Monday, March 03, 2008

Customer Service Excellence Barbecue Style

Living in St. Louis for 15 years taught me many lessons about about grilling food, eating barbecued food and purchasing barbecue grills. In fact, in my life I think I've spent thousands of dollars on the purchase of barbecue grills alone. I have bought charbroil grills, small hibachi grills and just about any type of barbecue grill you can imagine. Some of them have been expensive, but most have been pretty cheap.So when I moved to Florida I couldn't really decide what type of grill I would get, so I decided instead of spending a lot of money I would buy an inexpensive grill.

I must've changed burners and assorted parts on those inexpensive grills every year. At one point it seemed as if I was just purchasing a new barbecue grill every year. So two years ago, I decided to stop the madness and spend a lot of money on a Ducane stainless steel barbecue grill. Ducane was formerly owned by a chinese company and was recently bought by Weber the people who make the Weber kettle http://www.weber.com/.

This grill has all the bells and whistles you could want on a grill including a rotisserie, side burner and a number of other features. I was in barbecue heaven! I invited guests over every weekend just so I could show off my new stainless steel masterpiece and watch them chow down on some St. Louis barbecue. Since I live so close to the beach down in South Florida the elements have had an effect on my new grill causing the burners to rust out after only a year.

When I contacted Weber their response was No Problem! And they immediately sent me five new burners, although only one was rusted out, this was in 2006. Well justa few weeks ago, I noticed that the burners on the grill were not working properly again. So I took the grill apart to look at the burners and grill plate. They too had started to rust from the elements, most likely the salt in the air.

I once again contacted Weber and they not only sent me new burners again, they also sent an individual to replace the inside of the grill. For all intensive purposes I now had a brand new grill .I had never quite experienced customer service at this level, from a barbecue company.

So I began to think, there is definitely a lesson in this story that I can share with others and here it is...

If we all reacted as quickly to meet our customers needs as the Weber Grill Company our business would grow overnight by word of mouth alone from satisfied customers just like myself.

So the next time you looking for a barbecue grill think of Weber http://www.weber.com/ a company that truly stands by their product.

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker who works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders “Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building”. For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, Audio Programs and learning programs contact (888) 267-6098 or mailto:Rick@drrickgoodman.com (http://www.drrickgoodman.com/)




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