People Doing Business with Heart
By: Jan Bolick
Don’t You Just Love It? is our feature article about Doing Business with Heart.
Below is a collection of stories about People Doing Business with Heart.
I hope you will read and enjoy them. Add stories of your own. Share them with your co-workers. Invite them to add stories at Don’t You Just Love It?
And I hope you will join me in thanking people around you who do business with heart. Spreading the word and spreading appreciation for doing business with heart. So very important now more than ever. Because the more people do business with heart….the more people will do business with heart. And as more people do business with heart…even more people will do business with heart. Warming hearts everywhere….doing business with heart.
Story #1 – About Frances, shared by Meghan, a very grateful mother
One Sunday afternoon, Meghan’s two year old decided to color one cushion of the new sofa with pink marker; the other with black.
Thank goodness, Meghan had purchased stain resistant treatment with a lifetime guarantee which meant that if “self-cleaning” didn’t work, the company would send out an upholstery cleaner. If that didn’t work, they would replace the sofa for FREE.
Meghan called the toll free number and was told, “The warranty doesn’t cover ink. Only food, beverage, human/pet stains, tears, rips and burns.”
Next Meghan called the store where she had made her purchase. Frances listened patiently as Meghan explained the situation, ending with “we haven’t even finished paying for it!”
“Marker isn’t ink,” Frances said, then hesitated. Maybe she wasn’t sure?
But then, “Don’t worry, Meghan. We will order new covers for your cushions. Your sofa will look as good as new very soon.”
Thank you, Frances for doing business with heart.
Story #2 – about Laurie in Phoenix, AZ
And our last story for today…
Dad realized he had left his hiking boots at The Pointe South Resort in Phoenix, a stop on the way to The Grand Canyon. Based on prior experience, he feared the boots were gone forever.
He called Pointe South and reached Laurie who said, “Mr. Bolick, in room 1216 – yes I have 1pair of hiking boots, 1 pair of dress shoes, 1pair of khakis and 1 very pretty blue checked shirt.”
He couldn’t believe his ears. The list was so long! And – she responded so quickly without even putting him on hold. Dad told her he would pick everything up when he returned to Phoenix for the flight back to North Carolina.
Laurie surprised him again by offering to send the clothes to his next destination. At no charge. True to her promise – Dad had a package waiting for him when he checked in to his hotel the next day.
Laurie did business with heart.
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More stories below.
Meanwhile - if you love doing business with heart, I think you will love hearing about these Heart Cards. Details here.
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Talk about doing business with heart! Take a look at “Art from the Heart”, an art exhibit and auction designed to raise money for The Chapel Hill Museum and Kidzu Childen’s Museum.
But it’s not your normal everyday art auction.
It’s an amazing and unusual collaborative effort by the directors, boards and staff of both museums plus about 80 artists that include: Roy Williams, Sylvia Hatchell, Butch Davis, Dean Smith, Bill Guthredge, Alexander Julian, “Mama Dip”, Chapel Hill Fire Chief Dan Jones and Chapel Hill Police Brian Curran. For many of them it was their first experience with a canvas.
There are some heart warming details in this great article written by Deborah Meyer and published in The Chapel Hill News (January 7, 2009): http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/35195.html.
An important note: The art is on display and bidding is open until noon on February 5. You can view the art in person at The Chapel Hill Museum; and online at http://www.kidzuchildrensmuseum.org and http://www.chapelhillmuseum.org.
A customer drove up to the service window at Sun Trust Bank and wanted to withdraw cash, an amount over the limit allowed at the window. Though the service associate noticed there was a child sleeping in the back seat of the car, she asked the customer to park and come inside to complete the transaction.
As she pulled into a parking space, another service associate went outside and offered to tend to the child while the mom went inside to complete her business.
Glenda wanted the garden tools on display at the Harris Teeter. They could be hers if she just spent $40 per week for 12 weeks. She spent at least that much any way but would just have to pay attention to the timing of her purchases. She was thrilled the day her receipt included a note at the bottom saying she had earned enough credits and went straight to the customer service desk to claim her prize – but they were out.
The manager called a nearby store. They were out too. Another store. Also out. Finally – a store about 30 minutes away still had some left. He asked the store manager to hold a set for Glenda.
Michelle, a clerk who must have overheard the phone calls and conversations, came up and said, “You know what? I have a set in my car that I was going to take to my mother this weekend. Why don’t I give you my set and later this week, I’ll stop by and pick up the set on reserve for you.
Thanks, Michelle, for doing business with heart.
Mr. Rich works at The Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill. He always has a huge smile on his face, greets guests by name and says something to make them laugh or smile.
Tommie called to let me know he had made a mistake when he scheduled our heating and air conditioning maintenance visit.
He said, “You are going to kill me! I am the one who scheduled this and I put it in the computer on the wrong day. I am so sorry! I will get him there whenever you want him there. You name the day. You name the time. I will fix this!”
And he did.
The next time we called for service, he not only got us immediate service, but he also got us a special rate and then called us to be sure we were satisfied.
When the Harris Teeter opened their pharmacy, they promoted it by offering a $10 Harris Teeter gift card for each prescription moved from another pharmacy. I decided to try it out.
In one week, all three of my children had ailments, which required medication. Within two days after each prescription was filled, the pharmacist called to make sure the child was responding to the medication and to see if there were any questions.
Wonderful!
A must read article about doing business with heart. Appeared in Chapel Hill News on December 3, 2008. Title: “Calmly answering the call at UNC.” Author:: Matt Ehlers. Thanks, Matt, for permission to share this link to the article: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/29046.html“. And thank you to Cherritta, Cynthia, Cynthia and Phyllis for doing business with heart!
A story told at a newspaper conference several years ago:
Reggie, the concierge at a Marriott Hotel in Florida personally interacted with all of the major league baseball teams when they stayed at the Marriott during spring training. He knew how important this business was and catered to their every whim. He made sure that Tommy Lasorda had his favorite meal, a cheesburger with fries, waiting in his room every night after a game. This relationship went on for 5 years.
In year 6, the Hilton built a new hotel right next door. They went after the sports league business & got it.
Reggie was devastated but not to be out done. The afternoon of the check-in of baseball teams to the Hilton, Reggie went over to the hotel & he somehow “borrowed” a Hilton uniform. That night when Tommy Lasorda came back from their game, Reggie met him out front of the Hilton in his Hilton uniform.
Tommy Lasorda said, “Reggie, I didn’t know you were working for the Hilton.”
Reggie replied “Oh, I’m not,Mr. Lasorda, but I have been at your service for 5 years & I know this hotel doesn’t know the things that please you as a guest. They don’t know that you like a cheesburger and fries waiting in your room after every game. But when you get upstairs tonight, it will be waiting for you because I placed the order myself just a short while ago.”
The following year the Dodgers and other teams returned to the Marriott.
If you would like to share a story, please follow this link to “Don’t You Love It?”