The Importance of Customer Service

I made a trip to the "home decorating" section of a major department store the other day. I needed to pick up a couple of small, plain curtain rods for a client and I did not have any in my showroom and did not want to place an order for only two small rods. Hence, my trip to the store. I walked in the downstairs doors and was greeted by a clerk, who welcomed me to the store. so far, so good. I went upstairs to the drapery section and found my two small rods very quickly. I then looked around for someone, so I could check out. There was not one person in sight. I then proceeded to the check out counter that is right in front of that department. A clerk came down the aisle, dragging a box for a customer and told me that I would have to take those two small rods to the counter inside the drapery department, or else, have to wait until she was finished cashing out the current customer. Now, I did not mind waiting a couple of minutes for her to finish up with the customer she was helping, but she really didn't seem interested in helping me, so I went in search of the counter in the drapery department. It took awhile to find it, it was buried in amongst the over crowded aisles, and sure enough, there was no on there! Again, I had to go in search of someone to help me out. Finally, I found the person in charge of that counter and paid my $9.47 for two small curtain rods. As I was leaving the area, I passed the first register. The clerk had finished her customer and was again nowhere in sight.

My point here is not to complain about poor customer service, but rather point out that we all need to be vigilant about the shopping experience that we are giving to our own customers. I was very frustrated trying to find the hidden counter and then a missing clerk. My problem was more with the hidden counter than the clerk, since I realize that they will not always be right at there where you would expect them to be. They do have other jobs and duties within their department. But there were no signs directing you to the counter, and the department was so overpacked, that it was difficult to find anything quickly. While this made my shopping experience very frustrating, I also had to think, "This is very good for me and my business!" After all, I am a competitor of this store and if the consumer is as frustrated as I was, maybe the frustrated customer would be more likely to call me for more personalized service. My job now is to make sure that they get the personalized service and not the service given by the department store.

What are you doing to give your clients more personalized service? Are you doing your very best to make their decorating project a pleasant experience? We should all take stock of how we are doing things and strive to do the very best for our customers that we can!