PEOPLE PLEASERS!

Archive for February, 2010

I had a customer in a previous life who thought rats were just the coolest thing.  In his customer service area he would have caged white rats.  At times he would let them run free in his service desk as he talked to customers about the repairs they needed.  They would nibble the corners of his work orders and of course when rats eat they also….well you get the picture.  Since at least 50% of the cars are owned by women these days, when a woman came into his shop he would prop a rat on his shoulder and discuss the repairs needed.  Needless to say this reduced the number of female clientele coming into the shop which was OK by the owner. 

Please respect the customer.  This is not supposed to be an adversarial relationship.  As the owner you shouldn’t be trying to get back at the customer by imposing your interest on them.  Don’t offend them.  Nurture the relationship.  Find out what their interests are and talk to them about their interests.  I had a customer who was just the most arrogant guy you could ever imagine dealing with.  Had my 1968 Mustang Fastback at work one day and he came in just gushing about how much he loved Mustangs.  I also discovered that day he had significant hearing loss due to his job.  To this day we are still buds when we see each other.  I thought he was a jerk, then discovered all I had to do was talk to him about what he liked and do it loudly.  When dealing with the public you can’t really have an opinion on much, because you’ll just offend someone and that will cost you income down the road.  Try to remain neutral on most issues even when you have a strong opinion.  Remember you want a customer that feels good about you when they leave so they come back again.  You don’t want that last image to be rat droppings on the customer’s invoice when they sign it.

THE GOOD:  If you want to build a loyal customer relationship you should consider treating the customer the first time they visit your store with an unexpected surprise.  As an example, the last time I went to Mexico at the hotel check-in desk my wife and I were pleasantly surprised with the delivery of 2 pina coladas. Do something to surprise your customer that is unexpected.  A couple pieces of chocolate when they enter or even some networking coupons to businesses who in turn distribute coupons for you would be good.

THE BAD:    Nothing is more frustrating as a customer than to enter and not be greeted or asked what was needed.  To stand in a store with money in hand and no one paying attention to you is inexcusable.  Worse even is the employee or owner taking a personal call when you are there.   If your busy at least acknowledge the person and let them know you’ll be with them asap.  Get off the personal call immediately if a customer enters.  You never want to look bad to a customer.

THE UGLY:  There are times when the last experience a customer has after leaving your store is out of your control.  The town where my retail location was located ran a parking meter ticket program.  If the meter enforcement officer saw you enter a store and not plug the meter you were instantly issued a parking ticket.  Do you have any idea how many irate customers this created.  Close to 100%.  Every positive I did for the customer experience to be a good one from the time they entered until they left was just wasted by a 2$ parking ticket.  I went to town council meetings about this and the reaction from the mayor was to cover his ears.  Nothing changed nor has it since.  Somethings are just out of our control and it can get ugly fast.

There’s a term CEM (Customer Experience Management) which many business coaches use to teach how the customer should be treated.  Most of the training is just common sense.  Ask yourself, “How to I like to be treated?”, and you’ll have the program down.