"Where has the Customer Service Gone?

I Hope it Hasn't Left Your Company"

I often find myself shaking my head at the utter incompetence of most "Customer Service" departments.  And I use that term, "Customer Service" V-E-R-Y loosely.   In most cases it's "Customer Dis-Service."

I recently placed a call to one of our promotional products vendors. I was greeted by an automated operator (ugh!!), waited until I could finally touch "5" for a customer service representative.   When someone finally picked up, I was greeted with a very quick, "Yes, hello." I told the lady on the other end that I was interested in a product and needed a quote. "How many," she quickly retorted, I told her 12,000 pieces. "Hold please." After about one minute, she came back on and quickly gave me my price. "Is that it," she grumbled into the phone, obviously very disappointed that I disturbed her from her "work."

"Yes", I said. "I need freight quote on that." And to my absolute amazement, she shot back, "I don't have time for that, I'm too busy. You need to call UPS for yourself and get the quote." Let me repeat that for you,

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!"

Now here I was, ready and willing to buy. Her product was good, her price was competitive, and she didn't have time to give me a quote on an order that was going give them $10,560!! I was floored.

Now, I'm not one to match one person's bad behavior with my own. But without thinking I said back, "Well, I don't know if I have time to order." And you know what, that didn't even phase her! I obviously will not order from that particular vendor.  So, here's my point. Do you have someone in your company
sabotaging your business?? I bet your bottom dollar there is someone there who is costing you sales on a daily basis.

As I recently read in Jim Gitomer's Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless; you need to remember WHO signs your paycheck. It's not the manager, it's not the owner,
and it's not stockholders in larger companies. IT'S YOUR CUSTOMERS! Without them, there would be no money in the bank!

Here's my challenge for you. This week, "secret shop" your own store.   Call up your store and pretend to be an interested customer. Or, send a friend to your location. See, hear and watch what happens. In most cases, you'll be amazed!