Key Business Partners, LLC

When talking about customer service, most of the time, there is always room for improvement in one area or another.

I wanted to share with you about two separate incidents I encountered when picking up dinner at my local KFC.

About 6 months ago, I went to go and get some chicken for dinner at a local KFC. When I walked in the first thing that struck me as not being customer friendly was no one greeted me. Most of the time, when you come into a place of business, you are greeted by someone who says, “Hello and Welcome to_____” or “Hi, how may I help you?”

Then, as I went up to the counter to order, noone came to the counter to take my order. There were 2 people bagging items, 2 cooks in the back and 1 person taking orders at the drive through window. Now, I don’t think I am being mean here. I understand that they have other orders however, if just one of them had said to me, “Ma’am I will be right there to take your order”, I would have been okay with that. However, again, noone said anything and I stood there for another couple of minutes waiting for someone to talk to me.

Now, at this point, as a customer I am thinking, “Boy, they must not really want my business at all because noone has acknowledged that I have even entered the building.” Finally, one of the employees came to the counter and started taking my order. The first thing I asked for, a BBQ chicken sandwich, they didn’t have anymore. Bummer. I was planning on getting separate items for my family but it seemed like they didn’t have some of the items. So, I resorted to getting a Family Meal. Then, they told me that they just started making a new patch of fried chicken and I would need to wait 10 minutes until it was done. Now, I didn’t really mind the fact because I thought, well, it will be hot out of the fryer so that is good.

So, I sat at one of the tables to wait for the chicken. However, after 10 minutes, the chicken wasn’t done. At 15 minutes, the chicken wasn’t ready. About 20 minutes past before they started putting my chicken into those famous KFC buckets. After about another couple of minutes I was out the door and headed home to feed the family. But I left the eatery not too happy with the service I received.

Flash forward to about 1 week ago. (Now, this is an important lesson. I hadn’t been back to this particular location in 6 months and my husband really likes KFC however, I didn’t go back until now. The ONLY reason why I did was this particular day, I just didn’t have the time to travel any further. )

Now, as I pull up to the KFC, I thought to myself, “Just remember how it was last time and if they don’t have the chicken that you want or if you have to wait, just go somewhere else.”

So, I step into the building, and I hear, “Hi there miss, welcome to KFC” Well, that was a nice change. This gentleman stood then asked me if he could take my order. Well, this time, I knew I was going to get a family meal but was deciding on which number of pieces I wanted the 8 or 10 piece. Anyway, I replied back, “I am just deciding on what I would like to order.” He answers back with sly look on his face, “I bet I know what you are going to order.” Now, I thought this was very nice and lighthearted so I played along, and I said, “Oh, really? Ok, please do tell me what I am going to order” (in a curious voice). He says, “I think you are going to order….ummm….CHICKEN!” Haha, yes, I know that joke is on me. But you know what…it was cute and I enjoyed the playfulness.

So then I ordered my family take home meal with 2 sides. And as I waiting for the meal to be put into the bags, his manager came up to the counter. So I took the opportunity to tell him that the gentlemen who waited on me was very funny and exhibited wonderful customer service. The manager chimed in, “Oh, this guy, he is not as funny as I am”. And then he noticed that the biscuits were in a bag in front of him and added, “would you like some honey, honey…for your biscuits?” I replied, “Very cute but no thank you, I have my honey at home.”

I have to say, I will be back to that KFC because of that experience I had there this last time. And I have told this story to several people I know AND I am posting it to my blog. It just goes to show you what great customer service can do for your business.

It doesn’t mean that you have to be playful in order to improve your customer service however, it is smart to look at what you can do to better the relationship with your clients.

Here are a few key points I got from this experience about customer service:

• Be sure to acknowledge your customers when they communicate with you or standing in front of you
• If you can’t help your customer with what they would like, it is smart to offer something else or refer them to someone else
• When a customer has to wait for you, it deters from the importance of your service because it seems as if you don’t care about them