Providing Customer Service

I was sitting in the office where my father works and the discussion moved around to customer service.

A business partner was frustrated with the treatment he had received at the local dealership of a major commercial truck franchise. He described the irritation he experienced when trying to order parts. “You don’t know if you will receive the parts or not. Half the time they don’t have them in stock and it’s easier to drive 45 miles to another franchise than to deal with them.”

My father nodded his head in agreement and commented “The last time I was there they acted like they didn’t want to wait on me. If they are treating everyone that way I’m sure they have lost a lot of business.”

This conversation happened to be about a high-end commercial truck franchise, but could very well have been about any company.

You can’t look down your nose at your customers, no matter who they are. My father and his business partner don’t wear suits. Heck, you’re lucky if you see one of them in a golf shirt. They are mechanics and welders. My father can service a variety of vehicles, from family autos to 18 wheelers. He can fabricate a lot of things out of metal. He has the final say in a lot of the purchases made for the shop where he is manager. You don’t want to alienate him because you will lose money.

His partner, well, he owns many of the commercial trucks my father works on. His company purchases a lot of repair parts, fuel, hoses, and other items needed to keep those trucks running. He is already going out-of-his-way to purchase parts at another dealership rather than be frustrated by the local crew.

Between the two they make a substantial amount of purchases.

It is important that your staff treat all your customers with respect and consideration. Excellent customer service should be applying to everyone who walks through your door. From the people who make purchases to the people who bring your supplies. If your company gets the reputation of stinky service you will lose business.

It has been said that it takes eight good experiences to repair the damage caused by one negative experience. If you alienate the telephone repair person, who is rarely in your office, how will you find eight opportunities to rebuild the relationship? How about your office equipment repair persons? With any luck your company only interacts with them less than once per month. That means it would take over eight months to make up for one bad experience. If you think those relationships are expendable, you are doing your company a major disservice!

Even your repair persons discuss your company with potential clients. Can you afford to have them talking bad about you?