What’s With The Attitude?
It seems like many of the stores and businesses that I deal with these days, rude employees are the face of the business. After all, the employees that are helping the customers on a daily basis are the face of the business, not the management. Way back when, customer service was a priority with most businesses. However, it seems now that it’s really hard to find businesses with great customer service. What’s the deal? Do business owners not understand the importance of good customer service? Do owners and managers not stress the importance of making customers happy? We are in times now when each business may have 5, 10, or even 20 competitors in a small city. I looked in the phone book the other day for carpet cleaners and found over 50 different businesses listed under that category. And I know that about half of businesses don’t even advertise in the Yellow Pages any more since internet search is so prominent. With so many direct competitors, businesses really have no choice but to focus on stellar customer service if they want to stay in business. Personally, I will actually go to a store with slightly higher prices if the customer service is good as opposed to going to a bargain store with lousy, non-existent, or rude customer service. Loyalty is the name of the game and great customer service will gain you loyal customers.
Every business should have a plan on how they deal with unhappy customers. Here are few suggestions that you can use as a peace offering and diffuse unhappy customers:
- Apologize. You don’t have to admit guilt, but apologize that they feel that way. It works the majority of the time.
- Express to the customer that you will personally make sure this doesn’t happen. Tell the customer to ask specifically for you and you will help them avoid any problems in the future. Customers love to have a go to person within a business who will take care of them.
- If an employee feels like a situation is getting heated with a customer, bring in a manager to speak with the customer. Often times, customers feel much better about talking to someone in charge so they can vent their concerns and feelings.
- Offer the customer a discount or coupon for a future purchase. This helps encourage the customer to give your business another chance.
- Offer the customer some kind of nice promotional product as a “I’m Sorry Gift.” I’m not talking about a 25 cent pen here, but something of value and something useful.
- Offer a discount on their purchase they will be unhappy with. Maybe they are only 10% unhappy and a 10% discount will make up for the mishap.
- Offer a refund of their purchase, if necessary.
- Most importantly, if a customer does give you another chance, EXCEED their expectations.
The 3 Lazy Musketeers
So for the 3rd time in just over a week, I have attempted to do business with a company and have not been contacted back with an estimate. When I see the business owners of these 3 businesses at Chamber functions or just about in town, they claim that they are struggling to bring in new clients due to the economy. Well, hello, I would have been an easy sell, but none of the 3 companies got back to me in a timely manner and I took my business elsewhere. It’s now been a week and no follow up with my estimate. I even told them in the beginning that as long as the estimate is reasonable, I was ready to move on it right away. Because I know these business owners personally and know that they really are struggling to grab new business, I know their claims of struggling to be the truth. What I also know is that this just boils down to laziness. It’s possible that lazy is the wrong word and maybe a lack of focus and organization could be the culprit. However, not following up when times are slow is just ridiculous and damaging to your business. Get a plan, get organized, and follow your plan. Hire additional help if you are too busy to do it. If you have a plan, your newly hired help will pay for itself and should even increase your revenues. And by the way, if you are one of these 3 business owners reading this and you recognize that I’m talking about you, I’m sorry to be so harsh, but buck up and take care of not only your current clients, but also your potential clients. If you are anyone other than the 3 businesses this article is about, please learn your lesson from their mistake and respond timely to your clients. In my own business, I find that one of the most important factors in obtaining new business is the speedy response from my staff. People want what they want when they want it. They want to take care of their task at hand and put it behind them so they can move on to the next item on their list. If you don’t take care of their needs right away, they will take their business elsewhere. That’s a guarantee and there aren’t many guarantees in business!
What Has Happended to Customer Service?
Like any good businessman, I frequently check out my competitors to make sure I am staying a few steps ahead of them. One thing I have noticed across the board is a general lack of quality customer service. Of course, I did find a few exceptions, but for the most part the customer service reps I have spoken too have been either rude, ignorant, unhelpful, or just plain annoying. Not only have I noticed this within the promotional products industry, but also within most retail stores over the past few years. It seems that customer service has been on the decline with most businesses. Great customer service can set your business far apart from your competitors. Try focusing on this aspect of your business and see if your sales increase, but don’t overdo it and be one of those annoying customer service reps. There’s nothing worse than a pushy salesman (or saleswoman) that follows you all around the store. Or the ones that bug me the most are close talkers. Don’t be a close talker and get in people’s personal space.
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