-Kathy Shook, Shoppers, Inc.
The old saying is, “… as different as night and day,”. Well, so are our customer service experiences from time to time. And sometimes, even at the same place: One time, it’s great service, you feel appreciated and treated right. The next visit, you feel like they could care less if you came in/bought from them/spent money there or not.
I had “night and day” experiences recently, and both in the same day! We recently moved out of state to a small town. This required us to get a new bank and a new insurance agent. We had transferred our insurance to the local insurance agent already and she knew we’d be in to see her this particular day. We also needed a local bank, so we decided to stop at the bank on the same trip to town.
So, before we go on, which one do you think gave us the great service today?
Visit #1
We walked into the first office that morning. Before we could even look around, a gentleman came out of his office, saying “Hi folks, how can we help you today?” We told him, he shook our hands while introducing himself, and walked us over to the right person, and introduced us to her. She got our business completed while making conversation, learning all about us, and making sure we got the type of products that were best suited to our needs. As we left, she thanked us and gave us her card, telling us to call her anytime. The other staff in the area said “Have a good day” as we walked by them on our way out. The gentleman who first greeted us came out of his office again, as he saw us leave and thanked us, too. What a delight! Everyone was warm and welcoming and patient with our questions. We felt like we’d made a good choice and left feeling better than when we walked in.
Visit #2
So we drove down the street to the second office. We were positive and pretty happy after the first visit that day. We entered the office smiling. There were 2 desks visible: one to the left about 5 feet from us and one directly in front of us, about 7 feet away. We stood inside the door and watched both of these employees sit and continue to work on their computers. They didn’t look up when we entered (even though there was a bell). They didn’t say anything at all to us. We definitely felt invisible!
After nearly a minute, another employee came out of an office to the right and greeted us: “You need help?”. No smile, no warmth, no concern, no apology for the wait. Now, I know a minute isn’t very long to wait, but….when you are standing right in front of an employee who never looks up at you, it sure seems like a long time. Not to mention, downright rude.
The employee who came out and greeted us did introduce herself and invited us into her office. She was nice but rarely took her eyes off her computer screen as she got our information and set up everything we needed. She didn’t make much small talk or try to get to know us at all. She took care of us quickly and did stand up as we left but didn’t walk us to the door or smile.
Night and day, right? So, what do you think? Which visit was the insurance agency and which was the bank??
Visit #1 was the bank and Visit #2 was the insurance agency! Is that what you guessed?
The biggest surprise on the insurance agency visit was that the actual company owner came into the employee’s office while she was writing up our business. She asked our employee a question but never spoke to us or even looked at us. And the employee didn’t introduce us, either, even though she had been expecting us and already talked to us on the phone. Again, we felt invisible and definitely unappreciated.
This was shocking to me…the business owner couldn’t acknowledge a customer? And we knew she was the owner because insurance agents for this particular company put their pictures on every sign, every piece of mail, and business card. We’d never met her, but we had just transferred several thousand dollars’ worth of business to her. You’d think she could at least say hi, right?
This is an excellent sample of how management sets the tone and the example for their staff. If the agency owner couldn’t be bothered to greet a brand new customer, why should their staff? I can assure you, we will be looking for a new agent in the near future.
Just a reminder for all of us to be sure we provide the “day” experience, like the bank above. Acknowledge your customers, show interest and concern for their time and business and you can be sure they will be happy customers for a very long time.
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