»Just imagine what happened to me... «

Does this line sound familiar to you? As soon as someone tells a story about what has recently happened to him in connection with the rendering of services, a lively discussion begins in which each participant shares his own experiences. Mostly it’s the bad, the negative experiences that are talked about – we all know the motto, »bad news is good news.« And usually everyone has plenty of negative examples down pat.

Research shows that positive customer experiences are told only one or two times, negative ones on the other hand eight to twelve times..

In general only special, extraordinary stories have a high entertainment- and information- value for the listeners and bring the storyteller the attention, sympathy and applause of the audience. But the emotional effect of a story with a »happy ending« is completely different from that of a sad story. You can see and feel the narrator's enthusiasm for the great experience. These emotions, positive energy, boldness and hope are transmitted to the listeners, they themselves wishing to experience something similar. Good stories lift people’s spirits and activate positive emotions. For retail and service industry companies, they are the best reference and most inexpensive advertisement there is. We want to contribute something so that more stories about positive customer experiences are told and that positive examples will inspire to reinforce customer-centered retailing.

But when is a positive customer experience worth telling about? What gets customers really enthused? Go ahead and ask people in your environment about nice service stories they’ve experienced. Do the same in your company. Start a meeting, for example, by inviting everyone to share the best experience they’ve had with or as customers.

Here are two stories we were recently told:

The surprising result of a customer complaint

A coaching colleague had bought a pair of higher quality patent leather shoes in a specialty shop in the city of Rosenheim. These shoes quickly became her favorites, worn often but also well cared for. Unfortunately after just one year, the leather showed a noticeable crack. She returned to the shoe store and presented the problem to the sales attendant. However, she did not actually expect that – after a year of wearing – they would do something for her.» I thought that maybe they would give me some free shoe polish as a little consolation,« she said, completely unprepared for what happened next.

The manager of the store apologized for the crack in her shoe and, since it wasn’t reparable, he asked her to select a new pair of shoes from the store’s assortment at his expense. And as if that weren’t enough. When she came back to the cash register with the shoes of her choice, he handed her 10 Euros. She was astonished and asked him why he would give her an additional 10 Euros on top of the shoes. »Because your old new patent leather shoes cost exactly 10 Euros less than your new shoes,« he responded. WOW!!!

A wonderful train conductor of the German Railway

Train missed and of course the fast and comfortable ICE train. Annoying, but nothing she could do about it. To however reach the destination promptly, the narrator of this story decided to take the next available train, a much slower regional train. She sat down in the economy class cabin. The train conductor came, took her ticket, stamped it and walked away. After a short moment he returned and addressed her: »Wouldn’t you prefer to take a seat in the first class compartment of this train? It is much more quiet and comfortable there. I will of course escort you.«

After a short moment of puzzlement, she thought about the offer and then said: »Yes, why not? But please tell me, why do I get this special treatment?« The conductor’s answer was: »You’ve purchased a ticket for an ICE-train. This is more expensive than a ticket for this train. Regrettably I am not allowed to reimburse the difference, so I thought the comfort of the first class cabin would please you and be a little consolation.« Simply wonderful!

And what is the lesson of these stories?

Customer service is personal. Memorable moments happen between people. Whenever customers receive more than they expect then they are enthused and talk positively about a company, a service or another person, even without being asked!

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