May 10, 2013
It was getting too late to go home and cook dinner so I called Cousin’s Subs in Glendale, Wisconsin to place an order. I figured we could swing through the drive-thru and pick up our sandwiches on the way home. I was put on hold … forever. I gave up and decided to just head over there to order our subs. There was only one car in the parking lot and no customers waiting when we walked in. I told the clerk that I had been placed on hold and never got through. She apologized and smiled warmly. Then, her two co-workers came over and apologized. They explained that, 20 minutes earlier, it had been insanely busy.The manager stood by while I placed my order. He then rushed over to the food preparation area to begin making the sandwiches before the transaction was even completed. I called to him, “Please make sure the bread is soft. I can’t stand it when it’s dry.”He jogged over, put on his plastic gloves and began pulling loaves of bread out of the bin. Then, he wiggled each one in the air above his head to show me how fresh and soft they were. Soon,I was giggling with delight. In fact, the other employees and customers who had just walked in were laughing, too.We gave him the wiggle approval ratings on each loaf and he made our sandwiches out of the loaves we chose. The sandwiches were done in less than five minutes. When we arrived home, we sat down to dinner. The subs were delicious.I relayed the story to my family and we all agreed … it’s just that easy to build customer loyalty!