Getting discharged from a hospital can be a time-consuming and tedious process. It’s a bit like being on a slow local to Churchgate, which meanders its way through many stations before getting to its final destination, where people disembark. In my effort to speed up the process, I decided to order some medicines from the hospital pharmacy and have them delivered to the room.
Things moved surprisingly fast in other departments and before I knew it we were waiting at the elevator doors with our bags packed, and the medicines had not arrived. The doors opened and a young attendant from the pharmacy met us as we got in. He handed us a medicine packet and the bill for Rs. 5455. I handed over Rs. 6000 in cash and he gave me Rs. 545 which he had in his pocket. All of this happens in less than a minute in the elevator. His ability to anticipate the need to carry exact change and have it ready in his pocket was commendable.
Having been told in many establishments, shops, autos, and taxis that “we don’t have any change” in this case, it was a lovely surprise to get the exact change. To find a young man who not only had the exact change down to a 5-rupee coin but also had kept it ready (anticipating that we would be in a hurry and not want to walk to the pharmacy to get the cashier to return the balance money) made for a moment of true customer delight.
At that moment, I was so grateful, I could have hugged him for helping me save those few precious minutes. The gratitude and appreciation welled up from within possibly because I was so pleasantly surprised that he had made the effort to make our life easier. My genuine thanks to him lit up his face too and, I now have a new friend in the hospital. We greet each other with much happiness, whenever we happen to meet in a corridor.
Another small example of this care for a customer was in the cafe when we ordered two coffees and a tea. The waiter noticed that there were only two of us at the table, so he first checked if we had accidentally ordered one extra cup. I told him another person would be joining us and that the second coffee was for them. He brought two cups for us and said “I will keep the third warm and serve it later when your guest arrives”. This was in contrast to another day and another waiter, who just came and left our order on the table. This attentiveness and ability to anticipate the needs of a customer is what makes magic happen in a service environment. The same cafe, same coffee, same infrastructure, one waiter made our experience wonderful and the other one was just okay. The impact of attention to detail and anticipating customer needs is the magic sauce in service excellence.
Think of a time when you have been truly delighted by a service experience – chances are it will be a small thing like getting exact change or a cup of coffee served just the way you like it. These small gestures are the big ones in customer centricity because they say “I see you, you are special and I will take care of your needs”.
How can you make someone’s day special today? What is that one small but significant thing that you can do, that will light up a smile inside? The best part is that when you deliver a smile, you get one too. It just takes a small change to make a big difference.
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