Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header
Share for a Cause









Hot Buttered Customer Service

Written by: Don Doman

Article Overview: If a movie attendant behind the refreshment stand can deliver customer service by simply giving the customer what he asks for, why can't everyone?

Free Download - Five Attributes of Entrepreneurs By Don Doman
Name: Email:

Hot Buttered Customer Service

"Sixteen squirts."

I didn't know what my wife was talking about. I was busy counting out money for my popcorn at the AMC refreshment stand. "He put sixteen squirts of butter in your popcorn," she answered my confused expression.

I looked over as the movie attendant filled my small bag of popcorn with more popcorn and then squirted in more butter. I had asked for "lots of butter." I don't usually get it. This time, I got it.

I received the bag and carried it like a bag of gold dust. It was almost that heavy. The bag was warm and a wonderful smell drifted up to my face.

I entered the darkened theatre and walked down the aisle lifting the bag to my mouth so my tongue could pick up the fluffy popped kernels as I looked for a seat. I felt like an anteater at a buttered ant buffet.

I sat down and began my meal.

Food for the gods. Ambrosia. Richness you can only dream about. Each flavorful handful made its way to my mouth. Ecstasy. It was as if each individual piece had been hand-buttered. Perfection only lasts for so long, however . . . even in a movie theatre. As I got down a few inches, I had to shake off the excess butter. When I reached the half-way point, I had to squeeze out the butter so that I could make it to my lips without dripping all over my shirt. I made it to the three-quarter point and my hot buttered popcorn had turned to fondue. I wanted to continue, but I had to stop. Manfully I thought of drinking it, but reason entered the picture. I put a wad of napkins inside and folded over the top of the bag. I sat it down beside my seat. The buttered popcorn was on my mind for the rest of the movie.

I thought about the popcorn, the young man who applied the rich buttery coating and their relationship to customer service. It's not often we get what we ask for. Our wishes and desires are granted so rarely that we are unprepared for it when we find it. That's why when we receive great customer service - someone actually listening to what we're saying and requesting, and then delivering it - we're completely surprised and gratified.

After the movie I picked up my bag and took it out into the hallway. I opened it up and looked down into the glowing golden soup. The napkins had wicked up some of the liquid. I threw them away. The bottom two inches of the bag, which amazingly enough wasn't leaking, was more butter than popcorn. I reverently folded up the bag and reached down inside the garbage container and placed it on the bottom. I didn't want to spill a drop.

Sometimes customer service means just giving a few more squirts of butter.

Related Articles
  Three Basic Steps to Focus on Customers and Partners
  Tips for Improving Customer Service
  Would you get A Tattoo of the General Motors’ Logo?
  Answering Service Customer Service Agents
  Why customer service is the most important part of any business

Home > Human-Resources > Don Doman > Hot Buttered Customer Service
Article Tags:

About the Author: Don Doman
RSS for Don's articles - Visit Don's website

Don Doman is a published author of self-help books on small business. He and his wife own Ideas and Training, which supplies business training products to organizations around the world. Don and Peg also own and operate PNW Video Productions, which produces video productions for distribution and internet viewing.

Click here to visit Don's website
Dashed Line

More from Don Doman
Job Satisfaction I Cant Quit Im A Star
The King of Queens and a Horrible Business Idea
Uniform Disapproval and Ignoring the Upsale
Oh By The Way FYI and Other Messages of Great Importance
Tailor the Sale


Related Forum Posts
Re: Service Or Product? Re: Service Or Product? - I agree with starting a Service-based Business in the economy. Here is what I think is critical: 1. Researching that your Service business has a market. 2. Marketing the Service with as much leverage as possible. 3. Product-izing the Service (aka Package Expert Knowledge). This will only help elevate you as "the" expert in your niche and make you accessible to people in different price points.
Marketers, Learn What You Can, Cannot Control Online Marketers, Learn What You Can, Cannot Control Online - I am a Customer Service Representative in my company so naturally every once and a while I get angry customers fed up with my companies policies. Oh! I remember one day on my way home from school I was walking by a gas station and there was a man with a huge cardboard sign outside a small car mechanic business telling people not to go there because they are crooks. I am pretty sure they lost tons of business. I know my mama kept away from there after I told her about it. I found it pretty funny. I wonder if the guy got arrested or fined though....
Wearing different hats in Business Wearing different hats in Business - I have a business that produces beautiful custom rugs for home and business environments. Different hats that I'm wearing... Rug Fabrication - 10 [i:21cr28m8](partially outsourced to an outfit here in the US)[/i:21cr28m8] Customer Service / Sales - 8-10 Bookkeeping - 1 Marketing - 6 Website development - 5 [i:21cr28m8](mainly outsourced)[/i:21cr28m8] SEO, SEM - 6-8 Accounting - [i:21cr28m8](outsourced)[/i:21cr28m8]
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Who Said Twitter Doesn't Work...? Who Said Twitter Doesn't Work...? - Last month, the BBC World Service programme, The Strand, featured 21 year-old Icelandic pianist/composer Olafur Arnalds. Arnalds achieved extraordinary success through his internet-led project to compose 7 tunes in 7 days, post them on his website and then post links to it via TWITTER. As a result his website got thousands of visitors eager to listen to his music, catapulting him to fame and bringing his music to the attention of the BBC, who featured an interview with him on the World Service programme, The Strand! So who says Twitter doesn't work? (HINT: It does help if you have something uniquely your own that other people want to get hold of...)


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article


Bottom Footer
Share for a Cause












Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Download a template or see a lawyer?

Too Many Sales Reps Are Wimps

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.