Many moons ago before the tubes of the interweb occupied my days I worked in retail. At that time this retailer was legendary, some might say world renown for their quality, selection and most importantly customer service (sadly this is not the case today). At that time the “old man” worked with each of the managers to make sure they understood this important lesson, when a customer complains what they are really doing is giving you the opportunity to be exceptional. They are giving you the chance to turn a negative into a positive, and turn a detractor into an advocate. It’s good to be reminded about this with examples of good customer service from time to time.
Here’s a little bonus for you, when you’re unclear on exactly how to solve any customers problem, the best question is also the scariest “I’m sorry, what’s can I do to make this right?”
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Good customer service is key, but man, it sure is difficult to keep your cool when some people are spittling away screaming about how much of an idiot you are for bringing out a mixed drink that was shaken instead of stirred.
Seriously though, it is sad that it seem that more and more people do not respect “the old man” anymore and would rather say “up yours!” to the customer since they are only getting paid pennies.
Wow! Scary… Christoph is a cool dude. It sucks that a chain reaction like that can happen. Luckily, Greg and his team are right on top of it from my experience. I had a very small problem once and they solved it right away. It was great.
The trick is to give people the authority to make judgement calls.
Seth Godin posted about a customer service experiment he was involved in.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/08/what_should_sta.html
“We ordered a milkshake and a Big Mac. Ate half the Big Mac. Drank half the milkshake. We put the Big Mac remainder into the milkshake cup and went to the counter, “I’m sorry, I can’t drink this shake, there’s a Big Mac in it.” They gave us a new one.
Why?
Because McDonald’s didn’t want counter people making decisions about who to say “no” to.”
Robotic employees like that are can be a real problem if you train them to follow procedures and don’t give them authority to kick the guy out if he’s being a jerk or solve a problem if the he has a legitimate complaint.
I hate responses like this. “I need to ask my manager if my brain can be used to help solve your simple problem.” In these cases… The answer is usually a big No.
Retail has changed. People take advantage of customer satisfaction policies, price match policies etc.
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