Last month Riça Night shared an incredible customer experience story with our readers. Click here to read part one of the article. Now Riça details the many things that the company did right. You can pick up some amazing customer experience nuggets in this article.

When I showed up in person at the store, I couldn't stop exclaiming over how wonderfully well they were treating me. When the whole transaction was finally complete, I asked Pete, the manager, if I could have his card so that I could send a letter to Fitness Crossing's (a fictitious name; FC for short) head office praising his handling of this (non) sale. Modestly, he refused to take the credit. Instead, he made an alternative suggestion: "If you really want to send a letter to someone about this, please address it to everyone at the store. We all work as a team here. But honestly, the best thank-you you could give us is a card saying that you're feeling better once you've had the surgery and recovered from it."

Wow, I thought. If I get through all this, I must send them a "Got Well" card! And that's just what I'm planning to do later this month, to mark the one-year anniversary of that amazing customer experience. I plan to tuck a copy of this article inside the envelope. I hope they're as surprised and delighted by that as I was by my dealings with them.

Results: two new enthusiastic "sales associates"
The FC manager and his staff may have been just acting like caring human beings when confronted with a distressed, frightened middle-aged woman who could have been their mom or sister. They almost certainly weren't just thinking about customer retention. But their behaviour toward me reaped them immediate rewards as well as long-term goodies. They've earned my business, and that of anyone else I can persuade to patronize them, for life.

The friend who drove me to pick up the refund was so pleased with what he saw that before we left the store, he bought an exercise mat he'd been wanting. And he vowed that he'd be back the next time he or his partner needed anything fitness-related. He's the president of a local professional association, and like me, he has since used this anecdote in meetings, on-line, and in one-on-one conversations to illustrate how our colleagues can delight their own customers.

I've become a fanatic about praising and referring business to FC. So far I've raved about my experience to more than 1000 people, including the 700-odd members of an on-line discussion group I participate in, everyone who attends my seminars, and anyone who happens to mention fitness equipment in my presence. Once I even told strangers at a bus stop about my experience (I'd overheard them discussing their plans to buy a home gym) and recommended that they go and see Pete (and tell him I sent them). And of course I'm telling 2,000 more people through this newsletter article.

Though I'm feeling "in the pink" again, it may yet be a while before I decide to buy another treadmill. (I've since taken up several kinds of country dancing. The first form of exercise I've ever tried that I actively enjoy.) But if I'm ever again in the market for a device I can use at home, I'll be at FC's door in a heartbeat.

So what did "FC" do right?
Anyone looking to do what FC did, turning the loss of a sale into a virtual guarantee of more sales in the future, would do well to pay attention to what they did to earn my praise and loyalty.

The employee I first spoke to on the phone, "Joe," took direct personal responsibility for presenting my problem to the manager and calling me back. Joe himself couldn't make the decision, but he listened to what I wanted and made sure I felt his sympathy and his willingness to do whatever he could to help. Without making any promises he wasn't authorized to make, he managed to reassure me that an exception could probably be made for me.

The manager, "Pete," didn't hesitate to let the $1,600 flow back out of his coffers, even though by rights he could have pointed to the "No Refunds" statement printed clearly on the invoice and refused to reverse the transaction. Just as in fitness training, he endured some short-term pain but was rewarded with long-term gains.

By making sure that his entire staff knew my story and could help me, Pete made my life even easier. I was already more than pleased to be getting a full refund. Had the transaction merely been not unpleasant, that would have been enough to impress me. But making it actively enjoyable guaranteed that I'd be back-and that I'd send as many friends and colleagues as possible there as well.

Riça Night provides editorial services (specializing in copyediting, proofreading, and indexing) to a wide variety of clients. The list of projects she has helped to improve now tops 500. Riça is also a sought-after seminar instructor and has led professional workshops since 1989. Meticulous, versatile, organized, diplomatic, and thorough, Riça is ready to help you with your project. You can reach Riça by email at edgewords@rogers.com.