Don’t Let Your Customer Service Go Down the Toilet

Written on the: May 6, 2014 by Robert Haylor

We’ve all had one of those days when nothing goes our way and it puts us in a really bad mood added to that the personal problems that at times we just can’t shut out of our work life all come in and have a massive bearing on our mood and work ethic.  As a customer we walk into a typical businesses and expect customer service to be outstanding visit after visit after visit even when we are unhappy with a product or service.

Now we could harp on about several ways you could help improve your customer service but we’re not going to do that, instead we’re going to focus on a situation which was recently presented to us.

During a typical day canvassing we approached a wide range of different businesses in Paignton, and as ever we were received with a wide variety of different responses a lot of you were pleased to see us and join your local discount card.  However, we were also faced with another issue a business had been facing.

One business that we approached mentioned that we had already visited them and we were even told that we had taken money off him and so on.  Now, for those of you who know us you will know we are totally free to join and would never charge businesses to join our discount scheme unless we have something to show you. 

We were very shocked, so we naturally held our smile and first of all apologised whole heartedly for what the business owner was currently going through, but we also wanted to reassure him that the person who had been round collecting money was certainly not from us.

He didn’t believe us in the first instance, so still keeping our smile and positivity, and again said it wasn’t us that had collected any sort of money from you as we had spent the last 2 weeks in Torquay canvassing businesses over there, so who this person was, was nothing to do with us and we handed him one of our business cards.

Upon inspection of the business card, the business owner realised it wasn’t us and in fact apologised whole heartedly for the mistake, and still with a positive attitude and body language we simply replied that is not a problem we understand that these problems happen and we’re working further to ensure our discount card scheme is different, better and stronger for businesses and customers in Torbay.

Unfortunately, the business didn’t join with us, which he was totally free to do so and we bid him a really good day and we simply rounded it off with a “thank you for your time, and we hope you manage to get a refund or at least sort out the problems you are experiencing”.

Sometimes, we are faced with situations that can escalate but we believe that thanks to our customer service, respect and listening to our businesses this situation was brought under control and ok we didn’t get the sale we were looking for, but the point of the matter is to us its not about sales its about the experience businesses tell their friends, businesses and clients that is far more important to us.

When times get tough, don’t let your customer service go down the toilet, take a deep breath, smile and remember the sale is the goal – but the customer service takes priority.