You may be wondering what happened to the world of customer service. Long ago it really meant something to a business owner to service their customers and to give them personal attention. They cared about what you thought about their product. If something was wrong, they tried their best to make it right. The old adage of the customer is always right wasn’t just a slogan or something you put on a door sign. It meant that the business was not satisfied until you were happy with the products or services that you received.
Today, it doesn’t seem as if it very important. A lot of businesses are closing because they forgot about the customer portion of their bottom line. They were so busy worried about the money, that they hurried through transactions. They pushed their employees to go faster and quicker until they lost a few of them. It wasn’t important to smile and greet the customer. Instead of a smile, you may get a grunt of “Can I help you?” If these businesses thought that we, as customers, couldn’t tell a real greeting from a fake one, they were sadly mistaken. We did notice the lack of personal attention we began to receive. We noticed that we were no longer people to them but a walking dollar sign that they needed to keep their doors open. We also noticed the lack of trained employees because they couldn’t keep the good ones there long enough.
Today’s businesses who are weathering the economic storms know what the definition of personal attention is. They understand that if a customer sends an email with a question, it should be answered right away including weekends. The business owners understand that they may even have to take a call or two from a disgruntled customer and handle it. They know that saying I’ll get back to you now means “Please get me off the phone!” Taking the time to answer a question should be a given, not a bother.
Personal attention is what is craved by customers. Good businesses understand that it may mean not closing right at 6 pm or 9 pm because there is a customer inside who is trying to decide on blue or green. It doesn’t mean to hurry them along by looking at your watch. Good customer service means digging in and making sure the transaction goes as smoothly as it possibly can.
