The most important step in customer service: Respond!

A friend of mine recounted a story about how he recently got on a coach class plane on Singapore Airlines and suddenly remembered that he forgot his jacket in the airport. He couldn't remember where he could've left it...in the waiting room or at the x-ray machine. He asked the airline attendent serving on his flight if she could somehow locate his jacket in the airport. Almost every hour, she would visit him at his seat and tell him that they're still working on locating his jacket, but no luck yet. After several updates, he was so impressed with her diligence, that he told her it's OK...he was just glad that they tried. Luckily for him, by the time the plane landed, her co-workers at the departure airport had located the jacket for him. Regardless of the outcome, he was thoroughly impressed with their customer service and constant attention to his initial inquiry.

The biggest lesson I've learned here is how simply responding and keeping the customer up-to-date (even if you have no new news) can go a very long way in making someone so happy that they will give you rave reviews for simply taking the initiative to respond to them & keeping them apprised of your progress (even if progress is essentially zero). Wow! I love this story.