The hero of this story asked me not to use her name, or that of her business. I will explain the reason later, but suffice it to say where she works is just a small place Tammy or I will go to once every week or two — and where we have always received excellent service.
As I entered, a short, young Asian girl was behind the counter. The tall man, whom I first presumed to be her customer, was talking to her a little too loudly — with what my Mom would have called his “outside voice.” The description of him immediately entering my mind (and, I offer my apology in advance for the stereotype) was “ex-jock.”
The brash man had papers spread across her counter, and I heard him say, “So, if you’re doing about $20,000 monthly in debit card transactions, you can see that with me I can save you a few hundred dollars every month.”
The young clerk said, “Thank you, sir. I will present this information to the owner.”
The guy, whom I now realize to be a salesman, said, “Well, you tell him not to give this information to whoever you’re currently using. I’m tired of the competition matching my prices and stealing my ideas.”
Now, I am fighting every urge to tell this idiot about his extraordinary need to Google the term “Dale Carnegie.”
Again, the young clerk said, “Thank you, sir, I will present this information for you. Please excuse me, I have a customer to assist.”
The salesman plowed ahead, “One more thing…”
She interrupted and said, “No, sir. There will be no ‘one more thing.’ Your business may be to sell, but OUR business is to serve our customers and right now you are preventing me from doing that. That is not acceptable. Thank you for your time.”
Unbelievably, he continued — and, I swear, this was his next line: “But, did I tell you I do a lot of work with Oriental businesses? Nail shops, food, that stuff?”
Simultaneously, she looked me in the eyes and started stacking and moving his papers away from the counter. With a smile on her face, she said to me, “Good afternoon, sir! How many I help you — I’m sorry for your wait!”
During our transaction, as the knucklehead sales-jerk was sliming back to his car, I told her I was going to use this story — and what I thought was her exemplary behavior — in this post. She asked me not to be specific about the store, or use her name.
Why? Her goal is to be kind and provide extraordinary service to everyone. She felt HER kindness was lacking to the salesman. “I would never want someone who has not been in our store to believe I would talk that way to ANYONE,” she told me.
As I was driving home, I was thinking about her and how she handled the situation. What I was pondering the most, though, was how she really “got” what the business was all about. The young woman knew a customer was more important than a potential vendor. And, she did what was right.
Then…I wondered…does my team — or YOUR colleagues at your organization — really know that customers are the very reason for our existence?
If they don’t, then there is no chance they will do the right thing…like one young woman did yesterday for me.
Seasonal employees can make an enduring impression…
It’s the time of year many organizations are adding “seasonal help.” In other words, they are increasing staff through temporary hires to get them through the busy holiday season.
Here is the critical problem many managers and their organizations fail to understand:
When doing business with you, customers do not make the distinction between how they are treated by your seasonal staff as opposed to your on-going employees.
If I am mistreated or ignored when I’m doing business with you, I won’t go, “Oh, wait! That’s a holiday employee. It’s OK, then.” Instead, I’ll tell my family and friends how rudely the experience was doing business with you. You don’t get a pass because the employee is part-time.
Naturally, you cannot expect your new, seasonal employee to have the product knowledge – or even service savvy – of your longer-term team. However, what you should expect – and require – of everyone that will service customers is a friendly attitude and an obsession to assist.
As a customer, I DO understand that not everyone on your team during this stressful, busy time will know everything about your product line. What I WON’T accept is an unhelpful attitude, or the lack of desire to help me.
They don’t have to know every answer. They do need to display the commitment to help discover it for me.
This is the critical message to communicate with your entire team:
In fact – that’s not a bad message for ALL of us!
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