Mastering Customer Service

by Philip M. Anderson
Last week I was at a grocery store here in North Idaho that has obviously tried to step up their customer service.  I first noticed in Seattle when I lived there and now I see it here in Coeur d’Alene, so it’s something that the company has focused on training their employees to implement.

If you ask an employee where something is they politely tell you the aisle and either say, “Here, let me show you”, or “Would you like me to show you?”  Both are great replies.  They will actually drop what they’re doing, whatever that may be, and walk you to the aisle and point out the product in question.

I think this is such a simple but powerful idea and it shows great to the customer.  But can customer service ever go overboard?

Perhaps.

Another thing they do is if you’ve bought two or more items they will ask you if you’d like some help out to the car.  At first glance that may also seem like a great idea.  But when I bought one energy drink and one small blank video tape (to tape a training I wanted to see over and over), the cashier asked if I’d like some help out to my car.

We’re talking a 16 ounce drink and a small tape that weighs an ounce, if that.  I joked that I would need one person to carry each item and then said, “No, I’ll be fine.”

I really like the idea of offering customers these added services.  And, although I’m not a body builder by any stretch of the imagination, I am 6 foot 3 inches and about 215 pounds and it should be rather obvious that I wouldn’t be needing any extra help out to my car with my purchases.

Is this nit picky?  Maybe.  But consider this:

By asking me that question I started to doubt the genuineness of the question.  You see, when an employee asks if they could show you where a product is, or if you need help out to the car, it brings a human element to the experience.  That is something that seems to be going by the wayside so when we experience it it makes us feel good.  It also can be the start of a relationship with store customers.  There are just so many positives that come out of these simple little things.

But when it’s obvious that no help is needed but the question still gets asked it kind of loses some of its authenticity.  Of course, it’s probably always better to error on the side of giving more than less but it was just an observation on my part.

What do you think?

aphilip369@aol.com