Big Mistakes or Big Moments -It's Your Responsibility!
By Anne M. Obarski

RESPONSIBILITY: Customers like to do business with companies who believe it is their responsibility to educate their employees and keep them updated.

Customers expect it even though they may not always tell you. You do your employees and your customers a disservice if you don't provide your staff with the tools they need to efficiently and knowledgeably handle your customer's questions. And once is not enough!

TRAINING should be the lifeblood of any successful company and it should encompass everyone from entry level positions to the senior management team. Communication, negotiating, dealing with difficult customers, relationship building, life management, organizational and team building skills should be an on-going part of a business's training program and encompass every employee in the company.

Providing basic job skills training is a given, but adding additional training on intercommunication skills, "soft skills", and life balance techniques, will help to keep your employees working productively as a team both at work and in their private lives as well.

I was amazed to find out from a manager of a large nationwide bookstore chain that their training that used to last two weeks for new hires, has been "trimmed" to three days. I had to ask myself, what did they think was so unnecessary that they cut out? But more importantly, what was IN the original training that they originally felt that every employee should know?

Customers want to deal with people who are knowledgeable and efficient. A customer or clients time is precious to them and beware if you are the one that is "stealing" that time from them by making them wait too long to have their important questions answered. Even worse, is having employees who do not even have the basic skills to perform their daily duties. Performance based training should be the core of a business' training program and it is highly important to evaluate every employee's performance on an ongoing basis.

I am currently consulting for a small family owned grocery store chain. They polled a large number of their current customers to find out what they liked and disliked about the store. The answers made the store owners cringe at times as they read the results.

The BIG MOMENTS in the reports validated their initial reasons for opening up this special little grocery store years ago; to provide the freshest meats, produce and bakery items while providing a wide variety of items not found in other large grocery store chains. The answers, hands down, were that their customers would drive miles to buy their produce and meat items. Customers said, "Your fruit looks like it was hand picked", "Your lunchmeat is so great, I bought it before I went on vacation to our summer cottage", "Please don't change anything, you are doing a great job!".

But the second question offered a little different feedback from the exact same customers. In my mind these are a few "big mistakes".

Comments in this area pinpointed some easy to solve problems for management but ones they may not have even been aware of. "You don't even use the "tickets" at the meat counter correctly. You don't take them in order and sometimes you even take people who don't have a ticket and then when someone makes a comment about that, they complain." What happened to "the customer is always right?"

Other comments these very "loyal" customers made were:

"I am disappointed with some of the employees. When I stand by the counter the staff ignores me and sometimes they make me wait until THEY are ready to help me!"

"I am dissatisfied with the service in the deli, 1/3 of a pound does not mean