| |
| |
|
Customer Service Information |
|
|
|
You Bever Know Who Youre Serving
You Never Know Who You're Serving when customers turn irate. I think of myself as a reasonable person. It takes a lot to upset me, but upset I am. A number of years ago, I bought a new television set. I had seen a flyer from Lechmere's that had TV's on sale. I called, got through the voice mail menu and asked the salesperson who answered, if the particular model advertised was available. No, it wasn't but another, equally as good was at only $20 more. I went to the store and examined a number of TV's. A knowledgeable, helpful salesman approached and patiently answered my questions. Finally, I made my choice and paid for it. I asked if they would hold it for me while I did some further shopping and was told that of course they would. I was pleased with myself, with the store and with the purchase I'd made. When I picked up the TV, it was so big, the young man who brought it out to the car had to take it out of the box to get it into my car. My son brought it into the house for me and started to set it up when he asked, "Where's the antenna?" My first thought was, "Oh no, it was left in the box." I called the store to check. A young woman answered and said she'd put me through to the appropriate department. The on-hold music blared uncomfortably. I held the phone away from my ear when suddenly I heard the dial tone! I'd been disconnected. I re-dialed, went through the voice mail menu again, got the same young woman who said she'd put me through to "George". The loud music again irritated my ears as I waited and waited and waited for "George" to answer the phone. As the minutes ticked by, my irritation grew at a rapidly escalating rate. When he didn't answer the phone, I hung up and re-dialed. Again, I got the voice mail menu (which I now had memorized), punched in the correct extension, got the ringing of the phone, interrupted with short bursts of loud music, followed by more ringing which alternated with the loud music in my ear over 12 times. I was now an irate customer. In less than 5 minutes I had been transformed from a very happy customer, into one of those crazy customers you dread speaking to. When the phone was finally answered, I let loose on the poor, unsuspecting salesperson. I told him that I had been disconnect, put on hold, ignored, gone practically deaf, and I was now VERY angry. He placidly replied, "That's because we're busy, Ma'am. We have a lot of customers here today." "I don't care!" I loudly proclaimed - my son, who had walked into the room at that moment, looked at me as though I had turned into a stranger in front of his eyes. He is unaccustomed to seeing me lose my temper. "I am your customer and I am not getting good service." I then explained irately about my missing antenna. He asked me what size TV and I told him 27", he said that no 27" TV comes with an antenna. Of course this put me over the top. I went from being an irate customer to the customer from hell. Why hadn't I been told? Furious, I made another trip to the store and asked for the manager who cynically informed me that he was surprised to hear a complaint about the TV department. The defensiveness of the manager was the last thing I wanted to hear while I was still in a state of anger. He didn't do anything to assuage my temper. He told me that everyone today had cable TV, therefore there's no need to include antennas. I told him that I for one don't have cable. I explained it might be a good idea to ask customers if they had cable. He then asked a salesperson to find me an antenna. It looked like two wires attached by a plastic tripod. I asked how effective this would be and was told that it wouldn't be very effective but a "sound amplified" antenna would be what I needed. Bottom line, I ended up paying for a $62.00 antenna. No discount, no heartfelt apology, no attempt to make me feel that I was an important customer. But, just like most customers that get less than deserved service I got my revenge. Irate customers tell on average, 10-20 other people about the bad service they receive. I have already told many audiences and now am sharing this in my newsletter. I started out as a reasonable customer, I would have cheerfully bought the antenna, but because of the chain of events, it brought out my evil twin. Not my most flattering nor most comfortable mode of behavior. Contrast this incident to an experience I had, that Marty at the Hyatt Hotel in Austin, TX handled. During a stay in that hotel, I was woken up through out my first night's stay by an intermittent whooshing noise I couldn't identify. When I got up the next morning and walked into the bathroom the toilet greet me with the same noise that had annoyed me all night. I called the front desk who sent an engineer to the room. In explaining the situation and how it had woken me during the night, Marty, the engineer, gave me a pass to the restaurant and told me that breakfast was on him. He said, "No one should be woken during the night by a noise." I have to say that his response was surprising to me. At most hotels I stay at the engineer would have to get permission to give away a meal. His service attitude made my stay at the Hyatt memorable. P.S. I told everyone else in attendance at the meeting and now over 1,500 more through my newsletter and since I'm posting this on the web, how many more will read it? Remember: You never know who you're serving. Margo Chevers, author of the books STOP the BS (bad service), What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? and How to Get Up on a Down Day has been providing sales and customer service seminars and consulting to a diverse cross-section of industries for the past 15 years. To receive her free 10 top tips for exceptional customer service, call (800) 858-0797 or email margo@margochevers.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Dont Be Afraid To Give Problem Customers The Boot Q: In a recent column you made the point that the customer is always right, which I agree with. However, in the same column you also said that it is sometimes necessary give problem customers the boot. Customer Service and Marketing that Works Go into many businesses today and try and get service, its sometimes impossible! The customer service officer is on the phone talking about personal issues, there is not enough staff, and they are disinterested and distracted.The old days of customer service is where you the customer were viewed as valuable and important and you received service from a person and not a machine. What You Need to Know About CRM 1. It's all about the customer. We Sell For Less and Our Stores Are a Mess! What kind of image do you present when marketing your products? Are you professional and well organized or does your store/site/whatever scream, "sloppy!," to those who matter the most: your customers? Let's see how one leading retailer is winning the sales war, but losing an important battle: store organization.WalMart is dominant in so many categories with the various products that they sell. How to Transform Your Voicemail into an Effective Medium of Communication "Hi this is Randy. Leave me a message after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. How To Build a Profitable Business It's never too soon to start saying thanks to your clients, vendors and referral sources for what they contribute to your business. Everyone loves to be appreciated and acknowledged, so start now and do something every month. The Death of the Loyal Customer One of my classes in management focused on the repeat customer. The course stressed the importance of the repeat customer to the financial welfare of the business. Difficult Customers - Theres No Such Thing A couple of years ago I had a call from a Customer ServiceManager working in the paper industry. He wanted me to run aseminar for his team, on "How to Deal with DifficultCustomers". Setting Up a Customer of the Week Program for a Mobile Car Wash In a mobile detail or mobile car wash business you are on a first name basis with your customers. You sink or swim with your ability to please your customer and rely on them to build your business by referring their friends, associates and neighbors. At the Carwash; The Customer really is always Right You have no doubt heard the saying that the customer is always right. When you are a customer you happy with this position, when you are the owner of a small business, sometimes you see this is like opening Pandora's box. Customer Conversion Mistakes That Will Cost You The following are common mistakes that Sales Managers and Owners make in the sales process which could be costing you thousands or even hundreds of thousands in lost revenue.- No system to capture and log prospect information/contact data on incoming ad calls. Service Equals Performance Equals Service Service can be described as a "performance" of some kind involving two parties whereby one party is the benefactor and the other party is the performing party receiving some type of monetary payment. The value of the Service depends on the personal experience of the benefactor. Small Business Customer Service Can Work Against You Is the special treatment you designed specifically to keep customers coming back working against you?A local jeweler offers free lifetime battery replacement for any watch he sells. It's a good hook to keep customers walking back in the store on a regular basis and increases his sales volume. Making the Connection: Customer Relationships That Build Your Business Have you ever wondered why you often find a coupon tucked inside your cereal box, or get invited to a customer preview sale at your favorite department store? Those companies know that their existing customers are the best - and most profitable - customers they'll ever have. So it's not surprising that they'll do whatever they can to keep these customers happy and coming back again and again. Foolproof Customer Service Strategies (That Only A Fool Would Try!) Ever notice how customer service varies from store to store? You walk into some stores, and before you can say "Buzz off!" a salesperson asks "May I help you?""No thanks.""May I help you?" asks another. 4 Myths about Customer Value The purpose of business is to create and retain a customer.Much has been written about customer orientation, customer relationship management (CRM), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) metrics, Customer Centric organization models, customer retention, customer care-add any high sounding word with -customer- preceding or succeeding that word and you have a new model, a new theory. Do You Want More Profits? - Follow The Golden Rules Of Providing Good Customer Service Last night I was at my computer and a Skype chat window opened up with a link in it from a stranger. I clicked the link and was taken to one of those "You would have to be crazy to pass up this business opportunity" sites. Create a Positive, Upbeat, Can-Do Workforce and Dazzle the Customer with Your Caring! Given the choice of dealing with a positive, upbeat employee with a "can-do" attitude or dealing with a disgruntled, distracted, uninterested one, which would you choose? No contest. Customers always want the best experience possible; they want it to be easy and pleasant to do business with your company. Customer Service Tips - Is Your Business A Leaky Bucket? Customer service and customer service training are vital for any business.But, is your business a leaky bucket?This is a question I always ask small business owners who attend my marketing seminars. You MUST Sweat the Small Stuff It's The Little Things That Make or Break a Small BusinessIf you make a poor impression in small things, why should customers trust you with larger ones like buying your product regularly or giving you a big order? In the last two days, I've seen this simple fact proved three times.I ordered software from Company A.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
