Recently, my roommate bought a new flat screen TV. Wanting to patronize an independent dealer rather than a big box store, she walked into the new store in town which was a branch of a store based in South Dakota. The store stocked Toshiba, the brand that she wanted. She found a stand that she wanted, too, and ordered it. Once the stand came in, she planned to complete the deal and have both delivered.
That’s when the struggle began.
She called at 5:20 p.m. on a Sunday with no answer. Since she assumed that the store would be closed at that time on Sunday, she was not surprised. However, the phone did not have an answering machine, either, which today is quite amazing. The following day was Labor Day. In an attempt to find out the store’s Labor Day hours, she looked at the store’s Web site. On the company’s location page, one South Dakota store was revealed, but no other stores showed up. The page loaded slowly, possibly due to the Google map placement, and whether other stores were on the page or not, she could not tell. Whatever was the case, she could not get her information.
Then she called again. No answer. No answering machine. She was very frustrated.
Finally, a couple of hours later, someone answered the phone. One of her questions concerned when the TV would be delivered. The TV was at the store, but she was waiting for the stand that she had ordered. “Our warehouse will know on Tuesday if the stand is in,” the salesman who had sold her the stand and TV replied. “I will call the warehouse that day. If it is in, we will get the stand on Thursday, and we can deliver both later this week. I will let you know what I find out.”
Tuesday came and went, and he didn’t call. Thursday was the same story. Two and a half weeks passed before he called. “The stand is here,” he said. “Can we deliver the TV and stand tomorrow?”
I was astounded. First of all, he had not followed up on his promise to check on the delivery status of the stand. Even if all that he had to report was that the stand would not be in that week, the salesman would have maintained his communication and his credibility with a call. Salespeople who call only when they have good news are making a big mistake. What they don’t realize is that silence speaks volumes. Silence leaves the customer wondering what is happening. Silence builds the customer’s frustration. Communication trumps silence any day and builds a relationship with the customer. Silence does not.
The second reason that I was surprised was his expectation of delivery the following day. He either felt lucky or was clueless. In this hectic time, customers’ schedules are seldom that flexible. Mostly, they are just the opposite. His action seemed all about him. “Okay,” he thought, “this stand in finally here. Let’s get this delivered so that I can finish this sale and get my commission.”
He would have demonstrated his interest in his customer if he had called and asked what day worked best for her to take delivery. Had he done so, he would have discovered how anxious she was to have the TV. Of course, he could have known that, too, if he had followed up on his promise and called back two weeks prior. Instead of showing his interest in her, he called with a question as if he were still selling. At this point in the sale, he needed to recognize that he was no longer selling; he was servicing. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t know the difference.
You will shake your head when you hear the end of the story. When the delivery men pulled the packaging off the stand in the living room, they found that the glass in the stand was broken into several pieces. Evidently no one in the warehouse or at the store had checked the stand prior to delivery. At least, I assume that due to the surprise of the delivery guys. Now she is waiting again for a replacement stand to be delivered.
This company’s management and staff would develop customers if they understood that little things make the difference in handling customers. Little things leave customers happy or dissatisfied. Little things spread good word of mouth or not. Little things are customer friendly or non-friendly.
Check on your little things. How are you and your staff handling them?
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