| All businesses strive to provide excellent | | | | to bed, but at last he'd drifted off. That is, until |
| customer service, but there's a fine line between | | | | the phone rang. I was roused from a very deep |
| service and servility. Extreme servility is called | | | | sleep by the phone ringing and our child yelling for |
| obsequiousness. Now there's a word for you to | | | | Mommy. |
| know. Even if you don't know what it means, | | | | Too unawake to check the caller ID, I answered. |
| you've experienced it-maybe in a restaurant, a | | | | To my utter amazement, it was another |
| clothing store, a car dealership, anywhere where | | | | company rep wanting to know if I was ready to |
| employees hope that by virtue of their attention | | | | order more filets. It was time to take this bull by |
| they will make sales or garner large tips. It's one | | | | the horns. "No," I said, "not now, not ever again!" I |
| thing to be attentive and meet customers' needs; | | | | can't remember exactly, but I'm sure I pointed |
| it's another to be so present and "in their face" | | | | out that I'd asked to have my name and number |
| that customers think you want them to adopt | | | | removed from their list. That he had had the |
| you. | | | | audacity to call so late in the evening was |
| A few months ago, I ordered a gift of steaks | | | | absolutely beyond my comprehension. |
| and roasts from a meat mail order business for | | | | This experience is a clear illustration of how |
| some family members. When no | | | | customer service can go terribly wrong. Probably |
| acknowledgement came, I called to find out if | | | | part of this was due to someone misreading the |
| they had gotten their present. As it turned out, | | | | data and assuming that since I had placed a |
| the parcel delivery service had left the package | | | | substantial order, I would likely do so again. Who |
| at the wrong address, but the people who had | | | | knows? Maybe I would have at a later time, but |
| received it in error were honest enough to | | | | the "overkill" from the sales staff turned out to |
| immediately call the intended recipients to let | | | | be a deal breaker as far as I'm concerned. |
| them know about the mix up. | | | | Let this be a cautionary tale for any businesses |
| The only person who had made a mistake was | | | | out there that think "hard selling" is going to work |
| the delivery man who'd misread the mailing label, | | | | every time. In many cases it will backfire and |
| and no one ever heard a word out of him or his | | | | have just the opposite effect from the one you |
| company. The same can't be said for the meat | | | | want. |
| company. In its relentless pursuit to keep | | | | I've recently conducted a |
| customers satisfied, company representatives | | | | less-than-statistically-valid study polling people (my |
| started calling me-daily-to make sure I was still | | | | office manager, my aunt, and a very nice woman |
| happy and to see if I didn't want to order more | | | | behind me in a line at Safeway) about customer |
| meat. | | | | disservice. Although not all the results are in, here |
| After the umpteenth call that resulted in no | | | | are ten tips to take to heart to keep your |
| additional purchases from me, I asked to have | | | | customers truly satisfied: |
| my name and number removed from the calling | | | | 1. Just because your business model says |
| list. Being nice hadn't worked. Maybe some force | | | | customers should, in all probability, be interested in |
| would be more effective. Keep in mind I had had | | | | buying something, don't assume they're kidding |
| absolutely no beef with the mail order company | | | | when they tell you no. |
| until now. It was at this point, however, that | | | | 2. Limit unsolicited calls to the same person. |
| customer service attention turned into customer | | | | 3. Call at a reasonable time. |
| obsession. | | | | 4. After you hear "Hello," really listen to what the |
| I thought I'd gotten the point across, but about a | | | | other person says to you. |
| week later I started receiving calls at my work | | | | 5. Don't argue when the customer says "no." |
| number. When I would take advantage of the | | | | 6. Honor the customer's wishes. |
| caller ID feature on my phone, I saw an area | | | | 7. If you are offering service to someone in |
| code and number I didn't recognize. I answered in | | | | person, be available, but don't hover. |
| my usual way, but each time the caller said | | | | 8. An internet order does not give you |
| nothing and simply hung up. This happened several | | | | authorization to call someone at home or work to |
| times until I checked the number and discovered | | | | offer add-on purchases or services. |
| it was the cattle crew. This was out of control. I'd | | | | 9. Know that a lot of people have caller ID, so |
| said no from my home number. The answer | | | | don't call and hang up without saying something. |
| wasn't going to be any different on my business | | | | 10. Ask yourself: Would you want to get the call |
| line. Now they were intruding on my work day | | | | you're getting ready to make? |
| without saying a word. | | | | This is just a starting point. Maybe you have |
| One final call (and I emphasize the word final) | | | | some pet peeves of your own. If so, send them |
| came at 9:17 p.m. last week. Dinner was long | | | | to our website. There are plenty of people we |
| over, and no one in the house was thinking about | | | | like to hear from. Just don't contact me about |
| food, especially not about T-bones. No one was | | | | buying anything that was standing on four legs |
| consciously thinking about anything since we were | | | | and had a pulse until recently. I'm now a |
| all asleep. It had taken almost an hour to get the | | | | vegetarian thanks to the last person who did! |
| three-year-old to quit fussing about having to go | | | | |