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There's That Customer Service Thing Again!

Guest post by: Denise Griffitts

Article Overview: If, as a consumer you consistently receive poor service there is just no reason at all not to find a business that will treat you better. There is no dearth of other stores, restaurants, (insert name here) who will be delighted to do business with you. And this goes for online retailers as well.

There's That Customer Service Thing Again!

I do talk a lot about customer service. Why? Because that is quite literally what will keep people coming back to your place of business, be it brick and mortar, or online. If, as a consumer you consistently receive poor service there is just no reason at all not to find a business that will treat you better. There is no dearth of other stores, restaurants, (insert name here) who will be delighted to do business with you. And this goes for online retailers as well. As a very busy small business owner, I almost never shop unless it is online. In fact, I bought my last two vehicles online and my motto for many years has been, "If UPS can't bring it to my door in a box, then I don't need it." Works for me. Beyond that, I actually do hate to shop. This is unnatural according to my female friends but there it is. I would rather be hit by a beer truck and smashed flat then step foot into a mall. Why am I telling you all this? Because while consumer satisfaction with your product is of course very important, it is actually the treatment that they receive at your hands that will determine whether or not they return and just as importantly, whether or not they are willing to refer your business to other people. I think some online retail stores haven't quite grasped this concept. I recently ordered three summer dresses online from a store that I had not previously done business with. They are a nationally recognized brand and things should have gone well. They didn't. What arrived in the nice tidy box on my doorstep bore little resemblance to my order. So.... and this is where it got fairly irritating. When I explained to the "Customer Service" person that the order had only one item correct and that I needed to return the incorrect items for exchange but didn't feel that I should pay for the privilege, there ensued what can only be termed as a mini tussle. This girl was not about to allow that to happen no matter what my email order confirmation said. I had to speak with her supervisor to get the issue resolved to my satisfaction. And that is the key word. Satisfaction. What I was requesting was in no way unreasonable. I just wanted the products that I had ordered without having to pay additional shipping for a mistake that was not mine. The shame is that I had to spend much more time on the phone than this warranted and get a supervisor to handle it. Will I do business with them again? Highly unlikely. There are just too many other choices available. What is the lesson? If your competitors are taking quality care of their customers/consumers/clients and you are not, you will lose every time. It may be a slow steady leak of customers, but eventually you do have to look up and wonder what in the heck happened to your customers. What do you think?

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Article Tags: competition, consumer satisfaction, customer service, online retailers
Referred by: http://www.onlinebizu.com



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Re: Service Or Product? - I agree with starting a Service-based Business in the economy. Here is what I think is critical: 1. Researching that your Service business has a market. 2. Marketing the Service with as much leverage as possible. 3. Product-izing the Service (aka Package Expert Knowledge). This will only help elevate you as "the" expert in your niche and make you accessible to people in different price points.
Marketers, Learn What You Can, Cannot Control Online - I am a Customer Service Representative in my company so naturally every once and a while I get angry customers fed up with my companies policies. Oh! I remember one day on my way home from school I was walking by a gas station and there was a man with a huge cardboard sign outside a small car mechanic business telling people not to go there because they are crooks. I am pretty sure they lost tons of business. I know my mama kept away from there after I told her about it. I found it pretty funny. I wonder if the guy got arrested or fined though....
Wearing different hats in Business - I have a business that produces beautiful custom rugs for home and business environments. Different hats that I'm wearing... Rug Fabrication - 10 [i:21cr28m8](partially outsourced to an outfit here in the US)[/i:21cr28m8] Customer Service / Sales - 8-10 Bookkeeping - 1 Marketing - 6 Website development - 5 [i:21cr28m8](mainly outsourced)[/i:21cr28m8] SEO, SEM - 6-8 Accounting - [i:21cr28m8](outsourced)[/i:21cr28m8]
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
My reading log - Hi OmnivoreInk, Before starting my business, I read the following books as research: -"The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki -"The AdSense Code" by Joel Comm -"Don't Think Pink" and "Mind Your X's and Y's" by Lisa Johnson And since then I've continued my "research" by reading (in this order): -"Technical Tennis" by Rod Cross -"For One More Day" by Mitch Albom -"The Twits" by Roald Dahl -"Little Black Book of Connections" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne -"The Profitable Retailer" by Doug Fleener -"Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell -"Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis -"Little Green Book of Getting Your Way" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling And I'm currently reading and am in the process of finishing the following: -"There's No Such Thing as Public Speaking" by Jeanette and Roy Henderson -"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell -"The Book of Tells" by Peter Collett -"Little Red Book of Sales Answers" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience" by Jonathan M. Tisch -"The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron -"The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey


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