What kind of messages are your employees sending to your customers? This video speaks volumes as to the need for serious customer service training these days. The end result is clear - a lost sales opportunity, or worse the permanent loss of a customer. How many people did this customer tell about his bad customer service experience at the magazine retailer? In this case it could be millions. With the current state of technology, a bad customer service experience with your company is just a click away from being broadcast to millions worldwide! This magazine shop should be thankful that its company name was not displayed during the video, the damage to the company's image could have been much worse. Is one of your employees a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off??? Click play to see bad customer service in action.
It is clear that this employee doesn't have a clue as to why she is employed. If you were to ask her what her job description is she would likely reply "to put away magazines". Naturally this is part of her job duties, but in her mind it is clear that it is her job duty. If her only job were to stock magazines, there would be no reason why she is working during store hours as she would only be in the way. Managers put employees around customers for a reason - to provide customer service and assist them whenever possible. Of course there are other duties such as replenishing stock levels, cleaning, setting displays, etc. but those are secondary activities that can be done when convenient.
This employee failed to see the real question that the customer was asking. He may have said "do you have this month's Top Gear?" But what is really being asked is "Excuse me, could you please help me find a magazine." The employee missed a golden opportunity to truly serve the customer in this situation.
Here is what should have happened after the question. The employee should have put down what she was doing walked over to the gentleman and verified his question. "You can't seem to find this month's Top Gear? Let me try and find it for you." As someone who apparently devotes a great deal of her time and effort to stocking magazine she is likely to have a good idea of which magazine titles the shop carries.
Her options to help the customer at this point are numerous. If the shop carried that particular title she would likely know where it would be located and could have found it for him. If she was still unable to find it she could have checked the ordering catalogs or computer programs which would indicate if the title is due for delivery soon and relayed this information to the consumer.
If the title is out of stock or not carried by the shop there are still options available to her to assist and satisfy the customer. An excellent option would be suggest an alternative title that is similar in content to the unavailable title. This serves several purposes. First if the shop does not carry the requested title, there is still an opportunity to create customer value and make a sale. Secondly if the shop did carry the title, but was simply out of stock, the opportunity still exists for a sale. Furthermore if the employee was able to suggest a suitable alternative the customer may well decide that he likes both magazines and will return to the shop in the future to purchase both.
This is a golden example of why it is so important to have the right people in positions to create memorable customer experiences. Bad customer experience creation can be devastating. With a poor employee such as the one in the video the customer may well be discouraged enough to never return and take his money elsewhere. Had the shop employed an employee devoted to customer service the results could be much different. If the employee was able to suggest a suitable alternative the customer will likely return in the future and possibly even purchase two magazines instead of just one.
You might be thinking, "its just a couple of magazine, what difference does that make?" The answer is a BIG DIFFERENCE. If this customer is lost for good, no further value can come from him. On the other hand if the customer does return to purchase say, two magazines a month at $5 a piece, that adds up to $120 in additional annual revenue. Multiply this by 10 or 20 customers and it can really start to add up fast. This works both ways - loose 10 or 20 customers who spend $5-10 a month and this can really hurt your bottom line.
If you are losing customers it is highly likely that they are still purchasing the goods or services you sell, but they are purchasing them elsewhere. That means additional revenues and resources are being lost to you competition! Bad customer service simply cannot be tolerated. Don't be you competition's best friend!
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
- Angry Customers Mirror You
- Every Customer Experience Touch Point Counts
- Are Your Vendors Hurting Your Customer's Experience?
- The Worst F-Word: FINE
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
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