Some stores just don't get it

A few days ago my wife and I went to a local store to buy some items.  We found what we were looking for and went to the counter to pay for our purchases.  The clerk took my check for $240.00 and ran it through their approval system.  In a moment her machine spit out a ticket that said the check was for too much money.  She called a manager who said she seemed to remember something that said they couldn't take a check for more than $200.00.  At that point we picked up our check off the counter and walked out of the store tearing up the check as we left.  I told the manager that was one of the dumbest policies I had ever heard of and she responded that it wasn't their fault.  We went to another store in the same shopping center and purchased the items we wanted, and for less money.

When I came home I sent an e-mail to the company's main office describing our experience.  I told them what I told the manager, that was a dumb policy.  At a time when retail stores need to find ways to attract customers and make their buying easier and more enjoyable, this company decided to make it difficult for their customers to do business with them.  Not surprisingly, nearly a week later the company has not responded to my complaint.

Like many retail stores, this company spends a lot of money on advertising, and many of their products have been marked down to sell.  Why bother?  Why spend the money to get people into the store when store policies make it difficult for them to give the company their money?

Maybe I'm just more sensitive to this problem because when I had a business many of our policies weren't particularly consumer-friendly.  In fact, I included an entire chapter about that mistake in my book Mistakes: Avoiding the Wrong Decisions that Will Close Your Small Business.  Our hours were for the convenience of our employees, not our customers.  For many years we continued the practice of previous owners in not offering credit card options for payment.  We did not offer a wide enough selection of products from which our customers could choose.  The book covers these issues and others. 

I learned from those mistakes, but many small businesses still have not.  The store that had a limit on the size of check is one of a small chain that is unlikely to get much bigger if they do not change their policies and become more consumer-friendly.  And to be so arrogant as to not even respond back to a complaint from a customer is an even greater mistake than the check limit.

How long has it been since you've reviewed your customer service policies?  Do they make it easier for your customers to do business with your company or harder?  Are they easily understood by both employee and customers alike?  How do you view customer complaints?  Are they recognized as being the potential benefit to your company that they are, or are they a nuisance that wastes valuable time?  Does your company have a policy that requires that every complaint be answered within 24 hours?

This extended recession has helped close the doors of many small businesses.  In my opinion, if and when this recession ever ends, small businesses will continue to struggle to be profitable.  The ones who succeed will be the ones that have made it easy for people to do business with them.  Those that struggle, and perhaps eventually close, will point their fingers at any number of problems, but most of those fingers won't be pointing at their own store policies that doomed their businesses.  These will be the stores that just never understood the importance of customer service.  They just never got it.

Be professional

Image courtesy of  FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Over the weekend I found I needed a repair done on my house.  This morning I called a company that does the kind of work I needed done.  The first phone number I called came out of last year's phone book, and I got a recording saying that number was no longer in service.  I got the newer phone book and found that the company had switched their number to a cell phone.  I called that number and a voice answered, "Yeah?"  It caught me off guard for a moment and then I asked, "Is this __________ company?"  "Yeah."  I almost hung up simply because of the way the person answered the phone, but the only other company that does the work I needed done is a hour's drive away and I didn't want to pay for that much windshield time.  The person I called is supposed to be at my house early tomorrow, but I can tell you that if he isn't here close to the time he said he would be I'll call someone else.  At this point, he will have to prove to me he is more professional than his telephone skills indicate.

I've used this company before, and I'm pretty sure he works out of his home.  I don't have a problem with that because so do I.  I also don't have a problem with him using a cell phone for his business phone.  Many small business owners do that.  But, that's no excuse for projecting such a poor professional image. 

One of the challenges people have when they work out of their home is remembering that they are operating a business and need to project a professional image to their potential clients.  My office is in a separate room of our house and this is the only thing that room is used for.  A dedicated phone line runs into that room with a different number than our home phone.  When the phone on my desk rings I know that it is almost always a business call, and I answer it much differently than when I answer our home phone.  I also don't have a television blasting away in the background or music playing loudly.  Even if I do have those on, it's a simple matter to mute them when the phone rings so that there are no distractions in the background.  I want to project the same image to people who call my home office that they would receive if I worked out of a high rise office complex.

Here are some other things to consider when working out of a home office.  Don't allow children to answer your business phone.   Isolate your business phone from household appliances.  It's nice to be able to wash a load of clothes while I'm working at my desk, but I wouldn't want a caller to hear my washer going through the spin cycle while we're discussing him hiring my services. 

I've always found it best to meet clients away from my house.  Occasionally, I have one who offers to come to my office to talk, but I really don't want people coming to my house.  I've found that if I offer to meet them somewhere for lunch, and I'm buying, they're usually happy to do that.  It keeps things on a more professional level and keeps our home from being a meeting place.

One other thing I started doing about a year ago was I got a post office box and began switching my business mail address to that box number.  I don't consider that a big thing, but I wanted to separate my personal mail from my business mail.  Most of the contacts I have is through e-mail so I have found that if I stop by the post office once a week to check my box I can stay on top of my business mail.

There are many good reasons for working out of your home, and for many of us it makes a lot of sense to do so, but we must remember that it is important that we always project a professional image in everything we do.  When a new client first calls us it is the one chance we have to make a good first impression so be professional.