In order to get the style and color that she wanted, a friend of mine special ordered a new recliner. After an eight week wait, she received a call from one of the delivery guys at the store. “Your chair is in,” he stated. “We can deliver it on Friday.”
“I wanted to ask you to help me move my current recliner,” she replied.
“We don’t do that,” he snapped back.
“I expect to pay extra for you to do it,” she responded.
“We wouldn’t do it for nothing, but we still wouldn’t do it,” he said gruffly.
Upset with his unfriendly attitude, my friend finished the conversation. “Friday won’t work for me. I’ll get back to you.”
She picked up the phone, called a friend, and asked if he would help her by delivering the new recliner and taking her old one to a storage unit. She wanted to keep it in reserve temporarily in case the new one was not satisfactory.
He said he’d be glad to help her out. She called the store and informed the person that someone else would deliver the recliner. “I want your delivery charge removed before I pay the balance of the bill,” she said.
Interestingly, the person on the phone did not ask why she was having someone else deliver the recliner. When she paid the balance a few days later, no one asked then, either. Evidently, the store personnel didn’t care about deliveries.
I understand that, although deliveries are a necessary customer service for some businesses, they can be costly. I also understand and encourage businesses to set parameters of deliveries in order to control these costs. I do not understand why someone at the business would not ask why my friend had changed her mind about having the store deliver the chair.
I suggested that she tell someone at the store that she felt the delivery person who called her was rude and had a bad attitude. She didn’t feel comfortable doing that. Like most customers, she did not want to be confrontational. Since no one at the business seemed to care, her comments would probably have fallen on deaf ears.
However, the attitude of the delivery person will definitely affect her future business with the store.
This incident is an excellent example of the importance of the attitude of every employee in a business. Every employee’s attitude markets the business. A single employee with a bad attitude can negatively affect a customer and possibly discourage that person from ever doing business with the company in the future. Yes, I know we all have bad days, but we do not have to share them with the customer. I highly recommend that you impress upon all your employees the importance of treating all customers courteously every day.
Although you may never hear about it, one employee’s discourteous treatment could destroy all your efforts to get a customer’s business and retain it in the future.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is What bad attitude from an employee has discouraged you from doing business with a company in the future? E-mail me your answer.
“I wanted to ask you to help me move my current recliner,” she replied.
“We don’t do that,” he snapped back.
“I expect to pay extra for you to do it,” she responded.
“We wouldn’t do it for nothing, but we still wouldn’t do it,” he said gruffly.
Upset with his unfriendly attitude, my friend finished the conversation. “Friday won’t work for me. I’ll get back to you.”
She picked up the phone, called a friend, and asked if he would help her by delivering the new recliner and taking her old one to a storage unit. She wanted to keep it in reserve temporarily in case the new one was not satisfactory.
He said he’d be glad to help her out. She called the store and informed the person that someone else would deliver the recliner. “I want your delivery charge removed before I pay the balance of the bill,” she said.
Interestingly, the person on the phone did not ask why she was having someone else deliver the recliner. When she paid the balance a few days later, no one asked then, either. Evidently, the store personnel didn’t care about deliveries.
I understand that, although deliveries are a necessary customer service for some businesses, they can be costly. I also understand and encourage businesses to set parameters of deliveries in order to control these costs. I do not understand why someone at the business would not ask why my friend had changed her mind about having the store deliver the chair.
I suggested that she tell someone at the store that she felt the delivery person who called her was rude and had a bad attitude. She didn’t feel comfortable doing that. Like most customers, she did not want to be confrontational. Since no one at the business seemed to care, her comments would probably have fallen on deaf ears.
However, the attitude of the delivery person will definitely affect her future business with the store.
This incident is an excellent example of the importance of the attitude of every employee in a business. Every employee’s attitude markets the business. A single employee with a bad attitude can negatively affect a customer and possibly discourage that person from ever doing business with the company in the future. Yes, I know we all have bad days, but we do not have to share them with the customer. I highly recommend that you impress upon all your employees the importance of treating all customers courteously every day.
Although you may never hear about it, one employee’s discourteous treatment could destroy all your efforts to get a customer’s business and retain it in the future.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is What bad attitude from an employee has discouraged you from doing business with a company in the future? E-mail me your answer.
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