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 What message do you send to your customers? Customers are, after all, quite important to your business. Do your practices reinforce their importance? Do your customers feel welcome and valued? Do you make it easy for your customers to do business with you?
My wife's recent experience at a local restaurant reminded me of just how easy it can be to send a customer the wrong message. I share it with you here so that you too can see how an opportunity to "wow" a customer actually resulted in a lost one.
It was a Friday evening after a busy week. My wife decided to place a to-go order at an expensive, local restaurant and treat our boys to its fish and chips, which they love. When told the order would take 25 minutes to prepare, she sat down in the waiting area with our oldest son and waited for the food.
After approximately 10 minutes, she noticed a bag sitting behind the counter, but though it was too soon be our food. After 30 minutes had passed, she asked about the status of our order. "Oh, here it is," the cashier responded as she grabbed the same bag that had been sitting there for more than 20 minutes.
My wife was not looking forward to eating the now cold and soggy fish and didn't feel like she was treated properly. The cashier responded to her concern with little sympathy, offering "we are pretty busy tonight" as the only explanation.
This lack of consideration only upset my wife more and she asked to speak with the manager. To her surprise, the manager only echoed the same sentiment. In a simple, elegant and matter-of-fact way, my wife responded, "Well, then we're sorry to have bothered you tonight. We hope we didn't impose too much on your ability to serve your more important customers. We've decided against the fish dinner tonight and we won't be back to trouble you again."
Understanding the situation a little more clearly, the manager refunded the bill and sent her home with the soggy fish. The irony is that the restaurant would have exceeded her expectations by having prepared the meal in ten minutes. Rather, they lost a customer by letting her "fall through the cracks" and then dismissing her concerns.
Does your whole organization strive for customer satisfaction? After all, the weakest link harms the whole process. Train employees to understand and empathize with their customers – customers who usually don't want to stop doing business with you.
To keep from driving your customers away, strive to understand why they choose your company. Make it easy for your customers to continue doing business with you, and show them that you care by reinforcing their importance.
- By Jeffrey Gerberry, CPA ( Dublin office)
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