My second job after graduating from high school was bagging groceries for Lucky Stores Inc. in Los Angeles. Moms did the grocery shopping once a week, and $100 worth of groceries was a lot ! If the customer needed help finding something, or wanted the groceries separated and bagged in a particular way, I just did it. It never occurred to me to say “no problem.†Today, no matter where I go, if I ask for some type of customer service the response almost without fail is “no problem.†I’m glad that it is no problem, but that response grates on me.
Why do the ‘kids’ of today find it necessary to tell me that there is ‘no problem’ in doing what they are paid to do? Will there be a time when my request for customer service might become a problem? Where are the employers on this issue? Don’t they have enough business savvy to tell their employees that the phrase ‘no problem’ is not to be a part of their on-the-job vocabulary?
Every business relies on repetition, bringing customers back again and again, and yet the focus cannot be about retention. Customer service is hearing what another person wants or needs, and delivering the goods. It is providing value to and for people. It is good manners in the workplace. When I have a problem with a company, nothing frustrates me more than having to wrestle my way through a phone ‘menu’ maze to find someone with the authority to address my dissatisfaction, and in a timely manner. Put yourself in the position of the customer, and do as you would be done by.
Address mistakes quickly, go out beyond expectations, and clients will be transformed from unhappy to loyal. Return phone calls to new potential clients quickly. I always returned phone calls from potential new clients the same day they called me. When a possible new client was getting several estimates for the work they wanted done, I was always the first person to call back. Be reliable, and keep promises you make. If you do what you say you will do, that will lead to success, as well as personal satisfaction.
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