Everyone in any Customer Service Industry should read on, most of us think this should be Common Sense, but apparently Not.
I did NOT throw any company or person under the bus in this article. I will review them at a later date.
When Customers come in to your store, business or line of sight, no matter how busy you are, greet them. Say hello, I’ll be with you when I can, something, do not ignore customers. No one likes to be ignored. People will leave and shop elsewhere if ignored. (That is exactly what we should’ve done when we were ignored at Lowe’s. But that is ANOTHER long story…..)
Try very hard to do what you say you are going to do. If you say you will call, call. Try not to over commit yourself. Offer less and over produce, is much better than over offer and under produce.
This happened to me recently:
I needed a new vehicle. I had a rental, because a deer totaled my convertible. I went to a LARGE dealership and told them what I wanted. They were helpful but told me I could not have the color I wanted, it was discontinued. What they could’ve done was to get someone from their used vehicles department (20 yards away) to help me, but I guess they didn’t want to lose a new vehicle sale?
They were encouraging me to order one, but I didn’t want to be out an additional 8+ weeks for the rental vehicle, that would’ve been an additional $2,000 I didn’t have and didn’t want to shell out.
So, I did my OWN leg work, my own research and I found the vehicle I wanted and purchased.
This is the kicker of bad customer service… I got texts from them asking if I still needed help. I said, thank you for all your help but no, I found the vehicle on my own. Thank you, but no. They said okay, good-bye.
What? They don’t want my business on my services of this new vehicle? They could’ve have easily said: “Glad you found your vehicle, but please let us be the dealership to service that vehicle and have that relationship with you”. They are actually the closest one to my home and I would’ve have gladly used them for my services, but guess not, I’ll go to the one a little further down the road. I am sure their Dealership Owner or General Manager would not be happy with the overall experience either.
I just don’t get people. I don’t understand. Kind of boggles the mind really. Sadly, good customer service is a dying art. Also, common sense is not common.