Does
that headline’s question sound just a bit harsh? In recent surveys customer
often vent about the direct interaction with a business that leaves them
wondering if that business really cares about them as a customer.
Can
I relate a recent story that came to my attention? A customer needed to put a
shelf in her laundry room and the width of the area was 71 inches. When
she approached her local home improvement store to cut one inch of the width of
a standard 6 foot (72 inch) board she was told they didn’t (wouldn’t) do that.
They lost a sale… they lost many potential future sales… and they let down a
person who needed a simple fix. Did they care? Did they want that person to spend $50 on a power saw for a single cut?
Some
business seem to feel that customer care or customer service only occurs post
sale and nothing could be further from the truth.
The
question in the above case could be that the individual employee let down both
the customer and the company. But, the company may never get another chance to
make the employee (if it was) error right. Does this happen in your business?
Nationally
there are very few (2 or 3) home improvement companies. Do you want to guess
which one this was? OK, was it Orange or was it Blue?
Poor
customer service can negatively impact a business in a variety of ways. This is
especially true for small businesses that rely on repeat business and positive
word-of-mouth advertising for its success. In addition to running the risk of
alienating current customers with sub-standard service levels, chronically poor
service can impact the business’ potential for attracting new customers as
well.
A
reputation for poor service can be hard to shake. It can keep other businesses
from partnering or working with you. It also can turn away good employment
candidates who might assume that if customers are treated poorly, employees are
treated badly as well.
Customers
who experience poor service levels often tell their friends and family members
about the bad experience to warn them away. This will cost your business
potential customers. People will have already formed a negative opinion of your
business before ever setting foot in your door.
Customers
Care … Does Your Business Care?
SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software
is a great start to creating your very own customer service legends. We know
that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you
increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience
with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have
your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
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