The Beginning

After being repeatedly frustrated by poor customer service experiences by the vast majority of retailers out there, I decided to write about it so consumers can make more informed decisions before they shell out their hard-earned cash, good companies and locations get the recognition they deserve for bucking a disturbing trend and maybe convince a few poor performers to address their shortcomings.

I'm not a journalist or writer, so for those of you scrutinizing prose and grammar, prepare to be disappointed at my lack of journalistic style (or even at times basic sentence structure). However after spending most of the last 30 years of my career life in some form of retail at varying levels (including now), and a lifetime of consumer spending, I have a broad perspective on customer service that perhaps will allow you to overlook the run-on sentences, misplaced commas and overused ( ).

Here's something that may surprise some of you. I can attest to the fact that virtually EVERY company out there trying to separate you from your $$, professes to having a culture of superior customer service, most of you on the other hand can relate negative experiences with the same companies that profess to exceed your expectations. Why then do so many fall short? Many have countless programs, measurements and processes to positively impact the customer experience. Some provide financial or other tangible rewards to associates for good service or letters from the CEO etc. when they receive accolades from a customer. If you look on their websites you'll find vision and mission statements that usually have a tag-line that relates to the customer experience. Why the then disconnect? I believe there are really only a few primary reasons why companies fail to live up to your expectations.

1. Many companies have competing company policies that make it impossible for store level associates to live up those same commitments on mission statements and web-sites. Many times associates can be subject to disciplinary action or termination if they deviate from them.
   
   
2. Associates that are not suited to face the customer. We've all been out at a store or restaurant and wondered "how on earth did this person decide to get into retail?" They're surly, grouchy and inattentive. Why would they pick this career? You'll often hear them use the magic phrase "it's not company policy" which is retail speak for, "No I don't want to help you". The real question though is how do companies quickly identify and remove them? Many times policies within organizations make it far to difficult to weed them out even when store level management knows they have a problem.
   
   
3. Associates not empowered to make "the right decision". Many times you'll be standing in front of someone who agrees with you as to what the correct course should be, but cannot choose it (see item one as the root cause). since they are not empowered to help the customer, they quickly become disheartened and either leave the company or become an associate as listed in item 2.
   
   
4. General business model problems. Ever been to a store that is full of customers but not enough associates to help them all? I certainly have. I have to wait too long to get answers to a simple request, have to wait in long lines for the priviledge of giving someone my $$ and get frustrated. In this shrinking economy, the largest company expense is typically payroll. This is where all those layoffs you read about (or worse were subject to) impact you directly. Companies shave payroll to save money, customers get upset at the lack of assistance at the store and look elsewhere, companies shave more payroll to save more money and on it goes...
   

There are certainly many more company and store specific issues that I'll address going forward, but that's my generic, very high level take on how we got where we are. Over the coming posts I'll be primarily focusing on my specific experiences and what I feel could be done differently. If you've made it this far down the page, bless you for your patience.

Feel free to comment to posts and share your experiences if you wish. I'd love to hear from you.