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Joe's Thoughts
In my travels through the retail/service world, I have come to realize that a great reform is needed. I have begun to realize that Customer Service is almost extinct. This is true of almost every aspect of my world (New Jersey/Florida). My theory is that a lot of these people that work or own these businesses feel that my money isn't important and they don't need my business.
It is time that these business owners and their employees start to reconsider their practices. I am a big proponent of customer service and too many places are forgetting this. I have repeatedly stated and abide by my saying, "I will PAY more for good customer service."
This is true of every business; from pizza places to gas stations, to the computer stores, to the big biz monopolies of today. I am completely appalled at the state of our industries. It has gone from a friendly greeting and a warm received phone call to a smirk and a badgering.
When I go into a pizza place and I am not greeted with at least a "hello" within 5 minutes of standing at the counter with only 2 other people; I WALK OUT! I can buy pizza at 5 other places in the 1-mile strip this guy's pizza place is on. I can understand if a person is stressed and completely busy, but when the person is talking to his buddies in the back laughing and joking while his customers are waiting at the counter for service, he doesn't deserve my money. I switched phone companies because I couldn't get answers to my billing questions without being transferred 10 times.
I have been in the retail/customer service industry. I am not too proud to admit it. I worked for Best Buy, Staples, Banks, etc. Most of the reasons I was a great salesman were because I greeted everyone who walked through my department no matter how busy I was, aside from my, erhum, great looks (ha ha), and my, cough cough, magnetic personality. I greeted everyone with a warm smile and when in direct conversation with them… a handshake. You might say this is overboard, but I will disagree. I helped most of my customers carry their items to their cars! I broke every sales record in every retail store I worked in because of this. My customers were MY customers. I would be swamped with work and my customers would wait for me to help them instead of being helped by someone else. I treated them with respect. After all, they are the reason I had my job.
Everything that we do is pretty much customer service related. Masonry, Carpentry, Computer Repair work, Web hosting, all of it. If you don't serve your customer, they will go somewhere else. Unfortunately, there are so many places that don't care anymore that our options are running out.
I am not saying that I want people to treat me any better than anyone else, I want these businesses to treat everyone better than they are treating us now. I refuse to spend my money in these places, and my black list is growing larger every day.
Service your customers, and they will continue to be your customers.
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