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Great Customer Service is No Accident

by Bill Collier

Here’s a personal experience that left me wondering whether to stop doing business with a longtime vendor …

For years I’ve been doing most of my automotive maintenance business with a locally owned auto center. The customer service is usually pretty good, and I’ve generally been satisfied with the products and repair quality.

Twice in one month, I found my tire pressure low right after a service transaction. In both cases, checking air pressure was part of the service that should have been provided.

The first time, I went back to have my tires checked and was left with the distinct impression that nobody made note of the incident. In other words, no follow-up to make sure nobody was skimping on the old family recipe.

When it happened the second time, I spoke with the store manager. He immediately got defensive and told me he would refund the money for the service – in this case, a front-end alignment. I explained that I didn’t want my money back and that I was concerned with my confidence in their quality.

During this exchange, he said two things that bothered me:

A) “Don’t judge me on my mistakes. Judge me on how I make it up to you.”

B) “I can’t control what my technicians do.”

Statement A tells me he doesn’t understand the simple premise that it is the customer – not the seller – who decides what criteria to use when rating a transaction or a vendor. While I appreciate his willingness to refund my money, that’s not what I wanted. Offering to refund was fine; ordering me to like it was not.

I told him I simply wanted some assurance that they would address the quality problem I’d identified. That’s when Statement B came out.

It looks like his main tool for “fixing” quality problems is the refund. If he never goes after the root cause of the issues, he’s going to give away lots of free service.

He’s right about one thing: He can’t “control” his technicians. But it’s not about control. It’s about hiring people who want to do a good job, giving them the needed training and resources, measuring results (including customer feedback), and making adjustments when needed.

I would have been thrilled if he had told me he would just hold a quick meeting. (“Folks, we need to make sure we’re checking tire pressure. After all, we’re a tire company!”)

Think about your business. When your team members are faced with a challenging customer interaction, can you count on them to respond appropriately? Will they respectfully listen to your customers or get defensive?

Be proactive. Create a clear definition of outstanding customer service for your company and then train and equip your people to deliver it.

Bill Collier is the St.-Louis area head coach for The Great Game of Business. He works with organizations that want to improve financial results, engage their employees and create a winning culture. Bill can be reached at 314-221-8558, GreatGame.com/stl, GGOBSTL.com or bcollier@ggob.com.

Submitted 8 years 180 days ago
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Categories: categorySmall Business Success
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