customer service

Yes, We Are a Faith-Based Company – But Not How You Think

Posted on November 9, 2018October 27, 2018 by CourageInStone

FAITH-BASED
[feyth-beyst]
adjective
1. affiliated with, supported by, or based on a religion or religious group:
faith-based charities.

(Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2014.)

Contemporary definitions for faith-based

adjective
pertaining to a connection with a religion, faith, or belief system

Examples
Faith-based books are selling well.

Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2014 Dictionary.com, LLC

Recently we received an email from a customer that started out “I assume you are a faith-based company…” She went on to explain that she was looking for a particular word on a stone that she thought we carried since we appeared to trend towards Christian items. I don’t know why, but I was taken aback by this assumption. We do sell a large amount of ‘faith-based’ items, particularly Christian scripture, and we have a large Christian bookstore and church clientele. But rather than pinpoint our business to one belief system, I’ve tended towards trying to carry items with a positive message, those items that have an uplifting spirit to them and overall comforting energy. At the same time, this is a retail business, so we have to sell what sells – in other words, as we’ve honed our craft, we just happened to have found our niche within the Christian community.

Does it matter whether we actually define ourselves as faith-based – as described in the definition above? I don’t think so. I think what matters is that we are a company that believes in integrity, honesty and hard work, a company that sells great items for reasonable prices and a company that you feel comfortable giving your hard earned money. Oh, and I think it matters that we have a sense of humor.

If pressed to answer that customer about whether we are faith-based, here is what I would say. Yes, we are a company based in faith. We have faith that our manufacturers will continuing turning out quality products for reasonable prices. We have faith that our employees care about their job and will work hard to ensure great service. We have faith that our delivery handlers at UPS, FedEx, the US Postal Service and DHL will treat our packages kindly and will make sure our products get to the right people in the right amount of time. We have faith that our landlord will continue maintaining our warehouse space so that we have a safe and efficient space to work in. We have faith in our customers, that they will continue to want to buy our items and trust us enough to send us orders. And most importantly, we have faith that we will be able to keep our sense of humor and good spirits through it all.

~ Brenda

And Now Introducing…

Posted on January 16, 2015 by CourageInStone

Back in October, I wrote a post describing how a ‘Behind the Scenes’ day came to be. You can read it here. My talented photographer friend from Three Continents Photography came out to the warehouse and captured a ‘day in the life’ of CourageInStone.com. I have to admit, it was kinda weird. When you’re having your photo taken of your everyday actions, it’s terribly difficult to remember to act naturally. But, all the dusting and cleaning and primping paid off and I think she created a perfect photo story of what life is like here at our offices. Hopefully you’ll enjoy ‘meeting’ us and getting to know us a little bit better.

I will start by showing off a series of my favorites from the day. These photos I think capture the essence of our business, personalities and philosophy.

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 014 — Come on in!

This is me, Brenda, looking through the glass window from my office into the front office. Suzi works at her desk in the background.

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 024 — A broader view of the pass through window in my office. Just to the right of me are several framed newspaper articles from 2002 and 2004 when the business was just getting going. I like that they remind me of how far we’ve come. You can also see a few clues that my son spends time in the office with me!

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 065 — So lucky to work with these ladies everyday. We laugh. A lot.

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 051 — An integral part of the business. Both the truck and the dogs. Suzi’s Baxter is on the edge of the dock; my dog Louie is a cautious distance back.

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 041 — Beth is in charge of packing and shipping.

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 039 — Bins, bins, bins. We ship thousands of packages via the United States Postal Service.

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 003 — It took years to tweak a perfect packing station and this is the result. It’s roomy, efficient and custom built by my helpful hubby.

Courage in Stone - A Day in the Life of 006 — I don’t get to do it much anymore, but I really enjoy pulling and packing the orders. There is a huge sense of satisfaction in seeing the order on paper, neatly packaging the items and sending them on their way. I know how much I enjoy getting packages delivered to me, so I like to think of how our customers will be excited when they see our package show up.

Courage in Stone A Day in the Life of 107(1) — Our entire staff. Some are squirmier than others.

Obviously, packing is a huge piece of our business. Like the packing station, it took years of trial and error to fine tune our shipping methods. Finding the right packaging materials and most efficient manner of shipping sounds easy, but it’s an oddly tedious undertaking. Customers order all kinds of different combinations of items. And the difference of a few ounces in weight or a day or two quicker in time in transit can mean a huge difference in shipping costs. So over the years we’ve gotten pretty darn good at using each shipping method to our advantage. So, while our shipping ‘department’ is only one person, it’s a very, very important and detailed part of the company. Here’s Beth in action!

One of the super fun parts of the job is bringing in or designing new merchandise. It’s a tricky thing, though. Even after years and years of practice, sometimes we just don’t get it right. But, when we do, it’s super satisfying and exciting. Once we decide on a new product, photos need to be taken and merchandising begins. We have to think of descriptions, take measurements, and list them on 5 different websites. It’s a process, for sure. Here is Suzi and I working on a new project – these are our new Ceramic Stone Necklaces, which are only found in our Etsy shop.

And what office is complete without a canine staff? Surely we have the cutest and cuddliest 4-legged workers in all the east?! Baxter is the worlds friendliest cockapoo and most definitely the favorite of the delivery folks. He takes his job as dock door greeter very, very seriously. Louie, on the other hand, is a mutt who is slightly suspicious of those loud trucks…but he serves as a great guard dog! Of course, he can always be convinced to relax with a cookie or two. The delivery people take great pride in winning him over!

So, the next time you order, I hope it helps that we’ve ‘introduced’ ourselves. Are we and this place what you imagined?

~Brenda, Suzi, Beth, Louie and Baxter

“It’s okay to go now.”

Posted on October 31, 2014October 29, 2014 by CourageInStone

The Universe can be a funny thing sometimes. Things happen that hit you with a jolt you just never saw coming. This story is about marble stones but maybe just a bit more…

You may recall a while back Brenda shared the story of the marble energy stones and why we were discontinuing them in her post called It’s hard to say goodbye. We had been selling out of them pretty steadily but still had three words left: Love, Kindness, and Teamwork. We were mystified that Love and Kindness had not sold out earlier, as they tend to be among our most popular words and we knew a corporation or school would scoop up those Teamwork any day.

We have found that sometimes our stones or tokens just need a little extra energy to make things happen. It is a weird phenomenon around here but if some items haven’t sold in a long time and we talk about them or move the items around in the warehouse, they start to sell in the next few days. Keeping this in mind, last week I moved the marble stone storage bins around, gave them a few extra pats and said “Alright guys, it’s okay for you to go now.”

This phrasing “It’s okay to go now” has really powerful meaning to me. Nine years ago, I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer and near the end of her battle, hospice care was called in. The hospice workers were like angels who knew exactly what my mother needed, but also what myself and my brothers needed in that terrible time. In Mom’s last few days, one of the hospice nurses advised me to tell my mom it was “okay to go now” so she could be at peace and not worry about us kids. It was absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done, but also one of the most freeing for both her and me.

So you see when I told the marble stones it was “okay to go now” I truly meant that it was their time to go out into the world and touch someone’s life, if even for a moment.

The next day we received an online order for 200 each of the Love and Kindness marble stones. I did a quick count and called the customer to let her know that we only had 175 left of those two words and she was happy to take them all and substitute glass stones to make up the difference. I finished the phone call and whooped with joy that we had sold out of two more marble words and were down to just one.

About 15 minutes later it dawned on me that I had given the marble stones my special little speech the previous day. Isn’t it amazing that someone out there heard me? Brenda asked if the customer had said what they planned to use the stones for. Suddenly, the hair on my arms stood on end as I remembered the customer saying “We are a hospice care center and plan to give these out at our upcoming event to remember all our patients who have passed in the last year.”

Oh my Universe, I hear you loud and clear.

Now, about that Teamwork…

~Suzi

Behind the Scenes of Behind the Scenes Day

Posted on October 28, 2014 by CourageInStone

One of our great challenges around here is connecting with our customers on a personal level. Although we sell very personal things, our business format is very impersonal. A few clicks and keystrokes and a package shows up at your door, right?! Bam! Sometimes I wonder if customers think there are just a large bunch of robots sitting in a warehouse somewhere…pulling merchandise and somehow magically transporting it your front door. Well, check that. I don’t wonder…I know. When we get email messages that say things like “please place behind screen on side door” or when someone places an order at 10PM and wants it in hand by noon the next day we are often left shaking our heads thinking “um, you do realize that’s physically impossible, right?!”

To be clear, there’s a lot of this we love. We want our customers to be able to push a few buttons and have what they need delivered to their front door with very little effort. We want them to say “Wow, that was easy! Let’s do that again!” But sometimes it’s also fun to reveal ‘The (wo)Man Behind the Curtain.’ After all, we don’t have anything to hide…we’re quite proud of our little world over here.

I am lucky to have a lot of talented friends that I consult with on random things that make my business better. One of these friends is a phenomenal photographer (take a peek at her website www.ThreeContinentsPhotography.com, you won’t be disappointed.) We were chatting one day and came up with the idea that a ‘A Day in the Life’ photo shoot would be fun…a way for our customers to get a glimpse behind the scenes, see us in action, and get to know us a little better. We discussed what things would be good to shoot, then set a date. Exciting!

Oh, wait a minute. Someone’s gonna take pictures of us! At work! In the warehouse, that looks like a warehouse! Gah!

Luckily we scheduled the shoot a few weeks out, which gave us time to scrub down the warehouse, dust off our desks, and discuss our outfits. One thing I did forget to do was get my dog Louie groomed. But he’s so dang cute, you’ll forgive me I’m sure.

But as I was cleaning and straightening and preparing, I had some concerns. How much do I really want folks to see? I occasionally bring my toddler son to the office with me. Do I want customers to see his toys mingled with our stones? Do I want people to see his toilet paper roll artwork – albeit the most adorable toilet paper roll artwork ever – on my desk? And what about the fact that we are only three people? In the world of companies like Amazon, maybe bigger is better and we’ll lose respect because of our size. And then, what about having my photo published for all the world to see? Am I who people think I am? Do I have a face that makes you like me, my company, my products? Do I look honest and funny and happy?

But then I realized, all these concerns **were** the point. The point to having a ‘Behind the Scenes’ photo shoot is to divulge ourselves. Our customers share their private, personal, painful, sad, happy stories with us all. the. time. It is without a doubt a huge privilege to be a part of these strangers lives. So, it’s about time we share our ‘stuff’, too. And so we’ll start with our faces, desks, dogs and maybe a few glimpses of some brightly colored toys.

The full series will be coming soon. In the meantime, the above is a sneak peek at my non-groomed dog named Louie. He’s a mutt my husband and I found at our local SPCA. He is named after a now closed restaurant that my husband and I used to enjoy in Healdsburg, CA called Felix and Louie’s. He and my son are best buds. (Side note, we someday hope to have a dog (or cat) named Felix in our life, too.)

~Brenda

Yes, We Are a Faith-Based Company – But Not How You Think

Posted on September 15, 2014 by CourageInStone

FAITH-BASED
[feyth-beyst]
adjective
1. affiliated with, supported by, or based on a religion or religious group:
faith-based charities.

(Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2014.)

Contemporary definitions for faith-based

adjective
pertaining to a connection with a religion, faith, or belief system

Examples
Faith-based books are selling well.

Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2014 Dictionary.com, LLC

~ Brenda

Definitions

Posted on April 11, 2011 by CourageInStone

in·spire

in·spired, in·spir·ing, in·spires

1. To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.

2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion.

3. To stimulate to action; motivate.

4. To affect or touch.

5. To draw forth; elicit or arouse.

6. To be the cause or source of; bring about.

I love this word…Inspire. While it has many meanings, it is most certainly a verb, a call to action. Whether you are inspired or you are inspiring someone else, the very sense of the word invokes emotion.

When I take orders here at CourageInStone.com, I often hear why people are inspired to buy our products. We happily cover major events such as weddings, funerals, and birthdays. However, sometimes we get “just because” purchases. A teacher buys her students tokens to build confidence for a big test. A grandson wants to have a coin engraved with his grandmother’s favorite bible verse. A mother needs a “God Bless America” token to send in her son’s Army duffel bag. These are the moments when what they are buying and why they are buying it come together to inspire me, and move me to tears (when I get off the phone, of course!) These moments leave me grateful to have been a tiny part of their plan.

Inspiration can come from so many directions, sometimes I don’t even see it coming…

~Suzi

Um, that’s Dudette to you…

Posted on April 8, 2011April 8, 2011 by CourageInStone

“Dude, did you ship yet?” came the email today.

We get lots of emails, all day long. Some kind, some nasty, some informational. It’s not often we get emails that begin with ‘Dude’. In fact, I’m not sure it’s ever happened.

It made me laugh. Out loud.

We are an office of women. And we are fairly girly girls. We wear scarves, occasionally cry, get our feelings hurt by ‘mean’ customers and drink tea. We unanimously adore pedicures, talk about the best place to get our hair cut and colored and have long, involved conversations about giving birth (one of us became a new aunt yesterday!)

No one has ever mistaken any of us for a ‘dude’. (Funnier, however, then being referred to as ‘Dear Sir’.) ‘Dude’ conjures up thoughts of Hawaii, surfing and pot. None of which I’ve ever experienced. I swear.

I love my job. Not sure I love being referred to as ‘dude’, though. And yes, kind sir, your package shipped last week.

The wacky ‘wonderful’ world of Customer Service

Posted on October 19, 2010 by CourageInStone

When I took the reins of customer service here at CourageInStone.com I knew I would be dealing with all kinds of people and personalities. I am by nature a people person, and some would say a people pleaser. Okay, I just want everyone to be happy all the time, is that so wrong? But lately I have gotten some emails that have just baffled me.

Here is a quick sample to whet your appetite:

Customer email (sent on 7/18): ~~ I would like to order the pewter hearts. A bag of 100. Would like to have them by Thursday 7/22/10.

That’s it people, no “Here is my phone number and please call me, so I can give you my name, address and credit card information” no “I’ll put the order in online and please confirm these can be delivered by my need by date”. What am I psychic??? (See previous post about us looking for a full-time psychic to help with customers such as these!)

Here are a couple more slightly lost souls:

Customer #1: ~~I want to place an order but can’t find ‘go to check out.’ Do you deliver to the UK?

Customer #2: ~~ I would like to place a small order of 6 word stones to determine if I want to order in bulk. I do not see where I can order on-line. Am I missing something? HELP!

Their only error was that they didn’t scroll down far enough on the page to see the order grid. I could tell you what I think customer #2 could be missing but you would think I am being mean, and that is not what this blog is intended for. If you are the author of one of these messages, please be assured that I have answered your query with great intentions and only want to help you place your order. But every now and then when they all pile up in my inbox I have to wonder out loud…what is going on with people? Trust me, I know that I ask crazy questions on a daily basis. The difference is I try to ask them in my own head and never let them escape my lips if they sound too crazy!

We also seem to attract people who would like things basically for free. Sometimes they come right out and say it:

~~ I am hosting a Holiday Open House party at my store this November, and would love to have some items from you as door prizes for my customers. This is a great way to show my customers I appreciate them, and for you to show you appreciate my store. 🙂 Please let me know if you are able to send some product for the event.

Most times they are slightly (and I use this word loosely) more subtle:

~~Hey! Just got one of your tokens, would you give me free shipping if I buy a second? Thanks!

~~I was just wondering if it’s possible to get special pricing for this item. I plan on giving them as “Thank You” favors at my grandmother’s 85^th birthday party next January and I would need about 25 tokens.

~~ Hello: I really hope that I am not insulting you. Please don’t take it that way. I would really like to have one of your pennies. But the most that I can offer to you is a $1.25 total. That’s with shipping. If you won’t make any money selling it for $1.25 I’ll understand. I thank you very much for your time and consideration. Thank you for being so kind to me in this matter.

It is amazing how insulting people can be when they say they aren’t trying to insult you! We are very glad that our tokens and stones are a product in demand. I am here and willing to help you get the best price we can offer for the amount of items that you are looking to purchase.

But dear, sweet, thoughtful, kind customers of mine, our company does need to make a little profit…so I can get a little paycheck! 🙂

Psychic hotline, here we come

Posted on June 15, 2010 by CourageInStone

We recently had a customer order a variety of stones in different quantities. This is not unusual as I’m sure you can figure out there are lots of different reasons why people buy the stones in all kinds of combination’s. This particular customer, however, was not happy with our service. Here’s how the conversation went...

Customer: “Hi, um, yeah, I just received my order and it’s wrong.”

CourageInStone: “Oh no, we’re so sorry! What is the problem?”

Customer: “Well, I received 20 of the word Hope and I only wanted 2.”

CourageInStone: “OK, let me take a look at your order….hmm…I see here that you actually ordered 20 of the word Hope.”

Customer: “But, I didn’t want 20 Hope, I only wanted 2.”

CourageInStone: “I understand. But you ordered and paid for 20.”

Customer: “Well, I just think you should have caught the error and corrected it.”

CourageInStone: “How would we have known that you only wanted 2 instead of 20?”

Customer: “Based on the rest of my order…I didn’t order 20 of any other stone.”

CourageInStone: “Well, people order different amounts of stones for different reasons all the time. How can we fix this for you?”

Customer: “Oh, I’ll keep them. But I just would have appreciated knowing that I made an error.”

CourageInStone: “OK, well, we’ll try to catch that the next time you order. You have a nice day.”

So…we have decided to put a psychic on staff. Anyone know of one that’s looking for a full time gig?

You did not just say that

Posted on May 7, 2010 by CourageInStone

We are lucky to boast customers from all over the world, from all walks of life and ages. Most of our customers are polite, friendly, pleasant and appreciative. We love them. Occasionally, however, we get a few wacky ones in the mix…the ones that make you scratch your head and chuckle and every so often the ones that make you wonder about the state of mankind in general. I’d like to share with you a few of the things people have actually communicated to us.

(Small print: I feel it necessary to point out that with over 16,000 orders under our belt, we deal with a lot of different people on a regular basis…it keeps us sane to share a sense of humor about our day to day tasks, and we know that sometimes we ALL say things that don’t really come out quite as we expected! Having said that, enjoy…)

When inadvertently sent stones with the word “Hope” instead of “Courage”, a customer called to inform us that he was very upset and needed to return them because he ‘didn’t believe in hope.’ (If that doesn’t send you home depressed, I don’t know what will…)
When we were unable to meet a customer’s deadline for some custom engraved stones, she finished a 15 minute rant with ‘these stones were supposed to save lives.’ (Well if that’s the case, we are WAY undercharging.)
When asking for a discount price on an already deeply discounted order, one customer told us that she had just spent $45,000 getting a doctorate and that she was currently ‘financially drained.’ (Yeah honey, aren’t we all.)
After placing an order, a customer asked how quickly we shipped ‘because I’m on oxygen and don’t have much time left. I hope I’m still alive when they get here.’ (It’s important to note that she’s been a returning customer for 2 years now…)
When a customer saw one of our tokens that depicts a Buddha, she declared ‘I need to do Buddhism ’cause he’s just so darn cute!’ (Yes, I’m fairly certain that most people that ‘do Buddhism’ follow the religion because of its ‘darn cute’ deity.)
In the notes section of an order: ‘Please throw package over fence.’ (While we pride ourselves on great customer service, personal delivery of packages just isn’t cost effective. However, if we were to personally deliver a package, I can assure you that there would be no ‘throwing’ involved…)
A woman called in to buy a gift and as she was choosing her stones, she asked ‘which words do you think my daughter would like?’ (Um, you do realize that we don’t actually know your daughter?!)
Often we get requests to ‘send the best and prettiest ones you have’ of a particular item. (Good thing you specified that, because otherwise we send our worst and ugliest.)
We are an office full of women. One customer called several times and each time someone different answered the phone. Her response? “Oh, are you all sisters?” (Several different women + same office = sisters? Not quite sure how that equation works, but OK!)
When we went back and forth with a customer concerning a package that she was insisting she had not received, we were perplexed. We had shipped it in a timely manner and the tracking confirmed it had been delivered. So, we were very relieved when, a few days later, the customer called to let us know that she had found the package…’under some stuff on top of the refrigerator’… (Well of course! On top of the refrigerator is the 1st place I always look for missing packages…)

So thank you for the laughs. We look forward to filling our next 16,000 orders, smiling the whole way.

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