Speaking Customer

 

"Rule 1: The customer is always right. Rule 2: If the customer is ever wrong, re-read Rule 1"

Stew Leonard

Once in a while (okay - quite often), I get to vent in one of my postings. Today I am going to address one of my biggest pet peeves - customer courtesy. In my lifetime, I have seen this attribute go from common to rare.

I started working retail in 1966 when a brand new Montgomery Wards opened up in my home town. I was hired to work on the dock and a stock boy in the Paint Department. It was a great experience. Many times when I was stocking shelves, I would observe some of the more experienced sales people deal with customers. I learned quite a bit. One day, the Department Manager asked me if I would like to do some selling as well as stocking. I jumped at the chance. He told me "First and foremost, remember your manners. Treat each customer with respect, just like you treat your parents".

One Saturday  morning, a customer came in and was madder than a wet hen. He had bought some paint and it did not meet his satisfaction. One of the part timers named Tony immediately went up to him and allowed this man to yell, complain and vent for a good five minutes. Once the customer was done and catching his breath, Tony, with a big smile on his face, apologized for the dissatisfaction and then told him "Now, lets fix this so you walk out of here happy and satisfied". After the man had left, I asked Tony how he did it - how he could stand there and let this man get in his face and yell at him. Tony replied he knew the customer was probably at fault. He probably did not apply the paint the correct way. However, if he told that to the customer, that customer would probably never come back. "First, I kill people with kindness. Then I solve their problem". The whole time Tony was fixing this man's problem, he was also talking about different application techniques that worked for him. In other words, without the customer realizing it, Tony was not only solving his problem, but also training him on how to use the product correctly.Everybody won. The customer left happy and Montgomery Wards kept a customer.

The years went on. Most of my jobs in industry were customer related. I prided myself in my customer skills and every year tried to do better. As good as I thought I was, towards the end of my career, I learned to get a whole lot better. A director I worked for at one of my final companies had a mantra which he pounded into his team that dealt directly with clients. "When you are with client, you need to speak customer, and only customer". In other words, listen with your ears instead of your mouth, be your customer's problem solver, and most of all, your customer's solution. In addition, no matter how many different clients you may be serving at one time, each one needs to feel that he or she is the only one.

When my wife and I worked in a liquor store while in college, the man who was the owner/operator told us in different words to "speak customer". This little specialty liquor store was more like the bar in Cheers than an off sale store. People loved coming in, many greeted by name, and most left with product as well as a smile. People were treated with respect and gratitude, no matter the size of the purchase. Customers felt not only like customers, they felt like friends.

Today, we see a much different attitude. Many times when my wife and I have been out to eat, we have been referred to as "guys" (my wife is not a guy!). "Please" and "thank you" are spoken infrequently, and "service with a smile" is rare. Often when I buy something, instead of "thank you", I get "there you go". Sometimes when the young clerk hands me the receipt I say "thank you" and the clerk says "you bet" or something of that nature. The clerk is suppose to thank me for shopping!

I am a "sir", not a "guy" or a "fellow". I would like to be treated with the same respect that I treated customers with when I was "in the business". I have thought of maybe doing some consulting or training on customer satisfaction issues - including first contact. It is needed as I think this might be a dying skill today. As one of my managers told me once, "The customer may not always be right, but he or she is always the customer, and should be treated as such". Amen to that!