Esther: Welcome back to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. I'm Esther Steinfeld -

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: - and we are back in segment three, our special features segment, to talk about something we love, something that makes us happy, 'cause it's Valentine's Day, or about to be.

Katie: Yes.

Esther: Customer service. You know customer service is so underappreciated these days, I think. It's so, so rare to have an experience that really wows you or really kinda makes you go, "I'm coming back here because of the customer service."

Katie: Exactly. Yeah.

Esther: So because we're in Dessert Gallery right now and we're -

Katie: Where the customer service is excellent. [Laughter]

Esther: Yeah, so we just spoke to Sara Brooke and somebody who knows about customer loyalty, someone who has rabid, screaming fans coming back -

Katie: Yes.

Esther: - for her wonderful desserts. I think it's totally fitting to talk about some of these ways that you can get people to scream and yell about you, how wonderful you are.

Katie: Absolutely.

Esther: And we're actually here with our Interactive Director, Kelsey Ruger. He is going to share some of his worldly wisdom with us also because he is just -

Katie: He's pretty smart. [Laughter]

Esther: He's smart guy.

Kelsey: Thank you.

Katie: You're welcome.

Kelsey: Well can I say that I actually don't like the term customer service at all.

Katie: Oh.

Kelsey: And the only reason I don't like is because I think people tend to think of it as an after the fact thing. And I really think that a good customer experience starts at the very beginning of the life cycle. So the first time you talk to a customer, whatever they feel then should carry through to whenever they stop being a customer, which hopefully is never, right?

Esther: Right.

Katie: Yes.

Kelsey: So, that's why I like the term customer experience or customer experience lifecycle because I think it forces companies to sort of think of this holistically and not just what happens after - or what happens when there's a problem.

Esther: Not to be so reactive but more proactive.

Kelsey: Exactly, exactly.

Esther: Got it.

Kelsey: So, sort of taking time to explain to everyone in the company how they can actually take care of clients when things aren't going bad.

Katie: Uh huh.

Kelsey: Or take care of clients when things are bad and what things you should really be willing to do as a company to make right on something that's gone wrong.

Esther: That's really great advice.

Katie: So what are some tips that you like to give to help kinda build that positive customer experience, whether it's to your employees or what you would've liked to have given, perhaps with a negative customer experience at another organization?

Kelsey: I think that it always starts with your employees, right? Because your employees really are sort of a reflection of what the company wants to be publicly. So if you don't have a great relationship with employees internally, you're not saying you have to be buddy-buddy, but they have to really understand the mission of the company and the vision of the company and what you want to be to customers so that they know how to be creative when they deliver the service to those customers. So I would thin -

Esther: Can you remember the last time you really had an excellent customer service experience?

Kelsey: I can remember once that with this laptop, I went into the Apple Store because the battery was bulging and so I told the girl at the counter, "Hey, this battery is defective." She took the battery, looked at it, went to the back, gave me a new one. She didn't ask me my name. Didn't ask me to see a receipt. Didn't ask me anything. Now granted, that probably is a policy they have so that they have no liability for bad batteries.

Katie: Okay.

Kelsey: But you know I fully expected to have to prove that I actually was the owner of an Apple laptop -

Esther: Some kinda hassle.

Katie: Right.

Kelsey: But they didn't. Right. Exactly. They didn't do it.

Esther: You just expect a hassle.

Kelsey: Right.

Esther: You know you go into it almost like with your defenses up because you know you're preparing for a fight.

Kelsey: Exactly. So you go in ready to battle and then when you don't battle, you're like, "That was pleasant."

Katie: Hey, yeah.

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: Pleasant surprise.

Kelsey: And it doesn't hurt to have people love your company like love working there because they're gonna wanna go above and beyond to help people that come into the establishment.

Katie: Yeah, 'cause it makes them happy.

Kelsey: Right.

Katie: I mean, like why wouldn't they want you to walk away floating, you know.

Kelsey: When we think about the companies that do this well, I always think that they're really very design-thinking oriented. So they think things through and they don't think about efficiencies up front. They think about efficiencies after they've figured out what it is they wanna build and sell.

Esther: Uh huh.

Kelsey: And so then they build in the efficiencies after the fact.

Esther: Yep.

Katie: Okay. And with us today at the Dessert Gallery we have another distinguished guest and actually a previous Overtime Show guest, so Chris Portillo from Safety Vision, welcome.

Christine: Hi Katie. Nice to be here and good to meet you, finally, Esther.

Esther: Yes. It's good to see you.

Katie: Yes. We're so happy to have you. So tell us about some of your customer service or customer experience experiences. [Laughter]

Christine: I think it's kinda fitting to be sitting in a restaurant because the two experiences that come to mind are both examples of customer love that I've felt at two favorite Mexican restaurants.

Katie: Ah.

Christine: One was in California. My family and I ate there probably on average once a week and the proprietress, the owner, she made her own bleu cheese dressing and her own Italian dressing, which sounds funny in a Mexican restaurant -

Katie: Hey.

Christine: - but they were both delicious and I'd go in and order both. I'd always ask for both on the side and she started actually mixing them and putting them on the salad together and I thought it was just wonderful and to top it off, she named it the Christine Salad and put it on, on her menu.

Esther: Oh!

Katie: Oh!

Christine: And I was probably the only person that ever ordered it but I thought it was really special that she went that extra step for me, just to please me.

Katie: How cool! Exactly.

Christine: And the other Mexican restaurant is right here in Houston. It's our neighborhood restaurant, Romero's Las Brazos in far northwest Houston, in Copperfield, that we also eat there very frequently and have come to know the wait staff so well that my husband jokes he feels like the mayor of Romero's because we walk in -

Katie: Oh!

Christine: - and we're greeted with hugs and arms around the shoulders. We were there last night as a matter of fact and the owner sent me home with a bottle of wine. He'd opened a bottle of wine for me -

Esther: Oh!

Katie: You're kidding?

Christine: - and I had a glass and he said, "Well here, take it home," and my husband I recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary -

Esther: Ah, mazel tov!

Christine: - and of course we had - our daughters threw a party for us at Romero's Los Brazos because it really feels like family.

Katie: Excellent.

Esther: Just shows you the kind of passion people feel about restaurants.

Katie: Yes. Yeah. It's that, that food connection. You know?

Esther: Yep, food, food evokes some serious emotions in people.

Katie: It does.

Christine: Salsa.

Esther: Yeah.

Christine: If the salsa keeps us comin' back.

Katie: Uh huh.

Esther: Or the cupcakes or the -

Christine: But it's the love.

Esther: - or the designer cake.

Katie: [Laughter]

Christine: [Laughter]

Katie: So and I love something that you said that you know your husband feels like the mayor when he walks in.

Christine: Uh huh.

Katie: I mean what a great lesson for everybody, you know, like why not make people feel like prince or a princess or the mayor, you know -

Christine: Special, right.

Katie: - really someone important, no matter how many times they interact with you but if you get the opportunity to have these repeat customers and clients that you know you get to see on a daily basis, or you know, on a semi-regular basis, knowing people's names. You know -

Christine: Uh huh.

Katie: - remembering little things that you've talked about in the past, you know so that you can ask 'em about their spouse or their pets or you know their -

Christine: Right.

Katie: - wind sailing hobby. You know, whatever it is that they do. Like those tiny little things that - I mean you are a fan for life.

Christine: Well it's human connection and I try to bring that into my work. I work in social media for a local company called Safety Vision. I'm having more fun now than ever because I'm building relationships with people. I have a friend in Wisconsin named Brad now and we've become friends -

Katie: Hey, Brad.

Christine: - friends on the -

Esther: Hi Brad.

[Laughter]

Christine: - are you listening, Brad? Um, he's been - we've become friends on the Safety Vision Facebook page. So it's about that friendship and connecting with people on a - people-to-people basis.

Katie: Absolutely.

Esther: Well, thank you so much, Chris, for being here it's been great - and Kelsey. We love you, too.

[Laughter]

Christine: Thank you. And the desserts were great.

Katie: Yes they are.

[Laughter]

Esther: Well I guess that wraps up our show for today. Our Valentine's show.

Katie: It does.

Esther: Hope you're gonna have a great Valentine's Day.

Katie: Yes.

Esther: So connect with us, obviously, on Twitter, twitter.com/overtimeshow, facebook.com/theBusinessMakers and of course our wonderful website theBusinessMakers.com/overtime.

Katie: And for something that you're really, really gonna love, don't forget to visit theBusinessMakers.com/31days -

Esther: Oh yeah.

Katie: - and get your company, get your CEO, get somebody signed up for our Better Business in 31 Days program. You won't regret it.

Esther: Well we'll see you next week. It's been great being with you.

Katie: It has been. Happy Valentine's Day.

Esther: You've been listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. I'm Esther Steinfeld -

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: - and we'll see you next week.