I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and my soapbox at the same time (don't try this at home, kids!) Have you heard about this guy who taped his conversation with an AOL Customer Service Rep? He was trying to cancel his account and the guy from AOL was less than accommodating. I saw an interview with the aforementioned customer-turned-squealer on CNBC this morning (Let it be stated that I do not choose to watch "Squawk Box", Kevin steals the remote. A better name would be "A Group Of Morons Who Talk Over Each Other And Think That They Are Doing Stand-up") In any case, everyone is up in arms because AOL got caught doing what every other big company does (which is why you should do business with small companies, when possible.) I had the exact same experience last week with a certain company (I'm not mentioning any names, but it rhymes with "Berizon" and starts with a V.) After 1 hour and 45 minutes, 3 "Agents", 1 Supervisor and 1 lodged complaint later, my blood pressure was up but my issue was not resolved.
Here's the thing: It takes so little to make a customer happy; just some gratitude for their business, sympathy when they are upset, and the promise to try to resolve the issue. This is not new, people. Just forgotten.
Don't forget - it's more expensive and difficult to get new clients than it is to keep the ones you have. So, for Pete's sake, make your new mantra, "Make Clients Happy" and all will be good with the world. Or at least your business.
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Good point. I think one reason why big business' tend to forget that mantra is because they feel that losing one customer is no big deal with there are so many others. I know many big companies (such as McD's or the company we are having issues with lately, Time Warner) don't really care about losing 1 customer when they have 1 million others that seem satisfied. A sad reality.
But I agree...sometimes going with small business' are better. Somtimes not...I suggest doing research on the companies first.
I do have to give Kohl's Department Store credit though...a huge company, yet their mantra is "The customer is always right." And they actually do follow through with it. :)
Another big company that has consistently great customer service is The Container Store. It's almost freaky how nice their salespeople are.
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