Customer Service Advertising

There is a new form of advertising working its way through the market place. Customer service was once referred to as the way a customer was handled. In some areas it is becoming a major source of advertising. People are starting to recognize there are other reasons to shop than just price. If you have to push the cart to the car and take the time to load by yourself the minimum dollar savings may not be worth it. I have actually stopped my car and walked over to help a lady who was trying to load a large screen television into the car by herself.

A grocery store, for example, is known for walking the customer to the car and helping load their groceries. That was common practice many years ago. For some reason it stopped. In my area there is one store that still extends this service. The workers always bring the cart back as they return. The parking lot is always clean and no one has to chase carts to bring back into the store. Their customer base is constantly growing as this store includes other customer service actions that are taken for granted at other stores.

When I was searching for an item that was out of stock one of the employees volunteered to call another store. The other store had one and said they would hold it allowing me time to drive over to pick it up. On another occasion I needed the lower part of a plumbing trap for a bathroom repair. All the store had was entire kits. The clerk volunteered to take out the part I needed, sell that to me and order a replacement to refill the kit. Once when I was ready to purchase an item and the clerk informed me the item would be on sale next week. I returned the following week for others thing and picked it up saving money. Don’t think these levels of customer service aren’t noticed.

Today more and more people are shopping where they are treated as a customer. Sure many of the local discount stores are still making sales. They continue to treat their customers as people who are just there to be sale processed. When you check out it is never cheerful. The clerk is going through the motions. And you know they will hand you the receipt, a fist full of change and sometimes saying thank you.

Talk about a lost policy there is one restaurant in our town that still requires change to be counted back to the customer. They also encourage reading the name on the check, if one is used for the purchase, and thank the customer by name as they pass out the receipt. They also encourage their staff to greet customers by name if they know them. Again don’t think customers are not paying attention.

A very dear friend once told me that people tend to spend their money where they feel they are appreciated and understood. Found a coupon in the paper for a product we use. Rather than go to the store that issued it we went to our normal store. Our normal store honors other stores coupons. There are many times when the super discount stores “lost leaders” don’t even work for them.

If you own a business then I suggest you start putting customer service to work for you. Enforce change be counted back to the customer. Remind your staff that customers are the life blood of the business. Without them there may be no jobs. When you casually ask a customer if they were able to find everything they need take the time to listen to their response. If you have the item, take the time to retrieve it, or walk the customer over to it.

Customer service is an element that has been taken for granted too long. Many stores recognize it and are working to bring it back into their day to day procedures. The bottom line is real simple. If a customer needs something they usually go to the where store they normally shop. When advertising such as coupons, etc are received most of them still return to their normal store. Chances are high their store will honor the coupons. And the levels of service they are receiving more than make up the three or four dollar difference.

If you are a business owner/manager you need to keep your levels of customer service high. If you are a consumer you should spend your money and time shopping where customer service is part of your experience. It may take other stores some time to catch on. A lot of those generic customers are making changes. Customer number 23 is starting to shop at a store where the 23 is dropped and they are greeted with “hello Mrs. Anderson – how are you doing today”.