Saturday, April 12, 2008

Is Your Customer Service Losing You Money ?

I have a favorite market that like to shop at when I'm looking for fresh meat or fresh seafood, and it's right around the block from my house. I've been there on a number of occasions when I was served by a gentleman who obviously did not want to be there. In the past I had paid special attention in order to build rapport with this individual and even maybe put a little smile on his face.

Yesterday I decided to run over to the market, and hopefully arrive before they closed at seven o'clock. I walked through the door at 6:15 p.m. and proceeded to the vegetable and fruit area of the store. As I was shopping I glanced over to seafood section and glanced over at Mr. Happy the gentleman who had served me on previous occasions.


He had that look of, I don't want to be here, I can't wait to get out! I walked over to him and asked him how he was doing and he barely answered me with a shrug. I then picked out some red snapper and was looking to make another purchase. The fresh tuna in the section looked pretty good. However, I was interested in a smaller piece, one that he could cut fresh that would meet my needs with almost 40 minutes left in his day. He looked up at me and said I can't cut you a piece of fish you'll have to take what's here. He then proceeded to pick up bigger and bigger pieces asking me if I wanted any of those, He just wasn't listening!

I looked at him and said, no, I think I'll pass and then I preceded over to the checkout counter without making any additional purchases. Here's my question; How many people that day, or this month, decided on passing on getting more food because of this individuals lousy customer service.
It's unfortunate, but when customers leave us because of poor service they generally don't tell us in advance. Your customer service can increase your business or kill your business very rapidly. It's more important than ever before to look for customer service oriented people when you're involved in the hiring process. With increasing competition to businesses that have the best customer service will survive and thrive in our market today.

1 comment:

successinspirationforyou.com said...

Dear Rick:

You allude to a point in your article about customer service. The point relates to how people report their customer service experiences. Some studies would say the average person shares a positive experience with up to 5 friends, etc. On the other hand, a bad experience gets reported to up to 20 of the offended person's closest friends, relatives...and the list goes on!

Best regards,

Gary Greenfield
Profit Through Performance