So often I hear advisors and even managers talking about how crazy and unreasonable some customers are. It happens when customers loose their temper and blast one of your employees. Almost always everybody comes to the seemingly logical conclusion that the customer that is ‘causing’ the problem is an idiot. Everyone gets into the act and a vote is taken that ends up finding that the customer has always been an idiot that can’t possibly be satisfied.
But here’s the thing- 99% of the time it isn’t the customer that is causing the problem, it is the store. Most people (and I’ll admit there are a few exceptions), but most people don’t wake up in the morning with the objective for the day to go to your store to get upset. What more likely happens is we did something or said something or had a process in place that causes customers to see red – and then we, as typical humans, blame anyone except ourselves.
So, my point is this. As a service manager it should be your job to raise the standards, to set an example and to squash negative customer interactions at all costs. If we just listen to what the upset customers are saying and put ourselves in their place we can probably get some good advice on what needs to change in the service department we are responsible for growing.
Today, you can’t afford to lose one customer.