Customer Service

Customer service. That is almost a contradiction in terms these days. From the grocery store where they wing the products by so fast that you can’t see what is going on, to the support lines where you have to dial one for English. Customer service is a dying art.

I know someone that was at a pizza place over the weekend. It was a very windy day and they went in to buy a couple of slices to go. After his purchase he took his pizza slices to go in a box. On his way out of the door the wind grabbed the door form his hands. In an effort to save the door the wind grabbed his slices instead and flung them like Frisbees. The door was saved but the slices were all over the parking lot with the empty box. The vendor merely shrugged his shoulders and grunted returning to work. Granted, it was not the fault or the concern of the shop manager but that was an opportunity to turn a negative situation into a positive. He could have offered to replace the slices and been a hero. Instead this person went without and as a consequence will not go back to that shop. And as we all know, bad news travels faster than good and this event will probably cost the shop a couple of customers.

I am a manager in a local carwash and detail shop. If somebody misses the last coin alert or just ran out of change I will always give them a minute or two to rinse the vehicle off. It is not worth sending the customer away with soap all over it. It looks terrible and might ruin the paint if it is really hot outside. By helping the customer in this way they will always come back and you have made a customer for life. We need more Nice Guy rules in customer service. Answer the phone, don’t just let it go to voice mail. From the other point of view, if someone gives you good service let them know. I was in a restaurant with my family after a long drive over the weekend and we received incredible service. The people were friendly and went out of their way. We were far from home and it was not like we were regular customers, we had never been there before. When we were leaving I told them that it was one of the friendliest restaurants that I have been to. When someone or a business does something right they deserve to know. It has always been the rule that people will give a bad review before they give a good one. I don’t believe in that, of course because I am a Nice Guy. If I don’t have anything good or constructive to say then I will just shut the hell up.

Customer service should not be a thing of the past or the passion of Nice Guys, it should be a part of any good business. If there is to be an option when you call for service it should be to press 1 to be treated decently, press 2 to be treated like a slug.