DMSRetail

Today’s ‘Word to the RetailWise’ is: Make sure your customer knows that you value their business.

It sounds straight forward but, here’s a story about an employee who thought that he was doing me a favor by processing my order! Seriously.

I was driving home from an afternoon spent with relatives in a distant city. I spent about 8 hours in my car that day. I was tired and hungry. So, I stopped at one of those service centres that are dotted along major highways and I went in and placed an order for some food. I had two or three different choices of food vendors.

The employee took my order, and my money, and told me to move aside while I waited for my food. No problem, I didn’t want to be in the way of other customers.

Then, after a few minutes, the employee put my hot sandwich on my tray. He told me t hat the other item I had ordered would be ready in about 5 minutes or so. You know, 5 minutes…’or so’… is not really a long time but, at a fast food restaurant you kind of expect it to be…well, fast.

So, I told him that he should keep the sandwich until my second item was ready. He said “No, you can just go ahead and start eating and then come back when it’s ready.” I told him that I understood that I could but I would rather have them at the same time. His reply was “What’s the problem? You have something to eat, just come back in a few minutes.” And he had a fake smile pasted on his face the whole time.

I was tired and exasperated….tired of these employees who treat me like I’m being difficult…like they really don’t care if they have my business or not.

In no mood for a battle of wits with the guy, I found a place to sit down and I ate my sandwich.

Several minutes later, after I had finished my sandwich, a different employee brought my second item out to me and I thanked him. But I still felt that I wasn’t treated properly. This feeling could have been avoided if the employee I encountered first had responded differently; if he had just shown a tiny bit of respect for his customer. He had plenty of options open to him.

Many might say this is no big deal…but when, exactly, is it a big deal?

Very few companies go down overnight. It’s a gradual process which happens one dissatisfied or disappointed customer at a time. Be good to all of your customers…one at a time.

All the Success!
DMSRetail Inc.