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Remarkable is what remarkable does

Nmcover I love remarkable; especially remarkable products.  Take a look at this $100 pop-up book. It's a limited-edition memento that follows a young girl's journey through Neiman Marcus, documenting the retailer's 100-year history.  You can buy one, or watch it come to life, at this link.  However, I'm sorry to say that it will not arrive in time for Valentine's Day.  Next year, right?

Take a good look at some of the pages below.  See the one with the woman popping out of the middle of the book (click to enlarge)?  See that shadow to the left?  It's not real.  It was printed on the page.  What unreasonable nut spent that kind of time, and went through those lengths, for a book that pretty much no one will ever see? A remarkable nut, that's who!   


Nm1_2You see, every remarkable product, remarkable web site, remarkable business, and remarkable service experience is made possible by some remarkable and unreasonable human being.  Someone who is passionate.  Someone whose internal fire burns bright.   We seem to forget that.

I ran into one of those people during a recent service "encounter."  I was experiencing repeated problems with a technical product (technical to me, any way) that I purchased online from a fairly large retailer, and I was about to throw in the towel and write a nasty blog post, when I got a crazy idea: I decided to pick up the phone and call the Director of Online Marketing.  I figured I had absolutely nothing to lose.

Nm3To make a long story very short, not only did this nut take my call, he also left his office, went to the warehouse, physically unpacked, assembled, and verified that the product worked.  He then disassembled it, and repacked and expedited the shipment to me. And get this: he even trusted me to return the defective product without having me go through some frustrating corporate paperwork rigamoro (he was well aware that I was already pretty frustrated).


Nm2 If it wasn't for that one, remarkable human being, everyone involved would have come out on the short end.  He could have easily sent me off to some customer service call center nightmare, and washed his hands of me.  But he chose not to.  He chose to do something unreasonable, by corporate standards. He chose to do the right thing . . . for me . . . for his customer.  Make no mistake: Doing the right thing is always a choice.  By someone.  To do something.  Typically something unreasonable, to brighten up the life of someone else.  Thanks Zisha for brightening up mine.  Corporate America needs more nuts like you.

Posted February 14, 2008
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Comments

Thank you for the kind words, I’m happy that you used “a clear eye” to find me and I’m glad I was able to help while you kept your patience.

Just so it’s clear we have very high standards for customer satisfaction and constantly get positive feedback. I regret that you were one of the few that fell through the cracks (there is always ganna be someone…)

Zisha, Proud to be an American nut!

Posted by: Zisha | February 14, 2008 at 04:28 PM

Possibly one of the problems is the way our means of "communication" has grown - ie, emails, cell phones, blackberries, web sites, etc. Each step takes us further away from our customers and instead of a face-to-face solution, the decision maker gets placed behind a firewall.
Maybe it's me - an old fashioned in-your-face salesman. But the customer provides me my living - whatever help they need, whenever they need it, will always be something I know I should provide.

Posted by: Jeff | February 15, 2008 at 07:35 AM

Zisha is a colleague of mine and while I've never considered characterizing him as a "nut," he is a true mensch and we're lucky to have him with us.
--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

Posted by: Henry Posner | February 15, 2008 at 10:10 AM

The problem is, of course, that Zisha doesn't scale (for a variety of reasons).

Obviously the "standard" support route wasn't working, so even though Zisha is a great guy, B&H has a problem on the line.

Posted by: mike duffy | February 26, 2008 at 09:49 AM

I agree with you Mike that B&H has a problem that needs to be systematically addressed. On the other hand, I do think that Zisha (a.k.a attitude) scales. Call L.L. Bean with a problem, or any Ritz Carlton, and watch what happens.

Problems will always exist. The true measure of customer service is how people deal with "it" when the situation arises.

Posted by: Tom Asacker | February 26, 2008 at 11:17 AM

Fair enough. How about "It's *difficult* to scale Zisha"?

LL Bean customer service succeeds because (a) it's very clear to its agents that it is OK (and necessary) to solve the customer's problem, regardless, and (b) there is a "no retribution" policy that means even when the line screws up in the interest of good service, there's little or no penalty. And (c) there's a mechanism which supports (a) with a minimum of fuss/approval/BS.

Still, you have to hire (and cultivate) lots of Zishas (people constitutionally oriented toward satisfying the customer). Difficult, but not impossible. But most companies (like B&H) don't have the focus.

As you said "the one remarkable human being" ...Are there enough of that kind of person to go around? Can you grow them, or are they a scarce resource?

Posted by: mike duffy | February 26, 2008 at 11:14 PM

It's a good example of how much good will can be built by exceeding a customer's expectations! And, of course, how negative feelings grow from unsatisfactory experiences.

Posted by: g.dionne | February 27, 2008 at 10:14 PM

Everything of value is a scarce resource Mike. That's the entire basis of economics. Now if leaders would only understand that, they'd change the way that they hire, compensate, manage, reward, et al.

Posted by: Tom Asacker | February 29, 2008 at 01:38 PM

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