The other day I was at the service counter to mail a book for my publishing company. I had handed the person behind the counter my package, and she had placed the package on the scale to weigh it when the phone rang. She answered the phone and listened to why the person was calling. She did not tell that person that she was in the process of helping another customer.
She continued her conversation for a time. Suddenly she hurried over to the computer in front of me, grabbed a post-it-note, and hastily wrote down a credit card number with expiration date. She input the credit card number she had written into the computer with an amount of $4.29. She thanked the person on the phone, finished her conversation, and hung up. Then she turned back to me, apologized, and told me the situation.
The person on phone had gotten home with an item that didn’t get rung up and, thus, had not paid for it. She was calling to pay the $4.29 for the item.
I think the lady behind the service counter had become quite flustered when the person on the phone had stated that she had not paid for all her items and wanted to do so. All the store employee could think of was getting the money as quickly as possible. She acted as if the customer might hang up and not pay if the transaction was not handled quickly.
I became a secondary concern.
As I am certain you are thinking, the store employee made an error after she answered the phone. When she realized what she needed to do for the customer on the phone, she ought to have told the customer that she was helping another customer. She should have asked the customer on the phone to wait and returned to help me. She also could have asked me if I would mind if she handled the customer on the phone before she finished processing my package. Either way, she was discourteous to me by leaving me waiting while she handled the phone customer.
She also erred in writing down the credit card number and expiration date in front of me on a post-it-note. That number could have been copied by me or someone behind me. I did not see her rip up post-it-note when she was finished with it, either. Her exposure of a credit card number with an expiration date left the store liable with the credit card company had someone stolen that information. A error of that nature could cost the store a great deal. She would have been smarter to input the credit card number directly into the computer without writing it down.
Reviewing this situation, I thought that the store’s management needs to check on the training of their personnel at the service counter, partly for liability issues and mostly for customer attention. The service counter employee definitely made me feel that I was not the most important customer even though she was into processing my package when the phone rang.
How are your employees handling customers? Who comes first? Are they exposing your company to liability unnecessarily?
Check on this. See what errors are being made. Correct them through training to keep customers happy and reduce your company’s risk.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is Who comes first with your employees? E-mail me your answer.
She continued her conversation for a time. Suddenly she hurried over to the computer in front of me, grabbed a post-it-note, and hastily wrote down a credit card number with expiration date. She input the credit card number she had written into the computer with an amount of $4.29. She thanked the person on the phone, finished her conversation, and hung up. Then she turned back to me, apologized, and told me the situation.
The person on phone had gotten home with an item that didn’t get rung up and, thus, had not paid for it. She was calling to pay the $4.29 for the item.
I think the lady behind the service counter had become quite flustered when the person on the phone had stated that she had not paid for all her items and wanted to do so. All the store employee could think of was getting the money as quickly as possible. She acted as if the customer might hang up and not pay if the transaction was not handled quickly.
I became a secondary concern.
As I am certain you are thinking, the store employee made an error after she answered the phone. When she realized what she needed to do for the customer on the phone, she ought to have told the customer that she was helping another customer. She should have asked the customer on the phone to wait and returned to help me. She also could have asked me if I would mind if she handled the customer on the phone before she finished processing my package. Either way, she was discourteous to me by leaving me waiting while she handled the phone customer.
She also erred in writing down the credit card number and expiration date in front of me on a post-it-note. That number could have been copied by me or someone behind me. I did not see her rip up post-it-note when she was finished with it, either. Her exposure of a credit card number with an expiration date left the store liable with the credit card company had someone stolen that information. A error of that nature could cost the store a great deal. She would have been smarter to input the credit card number directly into the computer without writing it down.
Reviewing this situation, I thought that the store’s management needs to check on the training of their personnel at the service counter, partly for liability issues and mostly for customer attention. The service counter employee definitely made me feel that I was not the most important customer even though she was into processing my package when the phone rang.
How are your employees handling customers? Who comes first? Are they exposing your company to liability unnecessarily?
Check on this. See what errors are being made. Correct them through training to keep customers happy and reduce your company’s risk.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is Who comes first with your employees? E-mail me your answer.
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