Has this happened to you recently? You were passing through
the door of a public building and in a gesture of kindness you held the door
for the next person behind you. And that person marched through without saying
“Thank You”? Not only did they not say anything but you didn’t even receive a
smile, a nod or acknowledgement of any kind. In fact they acted as if they were
entitled to your servitude. If you felt annoyed you would be normal.
We want to be appreciated – especially when we go out of our
way to show kindness to someone else. Often all it takes is a simple “thank
you”. A “thank you” costs nothing yet it is given so seldom in earnest.
The best thing that you can do to improve your customer
service is to say “thank you” to your clients. The cost is nothing. The return
is huge. Consider that everyone wants to be acknowledged. Everyone wants to
feel good about themselves. Saying thank you is the simplest way to do that.
Yet many customer service people do not say thank you.
It seems strange yet many customer service people seem to
expect to be thanked for doing their job – even when they snarl at you. They
give you back your change and expect a thank you. Hey, that was my money that I
gave you.
They seemed to miss the fact that the customer should be
thanked for visiting their shop and spending money.
I believe that this is the result of entitlement mentality
and poor customer service training.
The first might be the result of over indulgent parents and
the second the fault of untrained retail managers.
It seems that rotten customer service has trained customers
to expect lousy service and be overly polite to the servers.
What’s wrong with this scenario?
I’m all for treating people with respect. I believe that I
do. And I expect to be treated as a valued customer when I’m spending my money.
How does your staff react when a customer walks in the door?
- Damn! Another annoying customer.
- Wonderful! Welcome to our shop, and thank you for your business.
George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter
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