The way it should be done.

Two years ago, I bought a Vodafone 3G card so I could connect my laptop to the Internet. Right from the beginning, it never worked properly. I returned to the store where I bought it several times but they did not know enough to fix the problem. The technicians they contacted at Vodafone were not much help either. Eventually, we cobbled together a solution that allowed me to get the card to work but I have had some frustrating experiences during the past two years because it failed. About six weeks ago, it died completely.

For a while I was paralysed into inaction. I did not want to waste my time going back to the vendor because they had not been very successful in the past. I knew Vodafone has a store on Queen Street in Auckland but I was apprehensive about taking such a technical problem into a retail environment. But something had to be done so one day, when I had a meeting in town, I took a deep breath and walked in to the Queen Street store.

As luck would have it, store manager Kieran McCaw was putting stock away on a shelf as I walked in. I asked him if he was free and then explained my problem. He nodded knowingly and invited me to sit down with him in a quiet booth where he asked more questions and inspected my card. He showed me how one end the card was clogged and told me that was because I had carried it in my bag without putting it into its protective plastic case. I said it was unfortunate no one had ever explained to me how to look after the card. He agreed and told me it would cost $400 for a new card.

Since I had not had such a good run with Vodafone, I said if I had to buy a new card I would try Telecom. “I’ll tell you what I will do,” Kieran replied. “If you promise to look after this card I will give you a new one.” I asked if that would fix all the problems I had had with the card. He said he thought so but he would look into while I went to my meeting if I left my laptop with him. He promised it would be ready in an hour.

When I returned I expected to find he had been distracted by other customers but to my delight Kieran told me the new card had been installed and everything was working fine. He started my laptop to prove it and then made sure I knew how to operate all the features of the card. During the demonstration, he discovered that I no longer use a Palm Pilot because I had had trouble with that too. He then showed me the new organisers that were available and explained what they could do for me. He said he would email me some prices based on my monthly plan.

I left the store a happy man. Half an hour later, I had a call from Kieran saying that he had looked at my monthly plan and that I could double the megabytes I could download by switching to a plan that was only $10 a month more. I said that sounded good and he said he would organise it for me.

So, what made this a superb customer experience?

1. On both occasions I walked into the shop, Kieran was available. I did not have to wait to be served.
2. He was interested in my problem and created an environment where we could focus on it undisturbed.
3. He took the time to ask questions, examine the equipment and listen to my answers.
4. Kieran knew enough about the products he was selling to identify the cause of the problem, recommend a solution and implement his recommendation.
5. All of this was done quickly.
6. Kieran went the extra mile and, intent on having my business long-term, offered me a ‘free’ replacement card.
7. Not wanting to waste my time, he suggested fixing the problem while I went off and did something else.
8. Kieran did what he said he would do and my laptop was ready to go when he said it would be.
9. He was thorough. He took the time to go through the operation of the card with me to make sure there were no further problems and that I understood how to use it.
10. He told me about other products and services Vodafone had that I could use.
11. He gave me his business card before I left the store.
12. Kieran followed up by telephoning me with information about a more expensive, but better value, monthly plan and with the prices for a range of new devices.
13. He closed the sale and signed me up to the new plan.

All in all, it was a classic win-win. I got my problem solved, Vodafone made a further sale and, most importantly, they not only retained a customer, they turned me into a raving fan.

And it was not that hard to do, was it?

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