Kyle, you’re kind of a tough customer.
My wife, Meaghan, said that to me the other day.
She’s right. So so right. And not really, "kind of".
I’m hard to please when it comes to buying something of significant expense or anything service-related. If I pay someone to do something, I want it done with as much care as I put into things.
While this personal trait can be a struggle to live with since my bar for satisfaction is maybe a tad-bit high, (and okay, maybe even unrealistic), I take an awful lot of pride in it when the table turns and my customers reap the benefits from it.
Creativity means nothing without customer service.
This became part of me when I was nine years old. I helped my mom deliver newspapers on Sundays at 4 a.m. in the pitch dark. Instead of throwing the paper within 50 feet of the door (like they do these days), we brought the paper directly to the door and either put it in the screen storm door or in a mailbox by their door. Some people requested to have it in a certain box or contraption or mail slot, and soon every single house had a certain way of getting their paper. My mom and I took pride in making it a personal customer service, not just finding a newspaper under a pile of snow or under the deck (or wherever fate would take it.)
My mom and I were lucky to get holiday tips every once and awhile because I believe people truly appreciated it.
A few years later, I started working another job at Hy-Vee, a local grocery store. The training was intense and truly revolved around one single thing—customer service. “A Helpful Smile in Every Aisle” is a motto they took seriously. When someone asked where the JELLO was, you led them to the precise isle and shelf. You never pointed or used isle numbers. When dressed in pants and tie in mid-summer heat, you loaded the cars in the drive-up lane with groceries and a friendly smile. If money was ever handed to you as a thank-you, it would be denied, because the level of service was not an add-on, it was a specific level of service in every situation.
Service was meant to be shown in every single way, no matter how minute.
That is now part of who I am. Since I know that this is a fading quality in our business community these days, I am especially grateful to offer it to you.
I am a tough customer. Let this fact assure you of your experience of doing business with me, Franklin Arts.
I'm happy to have others recognize this special quality I hold true to my heart.
