In 2016 I decided to compete for a beauty pageant in California thanks to a friend of mine who nominated it me. I have never done one of those before, growing up my mom put me in modeling school which I loved very much. I always liked to be in the runway, learn about fashion, learn how to carry myself in public and learn about business etiquette. Since I enjoyed all of that I took dancing classes and participated in different talent shows and plays. I missed doing all of that, it was my passion growing up. When the opportunity about being in a beauty pageant araised I was thrilled, it was a good new adventure for me. The pageant I was going to compete for was Women of Achievement and I was representing my second home, the state of Virginia. This particular pageant is not all about beauty, is about a venue for single and married women of all ages to attend networking events, an Annual Leadership Luncheon and National Pageant awards.
There were many things to get ready for but the first thing I wanted to have out of the way was the prefect dress. I didn’t know of many places to go to buy a new night gown for the pageant, so the first thing I did was to google for places were I could go to in my town. The first place I went to had very nice dresses. As soon as I walked in I felt like I was in heaven, dresses everywhere. Since I didn’t know where to start I asked one of the ladies that worked there to help me with different type of dresses and she told me to go to the back of the store and find what I was looking for. First at all I didn’t know what size I would wear on a night gown, it would’ve been nice if someone could’ve guided me but that didn’t happen. I was with my brother and my fiancee, I wanted them to help me pick a good dress for me. I picked few dresses hoping I had the right sizes and proceeded to go to the fitting room. Once I had the first dress on I came out of the fitting room and called my fiance and my brother and the lady almost lost her mind because men were not supposed to be that close to the fitting room. I didn’t know the rules and also I didn’t like the way she said it to them. Hey, I didn’t see no signs or anything so how are we supposed to follow the rules? I think she could have used a different tone of voice to convey the message. My fiancee and brother left the store and decided to wait outside. I changed into my outfit and decided to leave. Their customer service to me really sucked.
Next day I decided to go to another boutique, this time I just took my brother. My fiancee didn’t want to go to another bad experience so he decided to stay. I wished he would had gone because this customer service was much better. The owner as well as her employees gave the best customer service anyone could ask for, from there on I became very good friend with her and her employees. I found the dresses I was looking for, I even found accessories as well as shoes. I was very happy with this boutique. Since I became a very good friend with them the owner even asked me to work with them when there was someone who wanted to be off or whenever they needed me as a bridal consultant. It was a great experience, I learned a lot about wedding dresses and pageant dresses. I was also invited to participate in bridal shows and the owner even helped me with some coaching for my pageant.
I would have never imagined that from one bad experience I was going to be taken to an extraordinary experience where I would make friends for life and learn something different from the field that I am in. The following year I participated again at the same pageant and everything I needed for it I bought there. The owner of the boutique gained a customer for life. This is exactly what happens when you give extraordinary customer service.
If you work with the public always give extraordinary costumer service. Remember that you either represent your own company or someone else’s and customers deserve to be treated good. Put yourself in a customers shoes. Would you like to be treated bad, unkindly, without respect? I really don’t think so… When you go somewhere you do not get good costumer service, your client or potential client will go somewhere else and you don’t know what kind of sale or friend for life you are losing. I’m glad I went through that bad experience because thanks to that experience I learned a lesson and I met wonderful people with a wonderful heart. I do not settle for less and you should not either. I always expect the best of the best and you should to.
Here I leave you with few tips about costumer service:
- “Don’t try to tell the customer what he wants. …
- “Assumptions are the termites of relationships.” …
- “Always hear your customers…
- “Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. …
- “Always ask open ended questions.” …
- “Ease your customers‘ pain.”
“I think it’s important to always keep professional and surround yourself with good people, work hard, and be nice to everyone”.
-Caroline Winberg
God Bless,
Janitza
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