Those Pesky Customers
By Bill Sheridan on Oct 1, 2007 in Feature
Kyle just plain didn’t get it.
Renee and I were shopping at one of those big-box lumber, garden equipment and hardware stores in Des Moines last week. While there we stopped at the appropriate counter to have some keys made for a new door that will soon be installed at our home.
No one was at the counter so I dutifully pressed the button which would presumably send a helpful associate scurrying toward us to happily serve our needs.
After ten minutes we were prepared to depart when Kyle (as indicated by the name on his shirt) showed up looking a bit disgruntled that we had somehow ruined his day.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Need some keys made. Can you help us out?"
"Yeah."
"A bit understaffed today, Kyle?"
"Nope. It’s either feast or famine. Sometimes I’m getting some real work done and then a customer comes along!"
"Uh, Kyle? Aren’t customers the point of you being here?"
Young Kyle either shares my hearing loss or chose to ignore the question (my money’s on the latter). Obviously, he had been out on vacation the day his supervisors taught the class on treating customers like gold because they have all sorts of choices in where to shop.
To his credit, he did make the keys. Well, sort of. It turned out that he could only make two since the blanks for what we needed had run out.
I thanked Kyle for his work and promised to return to get the rest of them made. My only hope is that when we go back to spend our hard-earned money at his place of employment we don’t interrupt his real work. After all, customers can be such a nuisance.
As an entrepreneur—I’d bet my bottom dollar that you treasure every customer, client or prospect who walks in your shop or calls you. But what about your employees? Do you have a Kyle on staff who doesn’t quite get it?
Rather than take that risk, I recommend that you have a friend from out-of-town be a mystery shopper and report back to you about the treatment he/she receives. Hopefully, you will be pleasantly surprised with the results of the experiment. But if not, what better way to find out? It will give you an opportunity to do some employee coaching on who really is responsible for his/her paycheck!
Bill Sheridan—"Sheridan Writes" Bio under Guest Authors
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John R. Ingrisano | Oct 2, 2007 | Reply
Bill, I’ve always said — more or less tongue in cheek — that it weren’t for the customers and the employees, business would be a breeze.
Another excellent piece. We all have run into Kyles. Sad but true. J
Claire Upham (sister of Bill) | Oct 2, 2007 | Reply
Same thing happened to me recently at a “BIG” box store trying to pick up items to hang pictures. It was frustrating to be made to feel you were “interrupting” their day. Good article Bill.
Eric | Oct 2, 2007 | Reply
The other day I was at Lowe’s loading up 4 carts with over $2,500 in lighting for some spec homes I’m building and I got treated like I was the worlds biggest pain in the ass.
I was really shocked. We needed a few dozen light fixtures and after each one he would walk away and we’d have to go find him to get us another box or check the back for stock. We even asked repeatedly for him to stick around and he just refused.
At one point it seemed we caught him mimicking or making fun of us and/or our light choices to a co-worker as they quickly went quiet when we appeared in the aisle they were standing in and the co-worker he was talking to tried to hold a chuckle back while he took off the opposite direction.
How’s that for customer service? That experience probably cost Lowe’s $15,000/yr in sales because we’ll never shop there for spec lighting again. Home Depot is just down the road
John R. Ingrisano | Oct 3, 2007 | Reply
There’s a common thread running through here — and a GREAT OPPORTUNITY for SBOs looking to build customer loyalty and make a buck. Service counts!
It’s not so much about selection and price, but about service, about making the customer feel welcome and appreciated. — JRIngrisano