Customer Service

Joe’s Thoughts

In my travels through the retail/service world, I have come to realize that a great reform is needed. I have begun to realize that Customer Service is almost extinct. This is true of almost every aspect of my world (New Jersey/Florida). My theory is that a lot of these people that work or own these businesses feel that my money isn’t important and they don’t need my business.

It is time that these business owners and their employees start to reconsider their practices. I am a big proponent of customer service and too many places are forgetting this. I have repeatedly stated and abide by my saying, “I will PAY more for good customer service.”

This is true of every business; from pizza places to gas stations, to the computer stores, to the big biz monopolies of today. I am completely appalled at the state of our industries. It has gone from a friendly greeting and a warm received phone call to a smirk and a badgering.

When I go into a pizza place and I am not greeted with at least a “hello” within 5 minutes of standing at the counter with only 2 other people; I WALK OUT! I can buy pizza at 5 other places in the 1-mile strip this guy’s pizza place is on. I can understand if a person is stressed and completely busy, but when the person is talking to his buddies in the back laughing and joking while his customers are waiting at the counter for service, he doesn’t deserve my money. I switched phone companies because I couldn’t get answers to my billing questions without being transferred 10 times.

I have been in the retail/customer service industry. I am not too proud to admit it. I worked for Best Buy, Staples, Banks, etc. Most of the reasons I was a great salesman were because I greeted everyone who walked through my department no matter how busy I was, aside from my, erhum, great looks (ha ha), and my, cough cough, magnetic personality. I greeted everyone with a warm smile and when in direct conversation with them… a handshake. You might say this is overboard, but I will disagree. I helped most of my customers carry their items to their cars! I broke every sales record in every retail store I worked in because of this. My customers were MY customers. I would be swamped with work and my customers would wait for me to help them instead of being helped by someone else. I treated them with respect. After all, they are the reason I had my job.

Everything that we do is pretty much customer service related. Masonry, Carpentry, Computer Repair work, Web hosting, all of it. If you don’t serve your customer, they will go somewhere else. Unfortunately, there are so many places that don’t care anymore that our options are running out.

I am not saying that I want people to treat me any better than anyone else, I want these businesses to treat everyone better than they are treating us now. I refuse to spend my money in these places, and my black list is growing larger every day.

Service your customers, and they will continue to be your customers.

Robert’s Thoughts

I whole heartedly agree with your observations. It’s not just a local problem, its everywhere. There are a few exceptions but they are few and far between. I’ve been a salesman most of my life. The customer is who pays your salary. Most employees do not realize this fact. The sad part is most of these problems could be alleviated with proper training and motivation. But it’s just a fact that most employees consider themselves underpaid (as some surely are). Because of this fact they do what is necessary to get by and nothing more. It’s a sad state of affairs but fact.

Another contributing factor to the problem is our educational system does not prepare anyone for life on the outside. Our public school systems have turned into diploma factories. Whether you actually learn something is not important as long as you’re in school to generate tax dollars for the system. I have seen plenty of kids come looking for a job that can’t even read or write. And spelling, well don’t even get me started on that!

Another factor is the lack of a work ethic! When I was raised I was taught that any job you undertake should be done to the best of your ability. Today’s youth lack this work ethic. The “world owes me a living” attitude is part of the problem. Nobody has taken the time to show these people that hard work will achieve more than doing just getting by. Therefore when you hire these types you get an untrained, uneducated, worker that doesn’t know what’s expected of them. A major problem with that is management! They promote the ass kisser’s and harangue the good workers. The “Big Box” stores are the worst in this respect, that’s why the employee turnover is so great.

Do your best and nobody can fault you. If they do it’s their loss.

The Boss
Author: Unknown

There is only one boss. Whether a person shines shoes for a living or heads up the biggest corporation in the world, the boss remains the same. The boss is the customer. The customer is the person who pays everyone’s salary and who decides whether a business is going to succeed or fail. The customer doesn’t care if the business has been around for 100 years or a week. The minute the business starts treating him badly, he’ll start to put it out of business!

The customer has bought and will buy everything you have or ever will have. He’s bought all of your clothes, your home and your car. He pays your bills and for your children’s education and he pays in exact proportion to the way you treat him. The man who works deep inside a big warehouse or in a retail store might think he’s working for the “Company” that writes his paychecks, but he’s not! He is working for the person that buys the products that the “Company” offers. In fact, the customer can fire everybody in the company from the President on down. He can do it by simply spending his money somewhere else.

Some of the largest companies that had flourishing businesses a few years ago are no longer in existence. They couldn’t or didn’t satisfy the customer. They forgot who the Real Boss was!

Jsgolfman’s Thoughts

As an owner of a small business, my most powerful marketing tool is word of mouth. I think I can safely say that 50% of my business is derived from previous satisfied customers. I am not unique in my ability to diagnose and repair PC problems; there are techs-a-plenty if you look around. Indeed, the one thing that will make you stand out from the crowd is what happens before and after the repair or job is done. I am not here to offer a fool-proof method for making cash. Sure as I offer one, they’ll make a better fool. What I can impart are methods and advice that have served me well and allow me to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

* Free estimates – Yes, my time may be valuable but the continued patronage will more than make up for the small investment of time.
* Fixed or free offer – I know, another freebie, but this one really makes points with customers. Once the customer has agreed to your estimate, make sure they are aware that the estimate is only if you are able to repair the item to their satisfaction. I can count on one hand the number of times I was unable to repair an item; but I can’t tell you how many other customers that small gesture has earned me.
* Be flexible – For me this means I make house calls, even on weekends. I offer to pick up/deliver items rather than shipping them back. I often provide lower cost alternatives to customers which will serve them just as well even if they ask for something more expensive.
* Free education – This works only with customers who are willing and able to accept advice, make your judgments carefully. I’ll spend time acquainting my customers with the new technology I installed for them. I’ll educate them on what repairs I made and how they can avoid these issues in the future. Along those lines is another freebie I offer all of my customers, it’s the next bullet point.
* Free CD’s – I provide each of my customers, whether repair or new build, a utilities CD. Included on this CD are the latest versions of free AV, anti-spyware, firewall, browser, etc. Of course the CD has my company logo emblazoned on it so they remember who helped them out. It only takes a few minutes to download the programs and burn them to CD.
* My final piece of advice – THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT! I don’t care if they are wrong, they are right. You gain nothing by arguing with your clients. Your little bit of satisfaction probably just cost you 10 future customers. If the issue is a larger monetary one, small claims court is the place to go but other than that it’s just not worth it.

At the end of the day, you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and live with your decisions. If you can’t do that and still make money, you don’t need to be serving the populace. I once put together a memorial presentation for a family that just lost their father. I logged more than 30 hours producing the finished product but only charged the family for 20. The extra 10 hours would have made the project cost exorbitant. I lost some on that end but since have made approximately 50 copies for the other members in attendance at the memorial because they enjoyed it so much. Had I charged the 30 hours, they may have been reluctant to order more copies at such a high cost.