What were they thinking?!

Over the past few weeks I have spoken to many people about their processes when buying products. MANY have made it clear to me that they will spend their hard-earned money only at stores or service places where the employees meet and exceed the customer expectation. Tell this to a business owner and their reaction is to gesture a “no-brainer”. Duh!  It’s a rule of business. Obviously the business owners and managers know about that rule. So, why do employees often fail so miserably at implementing that rule when dealing with customers? Here are just some of the experiences I heard:

  • A customer was told by a telephone/mobile company, “Just leave. We have millions of customers. You won’t be missed.” So the customer took their household account, including, internet, TV, alarm monitoring, and 3 mobile phones to another company and said, ” I will NEVER go back.”
  • A shopper in the market for a bicycle felt somewhat victimized by the sales staff at one store, the only store in town to offer the desired brand of bicycle. After visiting a second store, because service and employee attitudes was “super great!”, that shopper spent $1.200 on a bike at that second store.
  • An attendant at an eyeglass dispensary was rude to the customer. Tested the wrong eye. Three times. Incorrectly documented follow up instructions that had to be corrected by the customer more than once. Result? The dispensary lost the business. The optometrist lost a patient.

Owners and managers of stores and service businesses must remember to properly TRAIN employees on the art of serving customers. Too often, that training is in the form of a quick lecture when it ought to be so much more. Don’t just tell employees about it. Properly trained employees can produce customer lifetime streams of revenues, if they are trained properly.  [How to make a customer feel important? Click here to read one special experience.]  TEACH, DEMONSTRATE, and then COACH employees on the art of making customers feel special, important, and appreciated.

When customers spend, they almost always return to where the entire purchase experience was the best.

A NOTE TO EMPLOYEES: Recognize that your lackadaisical attitude, disrespect for the customer, or lack of interest in the customer, can damage your employer and all the other people that employer may be able to employ and serve. You may get a momentary buzz out of pulling the wool over a customer’s eyes, or by abusing your power in the sales relationship, but you are hurting your employer and everyone your employer’s business serves. If you are detracting in any way from the customer’s exceptionally positive experience, either correct your behavior, or quit. Thousands of unemployed people would love to have your job.