Best Customer Story EVER

I've been doing this business for 24 years now, and have my share of stories, but this one is always my favorite to tell.

All customers have a 'hot' button. For most, that means a really great price. For some, its selection and help in finding the right piece for the right spot in a room. And for a very select few, its all about service.

One day I got a call out of the blue from a polite gentleman looking to purchase about thirty of my specialty handmade reproductions. He lived in The Hamptons, on Long Island, about 6 hours from my store by truck. As luck would have it, of the thirty pieces, I happened to have twenty-seven of them in stock. Its about 3 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon.

He says "I would like to buy all you have in stock."

That was a nice order, about $ 42,000.00. He didn't ask for any kind of discount, just said "bring it all up".

I said "Sure, let me call you on Monday to see when I can run my truck up to Long Island, should be in about two to three weeks before we make another run your way."

There was a pause and he said "I'd like everything here at 9 a.m tomorrow morning."

Huh?! It was 3 p.m. on a Saturday, my deliver crew had been out since 7 a.m. and were just coming back in and would be in no mood to strip the store and load a truck to be in The Hamptons in the morning.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I can't ask my crew to do that after they've been working all day. Maybe I can get it to you by the end of next week."

He re-stated his position "I want it here tomorrow. Are you saying there is nothing you can do to get in here, that its physically impossible to do it?"

I stammered out "Well...ah....no, its not physically impossible, but it would be very expensive to have to do this, you won't like the delivery charge I would have to impose on you in order to meet this deadline."

He said calmly "At any time during this conversation, have I questioned the price on anything?"

"No, you haven't" I told him.

"Fine, then have everything here at 9 a.m. and charge what you need for delivery on my Am Ex Card."

"O.K. it will be there." I said and got off the phone.

I start prepping the order. My two delivery guys (college students) came dragging back in the store about 4:45 p.m, looking tired and dirty. They had a hard delivery day and had earned about $ 100 each for their efforts. They look astonished as I'm pulling out and staging all these pieces for the order.

I look at them and say "You guys have a truckload of furniture to deliver into New York and have to be there at 9 a.m. tomorrow." Howls of Protest! One of them said "No way, I quit!".

I smile at them and say "Oh no, you'll do this run, because I'm paying each of you one thousand dollars EACH."

They about fell over. $ 1,000.00 ??? Hell yes, they were in.....amazing how suddenly they looked refreshed and rejuvenated. They worked like crazy, we loaded the truck and were done by 8 p.m., then they went home to catch some shut-eye before leaving out in our Freightliner at 2 a.m. They were not to be late, and to be at the house at 9 a.m. sharp. I charged my customer $ 2,300 for this delivery on his sales ticket. A grand for each of the guys and $300 for truck fuel and tolls, etc.

They got back about 5 p.m. on Sunday night. Exhausted, but thrilled. They said they had never seen a house that large. It wasn't a house but a gated compound complete with its own helicopter and landing pad. All the pieces we took up went in the Guest House, not the Main Mansion.

Monday morning my customer calls back. He was VERY pleased with everything, it all exceeded his expectations except for one table he didn't like. "Please come pick this up tommorrow." he says. "Nine A.M. would be good".

<thunk> "Ahhh....are you sure? That table only costs you $ 1,400, and it would be cheaper to give it to your gardener or someone than for us to come get it."

He calmly says "Duane, didn't we have this conversation before? Don't worry about my money for me, just come get the table and add the pickup fee to my account. Let's not have this conversation about costs again I find it unpleasant. What I want it a high level of service that so far you have been able to provide."

Hey, he's the Boss! I call my guys up and tell them to go get the take, another $ 1,000 for each of them. They do so gladly. And so we did. Of course, my customer could have put the table in the trash and been ahead of the game, but that's not what he wanted.

A True Story.

I have had several more orders from that gentleman over the years. It was always the same, for his New York and Palm Beach properties. Everything had to be delivered the next day no matter what. We always did it, and he never once complained about the delivery charges which were as high as you might imagine they would be.

There's having money, and then there is being so rich that the costs of things really don't matter. He was perhaps my one and only customer over all these years that ever fell into that latter category.