At Your Service

I am a big fan of service that goes above and beyond what a customer might expect. A few years ago, on my way to the station, I stopped at a local drive thru to pick up some breakfast. It was 4:15 AM. The voice at the other end of the speaker said politely and clearly, "Good morning and welcome! How may I serve you?" I thought it was a dream. Surely this was not what I was used to, especially at this time of the morning.

When I reached the window, a delightful lady named Ruby introduced herself and in a very mom-like way announced, "We're making some fresh bacon for you, so it will be a second. Now, you said you wanted two sugars?" All the while, she was actually putting the cream and sugar in the cup, stirring, and even pulling back the opening on the lid. (Mind you, this is not exactly Starbucks.)

I couldn't wait to get on the air to share the experience with my listeners and write a letter to the president of the company she worked for.

Every morning thereafter she would have my order waiting. Then one morning, Ruby did something that taught me a lesson I will never forget.

Since we give away so many prizes on the radio, it is not unusual for listeners on the street to stop us and ask for a CD, etc. After handing over my order, Ruby asked, "Sonny, I was wondering whether or not you had tickets for tonight's (San Antonio) Spurs game?"

I thought to myself that if anyone had a right to ask, it was Ruby. I shook my head and replied, "No, Ruby I'm afraid I don't." She then reached into her pocket and said, "Good! Because, I would like you to have mine. You see I was chosen Employee of the Month and given theses tickets. And, since I can't use them, I would like you to have them. After all, you are my best customer.

As you can well imagine, Ruby did not last long in that position. She now has daytime hours as a manager for our local City Public Service. Cream rises.

The opportunity to deliver surprisingly great service is available to all of us, especially in radio. We are in the people business and can learn from other industries how to make a listener for life.

Imagine calling back a listener who checked in on one of your talk shows and asking if they found the producer to be courteous, similar to the calls major car manufacturers make after a client has brought their car in for servicing.

To this day, I make it a point to stop everything when a listener calls asking for the title of a song "that was played sometime last week and has the word love in it." I especially enjoy getting their address, purchasing the song (if we don't have it), and mailing it to them.

Ridiculous? Outrageous? Yes, but that's what "At Your Service" is all about.