and it's not a customerservice@t-mobile.com generic address with no personality....whoa!

So, here's the lessons (even for those of you who think you are in 'commodity' businesses.)

1. Listen and understand when your customers contact you.
2. Delight your customers with service that is personal, compassionate, and solves a problem.
3. Be thrilled if a customer wants to tell the story about you and open up an authentic dialogue. Embrace it.

T-mobile may have "only" gained $30/month in additional revenue from me this morning, but by empowering Euretha to engage with me and not feel like she needed to "process" me, they have earned free advertising that is probably worth more than the cost of Euretha's 20 minutes of time.

And talk about personality, Euretha and I bonded. I know where she lives (city, that is), she's got great-grand kids and we even got to the point where she was making fun of me. I know that wouldn't work for everyone, but I also know that Euretha wasn't working off a script.

Now that is understanding how marketing is done today.

Kudos to you, T-mobile.

introduced a friend of mine who sells coffee service to the office manager a few months ago.

Today, I was in the kitchen, and saw his company's machine getting set up.

I was a bit irritated.I called him.

"Hey, how come you didn't call me to say 'thanks for making the intro?'"

His excuse was lame. No time, etc.

No time to thank someone who began the process for helping you land a contract? Ridiculous.

Referrals are one of your best ways to grow your business. Do something to make those people feel special.

Here are some partners who do it right: A Tale of 3 Referral Awards

I shop at Home Depot a lot (I do have some issues w/store organization and ability to find stuff, but generally, I feel like I get value for the money).

What bothers me, however, is when I go to the store finder to see hours of operation and it says, "call the store."

Why add a step to the process?

Why not have the store manager log on each night, update the hours as necessary, and log-off?

That would be one step instead of having his people answer dozens or hundreds of calls each day?

On top of that, it would improve the customer experience, since I get what I need ASAP.

Folks...each of us (and that includes Microsoft) has got to make it as easy as possible for people to do business with us.

I WANT to give Home Depot money...why add one step to that process?

And Kudos to Best Buy for getting it right

A GREAT piece....something to think about...

Link to Seven steps to remarkable customer service - Joel on Software