Archive for Customer Service
What do you want from me, I just work here?
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Was just reading this post by Seth Godin and it reminded me of one of the big attitude problems you often find with businesses in Israel.
And that is that workers tend to treat their job as their job and nothing more. They don’t look to go the extra mile and they for sure are not interested in the “brand” they are working for. Of course their are exceptions to this rule as with every rule, but I the attitude is not just with businesses here in Israel, but with government offices as well.
If the store closes at 6:00pm, the worker has the lights off and is locking the door at 6:00pm. And if someone tries to come in they will here the excuse that the register is shut off. This even happened to me recently with a pharmacy when I needed medicine for my wife who was sick. The guy was sitting there and it would have taken him 2 minutes to get the medicine and take the money, but he refused because he was “closed”.
The problem is that the client is not as important to a worker here in Israel as he is to the boss. The boss/owner will almost always make exceptions ans try to take care of a client. This may be because it is good business practice, but then again it could be because of a Power Trip that comes with being the owner.
I think one of the underlining reasons for this stems from the boss/owner. It is his responsibility to create the culture and atmosphere that will make his workers feel like they are part of something special and that they are all building something together. Now I have not really ever worked for an Israeli boss, but somehow I get the feeling that the way the bosses in Israel treat their workers is similar to the way the workers treat their customers.
Video – Amazon.com buys Zappos for a package worth $850,000,000
Posted by: | CommentsCongrads to everyone at Zappos! This is a smart move by Amazon and a great reward to everyone at Zappos that made the company so great!
Do a little research on the culture at Zappos and the agressive customer service tactics to be the very best and you will fully understand why they were so successful. Great inspiration to every entrepreneur.
Aroma gets it right! Kudos to them for always being customer centric
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I have become a big fan of Aroma ever since moving to Israel. The place is always clean, the food delicious, the portions large and the coffee the best in Israel (My wife can’t get enough of their Ice Coffee).
But what really makes them stick out is there customer service. They always look to do the right thing and even go beyond what they need to in order to make their clients happy. I don’t know if this is the way in all their branches, but it is the way in the Bet Shemesh branch. Yester I was waiting online for my order and I noticed a women next to me who was also waiting. Her two cups of coffee where ready and she was just waiting for her sandwhich. It took about 10 minutes, longer then usual, but when her sandwich came out the guy working behind the bar took the two cups of coffee (as seen in the picture above) and insisted on making her two new fresh cups of coffee.
I was stunned as the women was ready to walk out with her order, was probably happy with her order, did not ask for a new order etc. But that was not it! The guy could have microwaved the coffee to heat it up and being only 10 minutes old could have given it back as good as new, yet he was not satisfied with as good as new, he made sure she got new! And it was not like he had all the time in the world as their were other customers also waiting for their orders. Watching this made me waiting for my order worth it.
This is a prime example of what makes a company successful in Israel. If every business followed the way Aroma treats their customers there would be much more satisfied customers and less unemployment or businesses closing.
Store owners in Israel, please keep enough change in the register!
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This is Store Ownership 101. Always have enough change in the register for your customers. Now I can understand if someone comes to you for change and you don’t want to give it up because you need it for your clients, but there is really no excuse (unless you run out) not to start off your day with enough change in the register. It’s called a float.
Listen to this true story that happened to me today when I was shopping in Bet Shemesh. The first store I went too was to purchase an item for 18 NIS. Since I had just come from the bank I did not have anything smaller then a 200 NIS bill. The cashier told me that she did not have any change. As I was taking out my credit card I was thinking “Lady, I am giving you cash and you are turning it away”. After I gave her my credit card and she rang up my purchase she said to me, and I quote, “In the future please keep in mind that we have a 25 nis minimum to use a credit card”. Enough said.
The next store I went to I made a 39 nis purchase and again handed the 200 nis bill. This time they also asked me if I have something smaller and gave me a grunt when I said I didn’t so they reluctantly gave me change.
Come on people! How about a little customer service? Is it really so hard to make sure each morning you have a few hundred shekel in change? Take care of your customers since it is usually the little things that mean a lot.
Please call me back in 5 minutes with your order, my cell phone is ringing
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Imagine you call up a restaurant and you are in the middle of giving your order and the guy taking your order tells you that you should call back in 5 minutes because his cell phone is ringing. Chutzpa you would say? Unbelievable perhaps? Perhaps, but also 100% True. This happened to a very close friend of mine and he was simply flabbergasted.
So he called back in 5 minutes, but the line was busy. It took him 20 minutes before he got a live person on the phone and by that time they told him it would take an hour and a half to get his order.
Only in Israel my friends, only in Israel.
The Royal Garden Hotel in Eilat ~ Great Customer Service even in the winter
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So I met a good friend of mine in Shul this morning who mas MIA for a couple of days last week. I asked him where he was and he told me he took his family for a couple of days to Eilat for a mini-vacation. I asked him how it was and the main thing he could not stop talking about was the customer service of the hotel he stayed at called the Royal Garden. He said that even though it was winter and the hotel was practically empty that still treated him and his family as if it was peak season. But what he really said that impressed him most and really blew my mind is that one of his daughters lost her glasses at the hotel and they couldn't find them. On the way out of the hotel they told the front desk that if they happen to find them that they should call them. The next day the hotel called them 3 times to tell them that they hadn't yet found them, but ther were still looking for them. The second day they again called them twice to tell them that they have not given up looking for the glasses. On the third day after they left they called to say they finally found them and would be sending them to their home. Unbelievable! This is a story you would hear about some famous company in the USA not an Israeli hotel in Eilat! It would have impressed me if it was the Waldorf Astoria that did this and the client was the President Elect! Truly impressive and a hotel I will definately be staying in next time I'm in Eilat!
Black Pizza, The Opposite of Purple Pizza, always tastes burnt
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Those of you who read my post on Purple Pizza, this post is about the exact opposite. Black Pizza. Black Pizza is when you do absolutely everything you can wrong to disatisfy the customer and cause him not to want to do business with you again since there are other competitors that don't screw up as badly. (Do I sound Bitter?). Truth is the mistakes just made an hour ago are not as bad as I am making them sound, but it will be a while before I purchase from them again. The truth is they only made 3 mistakes.
- I specifically asked for the special spicy sauce that my team likes so much and the specifically didn't send it.
- The bottom of one of our 2 1/2 pies was compltetely burnt to the point that one of my programmers called it Shmura Matzah and asked me to get our money back
- I ordered 2 1/2 pies! They were so cheap that they took the 1/2 pie and put the slices on top of another pie in the same box! I am not kidding. Ok, they did have the sense to put some cheap plastic spread inbetween them, but come on! They knew we were an office since I told them so. Spend the extra 4 NIS for a 3rd box since we did spend 192 NIS with you!
Ok, I'm done venting, but I just wanted to point out how they could have done something special or atleast what was expected. Instead they lost our companies business for who knows how long and they won't even know it (no care if I told them) because I'm not going to tell them because they wouldn't listen to me anyway! Ok, now I'm done venting.
Doesn’t every day feel like this when shopping in Israel?
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It's all in the attitude 
Hyundai gets customer service, very happy with them
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When we bought our H1 it was the first time we not only every owned a Hyundai, but the first time we ever drove one. But we needed a large car for our growing family plus a place for a wheel chair for our special needs son and so we went with the H1. I have been known to be pretty heavy on the breaks with any and every car I have every driven and the H1 was no exception. Therefore, after about 5 weeks of my wife complaining about the awful sound the car made every time you steped on the breaks we finally decided to bring it in to the dealer in Talpiot and get it fixed.
Now I must say that we were not expecting a lot since this was Israel and this was a car dealer that we were not very familiar with, but I mist say we were very impressed. They have a nice lounge that you can sit in with news papers, magazines, free coffee, cookies, candy and water. Plus, because it was Chanukah, they had baskets of donuts ready for our taking. But we had to go into Jerusalem for a meeting and they actually called and paid for a taxi to take us to anywhere in Jerusalem we needed to go! After about 20 minutes since we left they called me on the cell phone to tell me exactly what the problem was and what it would cost and should they proceed. (It was the breaks, the drums, etc..)
They told me it would take another hour to fix and I told them to proceed. When we got back to the dealership they gave us our bill and I was ready to ask for a special Chanukah discount, but they had already beaten me to it! They had taken off 10% from labor and 5% of the cost of parts. They had no problem with me paying with Tashlumim and the whole experience I must say was very pleasant. To top it all of they called us two days later to make sure we were happy with the service and if we had any complaints about the way we were dealt with! This is unheard of in Israel and I must say that all in all I am very impressed with Hyundai. I wonder if other car dealers work the same way. Kudos to them!
Customer Service In Israel… Is there a word in Hebrew for Customer Service?
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The general attitude when going shopping in Israel or with any of the government services is that they are doing you a favor for having you shop by them or to get help from them even though the taxes we pay are one of the highest if not the highest in any "democratic" nation. In our customer service section of this blog we will highlight great customer service stories (they do exist) here in Israel as well as those stories which may make you twinge in horror while nodding your head up and down. Don't worry, for any of the bad stories we won't mention any names. We will also post ideas on how companies/businesses can make their customer service better. We will share motivational stories of customer service around the world to help inspire you. If you want your business in Israel to succeed and if you really want to separate yourselves from your competition, you will make your customers scream out in joy for how well you take care of them. It is one of the real secrets to success in any business.
