Sometimes, when I am experiencing exceptionally bad customer service, I think that the person delivering that service must not be thinking about the "or else."
The "or else's" for bad customer service are many:
- the sale could be lost
- the customer could never come back
- the former customer could tell others about the bad service she got and convince others not to come back
- other employees could see that bad service is tolerated and some of them may start taking the easy way out (good customer service usually takes a little effort and initiative)
- The customers of those employees could stop coming back and stop making purchases
- The business, facing declining sales and lowering public perception, could be forced to cut expenses
- The sales person who started this all could lose their job.
- The company is forced to close because the smaller sales force makes it impossible to be responsive to customer needs
- The industry is struck with rumors of decline, sending stock prices plummeting and closing more businesses
- The economy, facing a sudden and unpredicted business sector collapse goes into a tailspin, and then..
- Well...you get the idea.
I am not seriously suggesting some sort of customer service butterfly effect (where a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world and creates a hurricane elsewhere in the world). I am proposing that customer service, good and bad, DOES have ripple effects that are difficult to predict. I am saying that the small gestures, like a smile or a courtesy to a customer, CAN come back to you multiplied many times over. I am suggesting that we would be a lot better off if we each asked ourselves if this was the best we could do.
I am also recommending that we consider the "or else."
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