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What Your Customer Is
Thinking But Won't Tell You
(part 1): a Customer Service Article by Charles Marshall
Enjoy What
your customer is thinking but won't tell you,
a
customer service article by Charles Marshall. After completing the article, we invite you to read additional more motivational and customer service article selections from our
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What your customer is thinking but
won’t tell you
#1 If I am paying you my money, then I’m your boss.
Just about every weekend, I hand my credit card to some
rental car company for the privilege of using one of their cars for a day or
two. A couple of months ago, I showed up at a rental car location to pick up a
car I had reserved.
By the way, since I’m about to say some bad stuff about
this particular company, I don’t feel comfortable mentioning their name, so
let’s just say the name of the company was Schmudget Rental Car. There. That’s
obscure enough. No one will ever crack my code and figure out who I really mean.
When I arrived, it turned out that there was a huge
disconnect between the car size that I had reserved on the Web site and the car
that the rental location actually had for me. It was important that I get a
larger car because I had my family with me, and all they had available was the
next size down.
In others words, I encountered a problem, which is not
that big of a deal. All businesses have problems. The character of a company
isn’t determined by whether or not they have problems but by what they do about
those problems.
The customer service representative at this particular
Schmudget Rental Car location chose to go with the
I’m-Just-Working-Here-Until-My-Band-Gets-A-Record-Deal customer service method.
It did not inspire great confidence in me.
Two hours later, I am still at the same location trying
to get the right size car, and by now, my patience is wearing a tad thin. When I
suggest to Beavis that maybe this matter is important to him since I am the
reason he has a job, he makes the incredible statement, “You don’t pay my
paycheck. The company does.”
Wow. If you don’t see the complete inanity of this
remark, then you might also be occupying the same strange universe as Beavis: a
strange world where money mysteriously appears in the company bank account and
then is distributed to employees who seem determined to destroy the company from
within.
After a great while, I finally got the vehicle I had
reserved and I was once again on my way, no thanks to my Rock-N-Roll-Wanna-Be
friend.
I cannot even begin to imagine that the manager of that
rental location knew his employees were dispensing this type of
A] Customer non-service, and
B] Fairy-Tale notions about where money comes from.
So, I called their regional office and related the
story to their regional manager who didn’t sound happy to hear from me.
Handy Customer Service Tip #213: If, per chance, a
disgruntled customer happens to complain to you about your company’s product or
service, get down on your knees and thank them profusely. Whether you know it or
not, they are doing you a huge favor. For every customer who actually speaks up
and tells you what he is actually thinking, there are hundreds who will walk out
the door and keep their own counsel.
And I don’t mean to pick on poor Schmudget Rental Car.
I’ve rented from them scores of times and have been perfectly satisfied with the
experience.
My point in relating this particular situation is that
if a customer is standing in front of you, you must tacitly concede that they
are the reason that you have a job. They are the ones that allow you to provide
food, shelter, transportation and healthcare for your family. They are the ones
that allow you to go on vacation, go out to eat, or do whatever it is that
really flips your switch.
In short, the customer is your boss and should be
treated with all the deference, respect, and loyalty that is due to the person
handing you your paycheck.
In a challenging economy, this one principle might be
all that stands between a prosperous business and one that is forced to close up
shop.
© 2010 Charles Marshall. Charles Marshall is a nationally known humorous
motivational speaker and author. Visit his Web site at http://www.charlesmarshall.net
or contact him via e-mail at
charles@charlesmarshall.net.
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