EDITOR’S FORUM Are You a Store Divided?
Phone companies are horrible. Well, that’s not true: they are great at provid-
By Solomon Daniels Editor-in-Chief
If your customers
have to work to solve your problems, then it means you’re not
solving theirs.
ing service. The problem lies in their customer service. How many times have you spoken to a representative, only to speak with another one who knows nothing about the 30 minutes you spent with the prior representative because “there’s nothing notated on the account?” Worse, how many times has a representative told you that your previous representative was “wrong” for giving you certain information? In reality, you can’t really blame these behe- moth companies for their shortfalls. “Customer Service” consists of departments spread all over the country; sometimes all over the world. And yet, we have an expectation that regard- less of their size or limitations, they should all communicate and all be on the same page with regard to our specific issue. And you know what? We should have that expectation. After all, we signed a contract with “The Company,” not only its tech support in Grand Rapids or its billing de- partment in Manila. Besides, that’s what our customers expect of
us. As somewhat smaller businesses, you’d think
we have this down pat: internal email, message boards, mailboxes — or even good old yelling from the front of the store to the back — ensure that our communication network is always up to date. But surprisingly, even in a store with as few as four people, staff members can segregate them- selves into departments that communicate little, if at all, on issues involving the same customer. Let’s say a salesperson sells a radio. The cus- tomer told the salesperson in the process that she liked green illumination to match her St. Patrick’s Day lucky keychain. The salesperson completes the sale and sends the customer back to installation, not mentioning the seeming- ly small customer request, because it’s ... well, seemingly small. So the customer has to repeat the request to the installer, and even though it’s just a small adjustment on the installer’s part, they’ve shown this customer that this store has communication issues.
What about selling a customer a radio, send- ing her back to the install bay, and having the installer, who notices that the radio won’t fit, say, “The salesperson sold you the wrong radio?” You see how this could get worse? Our employees are divided, and in certain cases, our customers
10 Mobile Electronics June| July 2011
(should they decide to stay and take this crap) are forced to take sides to get what they paid for. We can’t afford to let our customers see our
dirty laundry. There are established advantages we have as specialists, and we have to be per- fect in each of these; namely, our product and vehicle knowledge, experience, expertise with just about any vehicle and any application, our attention to detail, and our dedication to service. If we are off the mark with any of these, we put ourselves on par with larger companies that can beat us on price or Internet availability. Each of our stores must have a system that prioritizes communication and a unified face to our customers more than anything else. (Notice I didn’t write ‘unified front’ because we’re not at battle with them!) Here are my tips: Write It Down: Jot down notes as the customer is talking, and attach this to the receipt and in- stallation order. (Remember the lesson from the Harley guy at the 12-Volt Summit? Customers feel like you are really listening to them if you write things down.) Then, summarize: “So you’re saying you want the valet switch installed in the change pocket, right?” Do a Handoff: It’s also good to physically hand customers off to other staff members with a ver- bal summation of their situation. “Hi Karl, this is Jim. He’s getting the new KNX-9980HD installed today and has a question about it working with his factory amplifier.” It’s Always OUR Fault: If there is an issue over
incorrect product or information, train the staff to simply say to the customer, “Sorry about the mix-up. Let us get everything straightened out for you.” Then, have any discussions outside of ear- shot of customers. It’s Never Their Problem: Finally, if there are in-
ternal circumstances that cause your service to fall short, keep them to yourself. Don’t say, “It’s because one of our guys didn’t show up today so we had to keep everybody over and they’re beat.” Instead, say, “I’m really sorry this is taking longer than expected. We’ll get it finished as soon as possible, and we’ll throw in (insert incentive here) for your trouble.” What’s the one thing better than making a sale to a customer? Making another sale to the same customer. That’s our real goal in this business, and building this type of trust and rapport comes with creating a simple, quality experience, and then doing it again and again. ■
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