Ever dealt with food allergies or sensitivities? If so, you know all too well what a pain in the patooty it can be. And if you’ve been spared this unfortunate fate, suffice it to say when your culinary options become foreshortened, feeding yourself gets a LOT tougher.
Fewer options leave you with less appetizing choices. And often compels you to eat something you’d rather not, just to avoid something that will make you sick.

Struggling With Meat + Dairy

For my part, back in college, it became clear I couldn’t digest meat. Red meat, pork and just about any greasy cooked animal flesh either totally gummed up my GI or turned my “rear facet,” so to speak, on HIGH (and I’ll leave it at that and spare you any more graphic details).
So nowadays, other than occasional white meat chicken and turkey, fish is the only meat that makes a regular appearance on my menu.
Around about the same time, I developed lactose intolerance. Which spelled the end of ice cream and ushered in rice milk as a replacement for cows milk on my morning cereal.

Salt Sensitivity

My wife, who is spice-infused half east Indian gal, long ingested salt like kids vacuum up candy. But then all of the sudden, salt started wrecking havoc on her body chemistry. If she consumed anywhere near the “recommended daily allowance” of sodium, she’d swell up like an overripe grape and instantly back on 5+ pounds of water weight. Needless to say, low to no sodium foods have become an absolute MUST for her (and by default, us).
Now, as you can imagine, this combo heavily curtails our collective dining options.

Finding Culinary Common Ground…

What you might not expect is that we discovered common ground in, of all things, pizza!
A local, mostly take-out establishment, called Hollywood Pies, not only serves up some of most tastebud-delighting pizza ever but more importantly, it doesn’t aggravate any of our food sensitivities.
Thick, deep-dish, heavenly tasting crust. Firm, flavorful mozzarella cheese. Terrifically tangy tomato sauce. And no physical unrest in the aftermath. So YAY, right? I mean, who’s mad at pizza?

But Here’s The Problem With Hollywood Pies…

The place is a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, which isn’t necessarily bad. Some of the VERY best food in the world comes out of total hole-in-the-wall joints.
But such spots sometimes ignore certain details, often to the detriment of their customers, and ultimately the longevity of their business.
For starters, they have an anti-Yelp sign on their door. Now, Yelp has certainly done some businesses wrong. But consumer reviews aren’t a bad thing in and of themselves.
And while I’ve never read Hollywood Pies Yelp reviews, I can envision the criticisms.
Hollywood Pie is strictly dine-in or take-out (no direct delivery). And even under those circumstances, they take FOREVER. And while I appreciate hot, fresh, well-made food — 40+ minutes for one pizza gets to be a little onerous.
To make matters worse, the guy who has worked the phones and the register that the last couple of years is a total SLACKER. (And judging by the lengthy production times, he’s not the only one, but I digress…) He seems disinterested, he fumbles with orders and often appears surprised by your presence when you arrive to pick up your order.
After a while, drawbacks like this of got to us, and we scaled back our Hollywood Pie patronage.

Improved Custom Service Brought Us Back Into The Hollywood Pies Fold

But then, after avoiding Hollywood Pies for several months,  we decided to make an order one Friday night. And low-and-behold, a new guy was running the phone. He was bright, cheery, accommodating and quick. When I arrived to pick the order, he was pleasant and cordial and seemed to be able to read my order just based on the look of me. And instead of me having to ask for crushed red pepper and extra cheese, he offered it up front.
A night and day shift in the customer service experience to say the least. And with the new guy on board, we’ve been ordering from Hollywood Pies a whole lot more often.

What Does This Have to Do With Marketing?

Good question! Though, as much as I preach about this subject, it should be obvious. Customer service is the MOST UNSUNG aspect of marketing.
And Hollywood Pies is a PERFECT example. Something as simple as an improvement in the guy taking orders reignited a dormant customer relationship.
Think about it like this for a minute…
Are there businesses that are perhaps technically better at what you do than you are? Not that you don’t provide high quality, expert-level services. But no matter your business, there’s always someone better. That’s just reality.
But just because this other business is “technically” better, doesn’t mean they’re easier to work with or a better fit for potential prospects.
More often than not, customer loyalty is born not out of expertise (which, beyond a certain level is tough to judge and generally quite subjective), but is the result of quality customer service.
In other words, if you’re choosing between two businesses, in which expertise and experience appear roughly equal, you’re likely to choose the more likable business.
And quality customer services goes miles toward establishing and reinforcing likeability. In essence, customer service is your brand and business culture in action. Friendly, reliable, consistent customer service that delivers on promises made directly impacts a prospect’s decision to work with you and a client’s choice to continue working with you.

Returning to the Hollywood Pies Example…

To bring it full circle, my fam and I brought our business back to Hollywood Pies because they SERIOUSLY upgraded their primary customer service agent. In other words, the new guy workin’ the phone + register was a whole lot more attentive, accommodating and friendly than the old guy.
More often than not, it’s as simple as. And similar scenarios can play out in your business, for better or worse, depending on the quality of your customer service.

How Has Customer Service Impacted Your Business?

Has a particular approach either won or lost you prospects or clients? Swing by my Google+ page and share all the dirty deets!