When I lived in California, then Vegas, I loved that I was close to a Fry’s Electronics.
Unlike the stores with which I was familiar — Best Buy, Circuit City, H.H. Gregg — it seemed as though Fry’s had EVERYTHING! It wasn’t just the most marketable products, they also stocked the hard-to-find stuff that I always seemed to need…like the power supply to a three-year-old laptop, or a crossover cable to update the files between a Windows and Mac.
Yet, when I started becoming a customer, I realized that they stocked everything…but delivered little in the way of service. Returning an unopened package with the receipt was an incredible ordeal. Getting someone to assist in the store was even tougher.
So…I stopped going to Fry’s. Well, there were a few exceptions — if I needed a USB cable and knew exactly where to go to pull it off the shelf, I would endure it — but, that was really about it.
When I moved back to Indianapolis, I smiled when Fry’s opened a store here. Everyone was so excited about the new place with the virtually unlimited selection. At first…
Needing a couple of very simple things — a cable, and a copy of Windows 7 to upgrade a netbook — I decided to give Fry’s another try. I was met by a “management trainee” – it said so on his nametag – who should become an executive specializing in sales prevention.
He argued with me about what version of Windows 7 I needed, not realizing that Vista Business will not upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. This future manager was chewing gum in my face the entire time he was presuming he had superior knowledge and was rude to his customer.
Finally — after asking three clerks where I could find an SD memory card and a cable — I went to check out, I was greeted by the cashier with a disgrunted sigh when I told him I was purchasing software that he would now have to go to the “cage” to pick up for me. He rolled his eyes, and lumbered off into the unknown.
While waiting, I posted a Tweet: “If I ever lose the will to live, I’m going to apply for a job at Fry’s Electronics so I can be around people who feel the same way I do!”
Later, it struck me…NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON WHO WORKED FOR FRY’S EVER SMILED AT ME.
Is asking for a smile too much to expect as a customer? I don’t think so…but, it tells me that:
a) Fry’s management doesn’t encourage their people to provide friendly, engaging service;
and/or
b) Displaying a personal connection with customers is looked down upon by managers and viewed as unrelated to what it takes to succeed.
I will occasionally forgive a lapse in service excellence when I’m surrounded by friendly people. Treat me like you’re bored, however, and I will respond with a very similar disconnection…to you.
Then, I will tell everyone I know how much I am disappointed with how you do business!
Is that what you REALLY WANT your customers to do?
Thanks, CBS, for showing us why customer service is SOOOO bad!
While I was licking my wounds from my Colts loss in the Super Bowl — by the way, no excuses…the Saints deserved to win…they played and acted like champions – I discovered CBS was also providing an incredible opportunity for us to observe why most companies provide such terrible service to their customers.
Did you watch the program after the Super Bowl? It was the premiere of a new series, “Undercover Boss,” where a leader of a major organization goes incognito to do the work of his front-line employees, who have no idea they are working side-by-side with their CEO or COO.
Instead, I think the program provides — in stunning detail — a guide to what is wrong with most organizations today. Leaders have a perfect grasp on balance sheets and EBITDA growth…and are so out of touch with customers and front-line workers they have little idea what’s REALLY going on.
Isn’t it amazing the executive had really no concept how hard the employee’s jobs were — and the workers were so disconnected from the leadership of their company, the COO could work beside them, and they had no idea who he is?
Consider this, from Ken Tucker’s review in “Entertainment Weekly” –
Pretty soon, O’Donnell (COO of Waste Management) was shown vacuuming out portable toilets at an amusement park; picking up trash on a windy day (the night’s true hero, Walter, fired O’Donnell for not being fast enough); and working on a recycling assembly line with a nice woman who had to gobble her lunch down in a 30-minute break and race to clock in after her meal, lest she be docked in her wages.
When his week of back-twinging revelations was complete, O’Donnell summoned his lowly employees to his office and promised various raises and improvements, as well as the establishment of a (groan) “task force” here and there to make sure life improves for his employees.
You know who I felt the worst for? Kevin, the poor middle-management guy O’Donnell hauled in to grill about Sandy’s time-card-punching angst. That guy gets it coming and going: His employees resent him for implementing O’Donnell’s rules, then O’Donnell comes along and busts his chops.
Perhaps I’m out of touch. I’m certainly old-fashioned. I grew up in southern Indiana at a time when the biggest company in our area — Cummins Diesel — had a CEO who had started on the plant floor. However, if you are a business leader who could relate to O’Donnell’s situation…and could see yourself having similar revelations…then you and your business are in serious trouble.
How sad is it in business today that a CEO or COO working the jobs of their front-line people is so rare…it can become the television show that follows the Super Bowl?
If you lead a company…get your butt out there with your front-line people and get to work. Serve some customers…create a better experience.
If you do, I’ll bet you’ll find those numbers you care so much about will actually improve. Imagine that.
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