Customer Service At It’s Very Best
At the weekend, my other half and I went out for a walk around Middlesbrough. It’s been a while since we had a potter around the town centre and somewhere we very rarely go. Amy told me she could do with picking up a little wool (for some star wars toys shes working on, very excited about this indeed!) Her usual shop is about a 20 minute drive, they are cheap and have a great selection but one issue, the customer service is atrocious. Asking for any help in there is a nightmare and buying tiny things like character eyes and accessories makes you feel like you’re a pain in their arse. So anyway, back to wandering around Middlesbrough, we happen to find this little hidden gem called Wool Kings. We went in and were immediately greeted with a huge hello and a massive grin from the wonderful lady behind the counter, after a little look around the store the lady strikes up a conversation. “Whats you’re name lovely” she asked Amy, she tells her and they get talking about how Aim has a business and she’s started to make toys and “geek” plushies, the lady behind the counter replies with “wow thats brilliant, you go Amy!!! I’m really happy for you!” she then goes on to shout out to the back room of the store “Hey, come meet Amy May! She makes toys don’t you know!” and out comes an lovely old man to compliment this wonderful lady! “Hello Amy May, lovely to meet you! if you need anything just give one of us a shout” anyway after another 10 minutes rustling around the shop we head to the front so Aim can pay for her stuff. The lady then strikes up another conversation about how Amy got started, the lady goes on to tell us that she was taught to knit as a youngster by her grandma, they didn’t have much so her nan pinched a couple of the ladies mum’s hair pins, straightened them out and pulled away some of the “tassles” from the bottom of her mums sofa. Thats how she learned to knit, she went on to explain she had been running her own shop for 25 years and she now owns six stores around the north east. As we left, the lady asked Amy if she could bring her a little something in when she had made her toys, she also said she would spread the word about “Amy May Toys” and she’d be happy to showcase some of the work inside of her store.
We left the store and walked about 10 steps down the street, I turned to Amy and said “is it just me or do you feel super happy after meeting her” Amy replied by saying “yes, shes getting all of my business from now on!” This store is about a half hour drive and a 15 minute walk from our house, it’s not AS cheap as the other place she usually uses and it’s not even nearly as easy to get to, does all of this matter? No way! Amy is happy to pay the extra per roll of wool and is happy to take twice as long to get to this place for one reason, this lady couldn’t do enough to make us feel welcome and give us as much help as she could.
I just wanted to share this story to you all, I’ll be taking some serious inspiration from the wonderful lady. She now has Amy’s custom for the future because of one interaction. She made us smile and laugh, made us feel like number one from the moment we walked through the door. I try my hardest with every customer I have to make an interaction with them on a personal level but it’s insanely difficult via email. I’m now racking my brain trying to think of virtual ways I can pass on this wonderful experience we had with this lady, not only to keep people coming back but to genuinely make someone just smile and think “wow, I’m so happy to give this person my business”
Great experience, will take a lot from it! 
