Chilton Table in Spalted Sugarberry by Room & Board

As we continued through Room & Board, I was feeling less and less inclined to spend any money there and was anxious to leave.

But then, towards the back of the store, we found ourselves standing in front of an interesting piece, the Chilton Table in Spalted Sugarberry. My wife and I looked at one another and began to talk about how we both truly admired the table.  We also admitted that neither of us cared all that much for our current dining room table bought less than 3 years ago.

As we stood examining the table and discussing how a table like this would be great to have in our home, an amazing thing happened.  Amazing since I had long since given up hope that anyone would ever greet us much less offer any help.

A smiling Room & Board employee stepped up to a nearby computer terminal to lookup some information. While going about her business, she turned to my wife and I and said, “Isn’t it a beautiful table?”

“It is beautiful,” my wife responded.

“A lot of people are interested in the live edge tables, but they are not for everyone,” replied the employee.

“We like them,” we responded.

“They come in three different woods, Cherry, Walnut and Spalted Sugarberry.  Cherry and walnut have pretty traditional colorations, but the Spalted Sugarberry is quite unique. Do you know about it?” she asked.

“It comes from dead or dying wood that was attacked by fungus. The fungus changes the coloration of the wood.”

“Exactly.  It creates some very interesting and unique tables.”

“Where does the wood come from?” I asked.

“The tables are made in Vermont by a small company named Lyndon.  All their wood is responsibly harvested within wood within 500 miles of their factory.  Some even comes from their own property.”

Seeing our interest, the salesperson continued to explain that the tops are all visible on-line so customers can select the exact top they want. She demonstrated how to view each individual top on the Room & Board website, Chilton Table at Room & Board She asked us what size we might be interested in and the wood we preferred.  She further described the construction to us and the other styles available in the Chilton group.  Finally, she then pointed out the different woods that they had on display in the store and encouraged us to check them out.

We thanked her for help and she thanked us for coming in.  Thinking that my wife and I might buy the table in the future, I asked her for her card. She handed me her card and introduced herself.  “My name is Bambi.  Let me know if I can be of any further help.”

With that Bambi went about her other work.

Teachable Moments

In my earlier post about this experience, If I were to buy furniture today Part 1 , I wrote about the importance of greeting customers and how the behaviors of the employees on duty that day (8/13/16) seemed to run counter to their job description.  I was very disappointed.

Then Bambi entered the picture.  She exhibited many of the behaviors that I would encourage in my employees as a retail manager.  Bambi’s behaviors included but were not limited to:

• Bambi moved with a sense of urgency as she went about her  tasks.
• She smiled when she approached us and seemed sincerely glad to see us.
• Hearing us talking about the table, rather than asking if she could help us, she simply joined our conversation.
• She talked with pride and knowledge about the product.
• She asked us questions to involve us and get more information about us for herself.
• She demonstrated how we could view the products on Room & Boards website.
• Bambi provided great information in response to our questions.
• She informed us of options without overwhelming us and pointed out floor samples that we could investigate.
• She thanked us for coming in.

All in all, Bambi did an excellent job working with us that day.  The only thing I might fault her on was that we had to ask her for her card but that would be a minor quibble.  All in all it was a wonderful experience working with her that day and learning about the Chilton Table.

Most importantly, Bambi did a great job of service recovery for the store.  She was probably not aware of our experience up until then and how displeased we were nonexistent service we had received in a store that we admired.  Bambi more than made up for the poor experience that we had that day and reaffirmed our admiration for the company.  I encourage you to check out the Chilton Tables and Room & Board.

With our faith in the store renewed, my wife and I checked out the floor samples of the table and headed towards the door.  On our way out, we received a hearty “Good bye” from the employees still planted at the door.