Saying Thank You

Many years ago, I decided that if I wanted the right to complain when I received unacceptable service, I should also be sure to say "Thank You" whenever I received exceptional service. After all, most people only meet expectations. When someone exceeds expectations to a large degree, shouldn't you say something about it?

Last week I found myself caught in the Company's software ordering system. It's a mess of bureaucracy (I can't just order from the vendor and expense it) and poor technical implementation. There's no way to save a partial order and, every time I clicked "submit", I got an error.

My manager didn't know what to do, neither did my teammates, and a request to IT was met with two (two!) suggestions to "try it again". As each attempt took several minutes of manual effort, including logging in to a remote Windows session, I wasn't interested in continuing on this path.

In desperation, I turned to an IT guy I "know" only from reading his posts on some internal mailing lists. He seems smart and well-connected. I sent him a note - did he have any advice for me?

He introduced me to "Alan" in the IT Asset Management group. Alan popped by on IM a minute later, asked me what the problem was, and offered to file the software request himself. Five minutes later, we were finished. The software was ordered. I was happy. The service was unexpected and exceptional.

I thanked Alan at the time. Then I pulled out my company directory, hunted up the managers of both men, and sent a thank you letter up the chain. We do "360 Reviews" at this company. I want their managers to know these two are valuable team members.

As my mother always told me, say "Thank You".

Saying Thank You ( in category Random Thoughts ) - posted at Sun, 14 Oct, 17:59 Pacific | «e»