1 year ago today, my wife and I brought the newest member of our family out of  an orphanage in a beautiful little town called Kaluga, in the outskirts of Moscow, Russia.   One of the most spiritually moving experiences in both of our lives.  No doubt, a special day in our families lives as well.  We celebrated today with a stop at our local Dunkin Donuts in the morning, and then off to our local Jewelers to pick up my wife’s wedding ring.  I had dropped the ring off earlier in the week to have it cleaned and buffed out.  9 years earlier, my wife and I sat in the same Jewelers to pick out wedding bans with the owner of the Jewelery Store.  He was a wonderful man along with being very professional.  Besides providing us with a beautiful set of wedding bans, he extended every courtesy one could imagine.  From showing us on a map where some of the best restaurants in town where located, to calling our caterer for precise wedding arraignments.  Far beyond what we expected.  A true joy.  Needless to say, 8 years ago we would have highly recommended this Jeweler to everyone.  Unfortunately, over the past 8 years, things began to change for us when we would periodically stop in for either a chain replacement or new watch battery.  We noticed the customer service wasn’t anywhere near as good as what it was the evening we purchased our wedding bans.  Small things such as not having our jewelery ready on dates when it was supposed to be along with the occasional billing inconsistencies, but the worst had to have been thinking that the counter lady’s tried to make you feel like it was a privilege to get service from them.  These unfortunate situations happened over the course of 8 years.  None the less, I decided to take my wife’s ring there for repairs.  Prior to arriving in the store this morning, my wife even joked about what kind of experience we may run into this time.

We walked into our local Jewelers carrying our new beautiful daughter.  We where greeted with a very kind “Good Morning” from an elderly woman who was grinning from ear to ear.  As we presented her with our invoice for my wife’s ring, she bathed us in warmth and kindness.  She was so kind to our daughter that my wife and I smirked with sarcasm at one another.  After retrieving my wife’s ring from the back room, we both stated that we don’t believe her ring ever looked as good.  This woman’s reply, “We try to do everything we can to keep our customers happy.”  Once again, my wife and I shot looks at each other as if to say, “This must be a set up.  Someone must have heard us complaining prior to us walking into the Jewelers.”  As we paid the woman for the service we thanked her sincerely and gathered our daughter to walk to our car.  Just then, the kind woman behind the counter gestured to wait one second while she went into the back room.  She came back a minute later with a cuddly packaged toy barking dog.  She unboxed the small doll and began to allow it to roll around on the floor barking.  Well our daughters eyes lit up.  We all began to laugh with such joy.  No one harder then our 2 year old daughter.  As tears welled up in this woman’s eyes at the joy she had brought our daughter, my wife motioned to me to listen to the background music being played throughout that jewelers.  My wife and I stared at each other we both realized that our wedding song was playing.  Surely, this was a joke that only the almighty could play.  As we gathered our daughter with her new toy dog, we leaned her in to kiss the kind woman who had literally made our day.  We then turned around and walked out the door, but not before saying we will be back soon.   Her reply was, “We will be looking forward to seeing you and your daughter again.”  As my family and I walked to our car we didn’t say much, but when we finally began to drive away, we both agreed that was going to be our Jeweler from now on.  Even after having a few questionable experiences, the impact that this kind woman had on my family today will never be forgotten.  Not just customers for life, but we will be sharing our story with everyone.

Any good business owner needs to be able to find ways that can take their customer service to another level.  Whether its an employee who helps with the customers garbage or if its a kind letter.  Sometimes, mistakes happen.  That doesn’t always mean a lost customer.  Try to find ways, or operating procedures, that can help fix strained customer / company relationships.  A properly written letter from the owner expressing a shortcoming as a mistake and ensuring that it wont happen again can mean a whole lot.  To take your company to another level, find ways to separate yourself from your competition with excellent customer service.

Think like the kind old lady who worked at my local Jewelers.

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