Is Bad Customer Service Killing Your Business?

Title:Is Bad Customer Service Killing Your Business?Word Count:850Summary:It's time to beat the old bad customer servicedrum again. I know, I'm sick of beating the drum,too, but as long as bad customer service runsrampant through so many businesses I feel it ismy entrepreneurial duty to bring it to yourattention. So grab a pew and prepare to listen tothe sermon I've preached before: bad customerservice is the bane of business. If the Almighty

smote down every business that dispenses badcustomer service, the world would be a muchfriendlier,...Keywords:success, hardwork, small business, experience,business, email, e-mail, policy, professional,impresArticle Body:It's time to beat the old bad customer servicedrum again. I know, I'm sick of beating the drum,too, but as long as bad customer service runsrampant through so many businesses I feel it ismy entrepreneurial duty to bring it to yourattention. So grab a pew and prepare to listen tothe sermon I've preached before: bad customerservice is the bane of business. If the Almightysmote down every business that dispenses badcustomer service, the world would be a much

friendlier, albeit much sparser place. Considera world without malls and fast food joints?wouldit really be so bad?What puzzles me most is if bad customer serviceis such a death knell for business, why do so manybusinesses allow it to go on? Don't they read mycolumn, for Pete's sake? I think the problem isthat most bad customer service is doled out (orat least condoned) by business owners andmanagers who have ceased caring what theircustomers think. When you stop caring what yourcustomers think it's time to close the doors. Gofind a day job. You'll make someone a wonderfullydisgruntled employee.My latest parable of lousy customer service wasactually experienced by my better half whileattempting to buy my daughter a pair of basketballshoes. I won't mention the name of the sportinggoods chain store in which the bad customerservice took place, but I will tell you that its

name is similar to the sound a frog with hiccupsmight make.As my wife waited for someone to assit, the fouror five teenagers who had been charged withmanning the store stood in a clump at the cashregister giggling and flirting with one anotheras if they were at the prom instead of at work.When my wife pointed out this fact, one of theemployees, a cheeky lass of 16 or so, put her handson her hips and said, \"How rude!\" The males in thegroup didn't react at all. They were too busyarguing over who could take a break so they couldchase other cheeky lasses about the mall.Needless to say my lovely bride, who has theability to instill fear into the hearts of eventhe most worthless employees, left the gaggle ofgiggling teen idiots standing with their mouthsopen in disbelief. How dare a customer tell themto do that with a pair of basketball shoes?

As much as I bemoan bad customer service Icelebrate good customer service. It should beapplauded and the purveyor of said good customerservice should be rewarded for actuallydelivering satisfaction to the customer, aboveand beyond the call of duty.So let me tell you the story of my new hero, Ken.I won't tell you the name of the store in whichKen works, but let's just say they started outselling radios in a shack somewhere long, longago.I first met Ken when I went into the store to buya mixing board for my business that records audioproducts for the Web. In a nutshell, you plugmicrophones into the mixing board then connect itto the computer and you can record audio directlyto digital format. Totally beside the point ofthis article, but I didn't want you thinking thatI was purchasing non-manly cooking utensils.

When I got the mixer installed it didn't work. SoI boxed it up and headed back to the store toreturn it. When I told Ken my problem he didn'tjust grunt and give me my money back as so manybad customer service reps would do. Instead heasked, \"Do you mind if I try it?\"\"Knock yourself out,\" was my reply, confidentthat if I couldn't get it to work, neither couldKen. Ken took the mixer out of the box and wentabout hooking it up to one of the computers ondisplay. He started pulling power cords andcables off the display racks and ripping them openand plugging them in. He tore open a newmicrophone and an adapter and kept going until hehad the mixer hooked up and working. Yes, I saidworking. It turns out the mixer was fine. I justhad the wrong power adapter.Ken could have just given me my money back and beendone with me. Instead he spent 15 minutes and

opened a number of other packages that I was underno obligation to buy just to help me get the thingworking.I was so impressed that I not only kept the mixingboard, I also bought another $50 worth of products.And the next time I need anything electronic guesswhere I will buy it? Even if it costs twice as much,I'll buy it from Ken.Now here's the moral of the story: if you are abusiness owner who has a gaggle of teenagers incharge of customer service at your store you wouldbe better off replacing them with wild monkeys.At least monkeys can be trained.