Turn a valueless business phrase into an experience that will define your business.

8-21-2016 -- No introduction, no names. When the phone picked up, I started right in.  

"What is this noise?" I yelled over the incessant beeping, holding my phone up to the radio. I don't really know why I did that, since I was using the car's Bluetooth and the sound wasn't actually coming from the radio, but rather from the installed radar detector speaker. At the same time the two blue LEDs took turns lighting up my car's interior. With the factory red dash lighting, it was like getting pulled over, just inside-out. 

I figure my dumb phone holding was either because of the frustration of not knowing what was going on, or the surprise that, at 11:36 p.m. California time on a Thursday, some guy named Brian in Chicago actually answered the phone.

"It's the speed alert," he said, with all the patience I wasn't feeling. "It looks like you may have accidentally set it."

Sure enough, I slowed to under 70 mph and the sound stopped. Yes, I was speeding. A little bit.

"How in the heck did I do that?" I said, now feeling even more out of my depth. It's not fun to have electronics in your car that intimidate you.

"Well, if you're willing to pull over and park somewhere safe, I'd like to stay on the phone with you and get you fully set up and calibrated."

“Right now? I asked,

“Sure, right now,” he answered.

Holy Cow.

Whenever I interview a retailer or vendor for a story, I ask them why customers do business with them. The inevitable answer is some form of "We have great customer service." The term itself is something you hear and see every day, from just about any company that wants your money. Add to this the fact that the selling world has expanded from the old days of neighborhood shopping to worldwide access. Because it's so overused, most customers see “customer service” as useless jargon; a statement that adds no value to the buying experience.

So when this guy is willing to stay on the phone with me, I oblige. For the next half-hour, he walks me through every feature of the system, recommending settings based on where I live and how I drive. It wasn’t just a “turn this on; press that button” conversation. Every step came with an explanation of what the feature controls and why I should set it a certain way. Then he left me with a number to text if I had any further questions.

After this service experience, businesses are going to have to meet a pretty high standard to get my loyalty. 

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