How our customer service works
Before I tell you how I set up our customer service, and why it may not be the fastest on the market, I would like to tell you a story.
The holiday that showed me what service is, and what really makes the difference
For one of my milestone birthdays my wife wanted to give me a holiday with the family, so we could spend some quiet time with the children. The budget let us choose between a longer stay in a good hotel or a few days in a top one. We chose the top one.
After long deliberation we had narrowed it down to two places: one belonged to a chain, the other was independent. We compared them for whole evenings. Same stars, same price range, similar services and activities, and both with excellent reviews.
In the end we chose the independent one, a little over a hundred rooms, because friends who had already stayed there recommended it. We could not have made a better choice.
From the very first day a lady caught my attention. She was elegant, never showy, and she moved among the guests without asking for attention. I thought she was a guest like us, perhaps a regular who knew everyone.
Then, during lunch, I saw her chatting with some guests, clearing plates from the table and carrying them to the kitchen. In the afternoon I saw her bend down to pick up a tissue from the floor, probably dropped by a child. Nobody was watching her. She simply bent down, as naturally as you would at home.
Then I found out that that was her home. She was the owner.
What she never did
It was a family hotel, and she was happy to talk to the children. Not in that entertainer's voice children see through in three seconds: she spoke to them the way you speak to a person, only smaller. And she was never intrusive with us. Never a word too many, never the feeling that she was doing it because she had to.
In all those days she never once tried to sell us anything. No extra service, no mention of things we could have tried that were not already included in the holiday.
And when it was time to pay, she even activated for us a referral coupon that friends who had stayed there had passed on to us, and that had already expired.
Of that holiday, even though everything was perfect, what stayed with me was her
Her presence made me enjoy the holiday more than the excellent food, the extraordinary location and the almost obsessive care for the children and for the guests in general. Wonderful things, of course. But in a place of that level the food, the location and the services, as Bruno Barbieri teaches us, are the basics, otherwise they don't give you the stars. I would have found them just the same in the other hotel, but it probably would not have stayed in my heart the way this one did.
What really made the difference was the owner, even though I don't even remember her name. And every time someone asks me how the holiday went, I don't talk about the place and how perfect and welcoming it was: I talk about her. Perhaps because I see a lot of myself in her.
I tried to delegate customer service, and I couldn't do it
I'm Luca Radici and I founded Individual Socks because I wanted to give people a refined detail to set themselves apart.
A few years ago I was not happy with the way we handled customer service. So I decided to understand it better and, as I now do with everything, before handing it over to someone else I wanted to take care of it myself, to learn what it really takes and then pass the baton to a colleague. Over time I understood that the service to customers was the single most important thing, and I was never able to let go of it.
I have put my phone number everywhere and I always answer myself. Maybe not always straight away, but I answer.
It is the same thing that happened with the owner of the hotel. She was not always there: there were days when I did not see her at all. And yet we knew she was around, and that changed everything. If something had happened, I knew who to talk to. Not the reception, not a form to fill in, not a freephone number. Her. And I knew that sooner or later I would run into her, and that she would have the time to listen.
The product is the basis, but there is something more
At Individual Socks we use only the finest Italian yarns, our artisans embroider the initials, we pack our socks by hand, we have exclusive packaging and we ship within 24-48 hours (then delivery depends on the courier). But if you want to be considered an excellent product, these things are nothing more than what you must have. That is not what makes you remember a brand, or makes you talk about it with others.
The real difference, the one where I truly want to stand apart from those who turn over ten times what I do, is the service I try to give my customers. It is my presence, and the fact that you can count on me to solve any problem. I know every step of my company: I know where every pair comes from, who embroiders the initials and what may have gone wrong. That is why I am the person who can solve a problem better than anyone else.
And here comes the part that usually does not get written on a page like this. Sometimes I don't manage it straight away. At Christmas the requests all arrive together and I may take a little longer, perhaps even too long. I could put someone in place to answer within three minutes, or an artificial intelligence that replies instantly, but it probably would not be the same. I would rather keep you waiting a little longer and do everything I can to really solve your problem.
My number and my email
My number and my email are everywhere, here too.
- Phone: +39 335 1825309
- Email: luca.radici@individualsocks.com
I am here for whatever you need. If I don't answer straight away I will do it as soon as I can, maybe not immediately, but the one answering you will always be me. I guarantee it.
Thank you again for considering our products.
Luca Radici
Founder of Individual Socks