Yes, it is your department.

Companies are not doing all they can. They spend enormous time and resources to bring in customers and practically no money to keep them. It's like romancing a beautiful woman, sending her chocolates and flowers, serenading her, to get her to go on a date with you. Then, when you finally get her to go on that date with you, you ignore her. You talk to your buddies on your cell phone, flirt with the waitress... you get the picture.

In order for your company to grow, you need to stretch the boundaries and the definition of customer service. Customer service is everyone's department.

Imagine calling a hotel to make a reservation. Instead of being transferred to the reservations department, you get transferred to housekeeping. The person who answers the phone tells you that you've dialed the wrong number and hangs up. Do you call back? Or do you call the next hotel on your list? That's what I thought.

Now, imagine that the person in housekeeping tells you that you've been transferred to the wrong department but she would be happy to transfer you to the correct department. Better, right? Except that no one answers and she tells you to call back later. Same outcome, it just took longer to get there. You are now dialing the next number on your list.

If, when the phone rang back to housekeeping, she said, "They don't seem to be answering in reservations, would you like the front desk?" or, "They aren't answering at the moment, would you like to leave your name and number and I'll have someone call you back?

Wow! What a difference. This changes everything, doesn't it? Sure, you may still dial the next number on your list, but at least your impression of this hotel is not going to be so overwhelmingly negative. You will be happy to take their call when they contact you.

What if they don't?

Then it's all for nothing, isn't it? That hotel had a chance to wow the prospective guest. They could have beaten the pants off the competition if the finale had been handled properly. As a guest, you might even be willing to pay a higher rate because you know if their service on the phone is this outstanding then the experience once you check in will surely be exceptional.

Lessons:

Customer Service is everyone's job.
Sales is everyone's job.
There are no sales without customer service.
Follow up is essential to exceptional service.
Exceptional service is essential to sales.

In spite of me...

Too many companies just don't make the connection between customer service and sales so it's up to customers to disconnect from them.

My son needed new tires on his car yesterday. (Literally - they were down to the wires) so we went to Pep Boys in Hialeah, which happens to be near his school. Now, his car is a 1988 Honda Civic with about a million miles on it. The car won't go past 70 mph so there is no need for high performance shoes for this thing. I just wanted something functional and cheap.

We walk into the Pep Boys and there is no one at the service counter but a man about my age with a boy about my son's age. They seemed to be in a similar situation but I think it may have been about a battery. There is no one on the other side of the counter so the father and son are staring at us as we walk in. A service rep comes out (not to help them) of the bay and goes to work on the computer at the opposite end of the counter from where they are standing. I assume they are being helped by someone else (I was right) and that he is about to help me (wrong!)

He doesn't acknowledge me at all. He goes to work on the computer while his counterpart is helping father & son and I am standing there feeling like the nerdy kid on prom night. Ten minutes pass before he acknowledges me and by now I am regretting ever having walked into this place. There is a BJ's Wholesale Club a block away. I can go there. I'm a member.

Finally, he acknowledges me. (Someone asked me to dance!) I tell him what I need and he tries to sell me tires that cost about as much as my son paid for the whole car. I tell him to do better. He says there is nothing cheaper. I ask about another size, perhaps a lower-profile tire. Suddenly, there is something closer to my budget. I am still resentful at how I was treated, but the kid is on a spare tire with another tire showing more metal than a camelot movie. This is about more than money. It's about my son's safety. Oh, and convenience; after all, I'm already here.

So I go for it.

Customer service lost because I allowed myself to be put in this situation.

But who really lost?

Will I ever return to this Pep Boys? No. Will I go to any Pep Boys? Possibly. Would I recommend Pep Boys? No. After all, why pay the premium price for Wal-Mart service when I can pay Wal-Mart prices for Wal-Mart service.

I guess we're even. No, not even. I'll come out ahead. I can find another auto parts store, but they'll never get me back as a customer. They'll spend a fortune trying to replace me and in this day and age where more people are using dealers and service stations, guys like me are harder to find. DIY fever may extend from the backyard to the driveway, but I doubt it's spread to what's on the driveway. I do my own oil changes and maintenance. I don't change my own tires because I can't. Otherwise, I would.

You work hard for your money. Anyone else who wants your money should work even harder for it.

Manners and Customer Service

We've all heard that having good manners is how we show people we care about them. If this is the case, then customer service is how businesses show their customers how much they care. The better the service, the more they care. We've become a fast food nation in more ways than one. Besides eating in our cars and obesity rates reaching ever higher, we've relaxed our standards. We have all spent so much time at McDonald's that we simply don't bat an eye when someone we are trying to give our money to treats us like an inconvenience.

So if fast food restaurants are the new low standard, what does it say about our expectations that they rake in billions every year. It says, "Standards? We don't need no stinkin' standards!"

Show your customers you care, by actually caring. The fast food giants spend millions every year telling us how much they love and appreciate us, and we spend billions every year giving them the opportunity to prove it's all a lie. And to show how offended we are, we come back. Hell hath no fury? I don't think so. We have no pride. Or, more correctly, no expectations.

Random Thought: Everyone You Meet

Everyone you meet, customer or not. Prospect or not.
Rich. Poor. Man. Woman. Child.
Every one of them deserves your absolute 100% very best.
Anything less and you are cheating them and yourself

This blog is sponsored by:

HoneyBee Party Rental 954-989-8783
and TNT Exterminating 305-632-0222