Going the extra mile: Lessons in customer service

I called Towns Shearing (an independent real estate agency in my home town of Launceston) today and was greeted by an extremely professional voice on the phone asking me if I wouldn’t mind holding for just a moment.

Having started on the phones in a real estate agency I understood that she was likely fielding multiple calls and so I replied that I wouldn’t mind holding.

As soon as I was placed on hold I realised that I might do better just to call the agent I was after on his mobile and so I hung up the phone and did that, connecting with him straight away.

Surprisingly though, when I got off the phone to that agent I had a voicemail message from Daisy (the professional voice who had put me on hold only minutes earlier). On finding that I’d hung up, Daisy had called me back (their phone system had showed my number) to offer service.

While I had already had my enquiry dealt with and didn’t need to call Daisy back I was blown away by this extra level of service. How often have you been superbly impressed by a business after being asked to “hold the line”?

Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27, If I Can do it Anyone Can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21. Now Kirsty does lots of fun things which you can read about here. Her favourite current projects are Elephant Property, a boutique property management agency, Baby Teresa, a baby clothing line that donates an outfit to a baby in need for each one they sell andReallySold, which helps real estate agents stop writing boring, uninteresting ads.