Customer Service

More often than not, customer service seems to be a lost art. Not so much with the local Mom and Pop type places. They still know what it takes to keep a loyal customer.

Seldom are the days when you can walk in to a store and be greeted by someone who's glad to see you, even if they're only pretending. Savor the flavor when it does.
Not true in all cases but for a vast majority of stores, this is true.

Remember when employees put in the time to get to know the products? I don't think I've ever gone into Wal Mart,  K Mart, Target... etc. and had a "knowledgeable" person help me select the item that's right for me. But, I don't think I've ever expected to either.
Best Buy does well with this. I've heard that Nordstrom is legendary for their customer service but I've not been to one...yet.
One of the things I really dislike in business is the de-valuing of people. Convenience is a poor substitute for customer service.
All to often, I'll go into a place and feel like I am here for THEM!
In my restaurant, I ALWAYS appreciated the fact that my customers could have easily chosen someplace closer and more convenient but here they sit. I was here for them not the other way around.

I just wanted to tell you about my experience with 1 particular company.



A few years ago I wanted to order some guitar stands.
I knew I wasn't wanting to spend a lot so I shopped around ordered from Sweetwater.
I'd never done business with them because I haven't really needed to, but, I have several friend who swear by them so I gave them a try.

Now, I need to tell you what was happening at the time.
Tammy and I owned Rugged Cross BBQ. A little BBQ joint in West Frankfort, IL.
We had cashed in our 401k's to open the restaurant and it wasn't going well. We had been talking about just closing the doors. It was a very difficult time. I had taken a guitar and amp there and would sit and play so I wouldn't go crazy inside that empty dining room.
The day my order was delivered was a really hard day. I'd only had 1 or 2 customers all day and I was very depressed and really taking it personally.
My stands were in boxes which were packed inside a larger box to keep them together.
I unpacked and was walking the bigger box out to the dumpster and I heard something rattle. When I looked inside there was a handful of candy!!

This is gonna sound silly but I was so full of despair at the time and seeing something so simple...so...insignificant as...candy...became overwhelming! I honestly had tears in my eyes.
Someone had done something nice for me! Right when I needed it most!!
The next day a man from Sweetwater called just to make sure everything arrived OK and If I needed anything else just give him a call. I told him about the candy and what it meant to me!
He was probably thinking "Dude!! seriously man-up! it's only candy!!" We had a very nice conversation that really had nothing to do with anything concerning my order and he never tried to sell me anything else.
I felt like he cared about me the "person" not just me the "customer." They valued me and my business.

So fast-forward to last week.
I also do cooking videos on You Tube and would like to record my own music to use for them but I'd found a great source for royalty-free music. My source went away last month so I have no real choice. My mixer broke last year and I'd never gotten a new one.
I ordered an Alesis MultiMix 8 USB mixer. Great price great brand!! However, I got a call the next day from a young man from Sweetwater saying it was back-ordered. I switched and bought the one he suggested. It's a Yamaha MW10c and it was in stock.
It arrived today!!! This is PERFECT!!! Exactly what I needed!!

Oh yea...do you see it?!!

Sweetwater, You're a class act. Thanks!!