My daughter’s birthday is today.  All she wanted was to take a chocolate chip cookie cake to school to celebrate.  We did other stuff too, but the cookie cake was a big deal to her (and her class I imagine.)  Unfortunately with the weekend sleepover with her friends and a superbowl party for our friends the next day, I didn’t get the cookie cake.  No worries, this is an item that all of the stores carry.

I knew I needed to get this early in the day and get it to her school as promised.  But, the first store, that always carries cookie cakes, was out, as was the second.  I began to panic.  Maybe donuts would do?  Un-uh.  I took a shot at the last big chain supermarket in town.  When I got to the bakery department there was someone rearranging items.  I frantically asked if they had cookie cakes left.  He said he did but only one.  He walked me over to the display and indeed it was holding a perfect rectangle cookie cake just the right size.  And right in the middle was a huge Giant’s NFL logo emblazoned on it.

I’m glad the Giants’ won but that’s not what we were celebrating.  No go I said, it’s for my daughter’s 10th birthday and this won’t work.  I thanked him and turned to walk away.  “Just a minute” he said. “I actually think this is a decal not frosting.  What if I was able to remove it and write ‘Happy Birthday’ would that work?”  Other than the NFL logo it would!  He not only removed the decal but did a great job of writing my daughter’s name and Happy Birthday right in the center.

I delivered the cake personally.  My daughter was thrilled and even noticed the border colors were Giant colors and trotted off gleeful to celebrate everyone’s win.  What did it take for that associate to turn a problem into a solution?  How do you think that made me feel about their service?  Tweet me @mohrretail and let me know or post a comment here with your own ‘Giant Service Story.’

Posted in Retail Pulse
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About Michael Patrick

Michael held positions in retail management, merchandising, and human resources before joining MOHR Retail’s predecessor in 1986. In 1990 he purchased the retail division of that firm to form today’s MOHR Retail. Michael holds true to his retail roots by delivering learning that changes behavior—providing both immediate and lasting business impact. In addition to facilitating MOHR Retail training programs, he offers executive-level coaching in one-on-one sessions dealing with critical strategic issues such as succession strategies and executive team development. The author of “The New Negotiation Mindset: Guarantee A Bigger Slice,” Michael is a longstanding member of NRF as well as ISA: The Association of Learning Providers. He has a B.A. from San Diego State University, completed Master’s level work at Arizona State University, and lives with his family in New Jersey.