Is Bad Customer Service Killing Your Business?
service. It should be applauded and the purveyor of said good
customer service should be rewarded for actually delivering
satisfaction to the customer above and beyond the call of duty.
So let me tell you the story of my new hero, Ken. I won't tell
you the name of the store in which Ken works, but let's just say
they started out selling radios in a shack somewhere long, long
ago.
I first met Ken when I went into the store to buy a mixing board
for my business that records audio products for the Web. In a
nutshell, you plug microphones into the mixing board then
connect it to the computer and you can record audio directly to
digital format. Totally beside the point of this article, but I
didn't want you thinking that I was purchasing non-manly cooking
utensils. When I got the mixer installed it didn't work. So I
boxed it up and headed back to the store to return it. When I
told Ken my problem he didn't just grunt and give me my money
back as so many bad customer service reps would do. Instead he
asked, "Do you mind if I try it?"
"Knock yourself out," was my reply, confident that if I couldn't
get it to work, neither could Ken. Ken took the mixer out of the
box and went about hooking it up to one of the computers on
display. He started pulling power cords and cables off the
display racks and ripping them open and plugging them in. He
tore open a new microphone and an adapter and kept going until
he had the mixer hooked up and working. Yes, I said working. It
turns out the mixer was fine. I just had the wrong power adapter.
Ken could have just given me my money back and been done with
me. Instead he spent 15 minutes and opened a number of other
packages that I was under no obligation to buy just to help me
get the thing working.
I was so impressed that I not only kept the mixing board, I also
bought another $50 worth of products. And the next time I need
anything electronic guess where I will buy it? Even if it costs
twice as much, I'll buy it from Ken.
Now here's the moral of the story: if you are a business owner
who has a gaggle of teenagers in charge of customer service at
your store you would be better off replacing them with wild
monkeys.
At least monkeys can be trained.