You've been served.

Customer service...the holy grail of successful business.  At least, it is as far as I can tell from every magazine, book, blog and piece of marketing junkmail I receive.  If you want to get more touchy-feely about it, the new lingo is actually "Customer Experience".  Because now it's not enough to get what you came for in a prompt, courteous way...you also have to leave with a smile and a deep feeling of satisfaction.  Every time I read about creating the perfect "Customer Experience" all I can think of is "Printing With A Happy Ending".  Yes, THAT kind of happy ending.  Um, we don't do that here.  That has not prevented some of our customers from asking for that kind of service (no, I am not kidding).

Today I spoke to the co-founder of LexJet...a supplier of papers, inks and equipment for the digital printing industry.  He took 30 minutes out of his day to call me personally in response to a comment I sent through their webform.  The comment I left was something to the effect of, "Holy crap, you guys provide the most amazing customer service and excellent prices I've ever seen!  How do you do it?"

The customer service I am referring to goes like this:
1) We receive random catalog in the mail...but the catalog is incredibly easy to read, the prices are vastly cheaper than what we've been paying, and, when we take a look, the website is SO much better than the one we've been using (HP).

2) We place a small web order.

3) We receive a personal call and email from our new account rep, Jonathan.

4) We receive a hand-signed thank-you letter from the president of the company for our recent order.

5) We receive follow-up calls and emails from our account rep to answer questions, suggest products, and make sure we are happy with our order.

6) We receive a hand-written thank you note from our rep.

7) We can ask our rep literally any question and receive a great answer that shows he actually knows all about the products he sells, and shows that he understands the needs of our company.

So, following my compliment on their webform, the co-founder of the company called me today.  This is not a small company.  This is not some guy with nothing else to do.  This is an example of actual, real life, good customer service.  And he told me how they do it, AND he offered to answer any questions I might have, any time, and he demonstrated a genuine interest in the ongoing growth and success of my company.  So, what is LexJet's secret to out of this world customer service?

They invest in their employees, train them and provide them total access to all levels of the company.  They encourage all staff to be internal entrepreneurs, meaning that they are personally invested in the growth and success of the company.  If they decide they'd like to branch off and start their own, related company instead, LexJet will help them do that, and see them off on very friendly terms.  The company books are totally open, and staff are trained to read balance sheets and profit and loss statements so everyone at every level of the company really understands how the company is doing.  They hire people in groups of five, and encourage those teams to work and grow together.  The list goes on and on...

Notice anything missing??

They don't have a top-down CUSTOMER SERVICE program.  They have happy employees who love their jobs and are totally dedicated to LexJet because they feel a personal connection to the company, and to the bottom line.  Their employees feel empowered to make suggestions and decisions, so they love coming to work.

This conversation made me completely reconsider my approach to growing my own companies.  We want our customers to be ecstatically happy but, just like in life, you have to be happy with yourself before you can give love to someone else!