July 27, 2021
Last week, I gave you an example of how poor customer service kills sales. And while the example was retail, it applies to all businesses and industries. So today, I thought I'd give you an example of the exact opposite. How good customer service can help save business, including retail. In our last episode, I told you about part of my recent, retail shopping experience, and how it could really discourage someone, particularly someone like myself who is not a big shopper to begin with, from ever wanting to go back. But in the interest of fairness, I'd like to point out how the opposite is also true. My shopping excursion started because my wife's iPhone was acting like it was possessed. She'd be sending a text, and all of a sudden, it would just start typing a combination of gibberish and actual words, all by itself. It was creepy. A quick online search told me this was a known issue, and that Apple would provide a fix for it, if you brought it into an Apple store, or if you called customer service and then sent the phone in. In the interest of time, I opted for the store. So while my wife and daughter went shopping for dresses for various weddings they'd be attending, I ventured into the Apple store in search of a fix for my wife's possessed iPhone. The first thing I noticed when I went in, was that unlike many of the other stores and kiosks in the mall that I passed along the way, (which ranged from abandoned ghost town to sparsely trafficked,) this store was packed. I thought, "Oh boy, this is going to take a while." Customer service begins immediately Contrary to what I thought, a greeter immediately approached me, asked how he could help, and I explained my issue. He typed my name and information into an iPad and told me someone would be available in about ten minutes -- much better than I was expecting, given the number of people in the store. About eight minutes later, I got a text asking me to proceed to the Genius Bar. OK, at last a store that recognizes my inherent genius! This is the kind of place I could get used to! At the Genius Bar, I was greeted by Alec, who asked about the problem I was having with the iPhone. I lucked out. It was still in full possession mode, spitting out letters and numbers the same way Linda Blair spit out pea soup in The Exorcist movie. The clock is now running Alec made a few notes on his iPad, ran a diagnostic on our phone, told me the repair was covered, printed out a sticker, and asked me to come back at 2 pm to pick it up. It was 1 o'clock. Okay. This could work. So I found a place to sit down, checked my emails, scoped out an Auntie Anne's pretzel shop. Got a soft pretzel and some lemonade. Texted my daughter to see how her dress shopping was going, and wandered back into the Apple store around 2 pm. The customer service experience ran like clockwork I gave the greeter my name, he told me which table to go to and within a few minutes, a member of the Genius Bar approached me with our fully repaired iPhone. I signed my name, digitally, on his iPad and I was on my way. Now this may sound like a completely unremarkable experience to you. I brought in my product for service. They serviced it and sent me on my way. But given the truly pathetic state of customer service in many businesses and industries these days, it represented much more than that to me. It demonstrated that companies, and retail in particular, CAN get it right. And that much of success is simply about doing what you say you're going to do. So here are a few takeaways that any business can apply from this experience: Be attentive to your prospects and customers. By having a greeter approach me as I entered the store and take my information, I felt like they were paying attention. Not in an annoying way, but in a helpful way. Staff accordingly. I've been to other high-end stores that have greeters, but they also have much longer wait times.
