Camaraderie with the Customer

                When you go to a business, I would say most of the time someone working there may act buddy buddy with you to get you to buy more stuff. I have seen this more in clothing stores than anywhere else, where they kind of follow you around and may hint at some items. I would also say I have experienced some seamlessly friendly people. I used to travel to Columbus, Ohio for the Arnold Sports Festival. And just down the road was a nice Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo. Whenever we went to Buca’s it wasn’t a popular time so it would just be my family and maybe two others, and the one thing that always sticked with me after going to Buca’s was how nice the manager was, He would come out of the back room and sit and talk with us, constantly making sure we are doing well, and the other families are. That experience of constantly having that positive interaction created a great image of Buca’s in my head. Then eventually I moved to Wisconsin as I prior lived in northwest Ohio, and for a while Appleton had a Buca’s but it was never that same experience as the Buca’s in Columbus, but maybe that’s cause the only times I went were during more popular hours. Sadly now, the Buca’s in Appleton is closed.

                That whole experience is exactly why genuine friendliness or at least appearing to be genuine is so powerful. You can create a type of camaraderie with being friendly with customers even if its just purely on a business level. Those customers may even feel guilty about going to an alternative store just because of that friendliness as they feel they may not get that at a different store. Maybe that’s why Chick-fil-A has people always smiling and say “my pleasure” although, being there at 7 am hungover during a Minnesota trip, it tends to feel more scary and judgmental than friendly and charming.

                   In an article written by Courtney Gupta for Zendesk.com, she talks about how important friendly customer is for customer service. Within the article there is a quote that states “Customers make their purchasing decisions based on how they feel. When they are developing relationships with their service and product supplies, a person who smiles, is inviting, and is easy to talk to ranks high in the preferred qualities that customers list.” I feel like this quote really ties together my points I was trying to make, as it all comes down to the impression you give the customer.

                In another article, this time written by Chomparani Ali for Userlike.com, it aligned very well what makes customer service. She goes from talking about understanding the customer to talking about trustworthiness. Within her “building blocks” as she calls them, it is stated “Going the extra mile for your customer by putting yourself in their shoes shows that you genuinely care, which makes them more likely to be loyal to you.”

                Overall, when it comes to customer service, if done well, it can produce so many positive outcomes, and to get these outcomes sometimes it just comes down to being genuine and friendly.

References:

 Gupta, C., & Enthusiast, C. S. (2022, March 22). The importance of friendly customer service: 6 Tips from Zappos. Zendesk. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.zendesk.com/blog/what-does-friendliness-in-customer-service-mean/#:~:text=Friendly%20customer%20service%20is%20treating,It%20can%20also%20build%20loyalty.

Ali, C. (2020, April 30). The 6 building blocks of a customer-friendly business. Userlike Live Chat. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/customer-friendly

Family style dining: Celebrations: Buca di Beppo Italian restaurant. Buca di Beppo. (2023, February 15). Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.bucadibeppo.com/