Buying furniture can sometimes feel a lot like buying a used car. Smily sales people walk around the floor offering help and then when asked for a price or delivery costs, they have to ‘ask their manager' or ‘call the owner'.
There's a new furniture store in our area called American Furniture Warehouse. The buzz around its opening was that it boasts the largest furniture store in the country. It's big, I mean REALLY big. The store is organized, the sales staff all wear street clothes, but red tops and black bottoms so they are easily recognizable. And, none of them are paid commission. The feeling is a much more relaxed shopping experience. The furniture is arranged in categories and the lighting is friendly so you can really see the true colors of the fabrics and woods rather than a garish, strange hue cast from industrial retail lights.
We found a couch and when we arranged to have it delivered, we were told we could have it delivered for a flat fee, pick it up ourselves or come by the store and borrow a store-owned truck to pick it up, take it home and return the truck for a $20 fee. It was nice having those choices–but my furniture moving days are over, so we elected to have our couch delivered.
The day before our scheduled delivery, we received a reminder call with a time frame. The morning of the delivery, we received a call to let us know they were 10 minutes out. When the furniture was delivered, the driver asked us three questions:
Was the furniture in good condition?
Was anything in our home damaged?
Were we happy with the way the couch was set up?
And, after the delivery, we received a call asking us if were happy with our American Furniture Warehouse experience?
We were!
It's satisfying to run across companies who continue to make good customer service an integral part of their business culture!
In my Your Practice Mastered coaching program, I teach my clients to Rock Their World, ‘they' being their clients. How you do that is up to you!
Spreading the good customer service, one business at a time.
