In this era of social media it is easy for customers to amplify their complaints about a business. Here is a complaint shared with me a few weeks ago about a newsagency with which I have no connection. They contacted me because of this blog and because they felt they had nowhere else to take their concerns..
I hope you can help me. I want to tell the owner of [REMOVED] newsagent that the lady they have who opens the shop in the mornings is rude. She would rather talk to her kids on the phone than serve customers. The young girl they have after school spends too much time flirting with boys. The owner doesn’t work in the business any more and I have no way of contacting them. The staff tell me to give them the message. I have stopped shopping there.
Make it easy for your customers to complain about you. Otherwise reports like this can spread you having the opportunity to fix the problem.
The easier we make it for people to complain the greater our commitment to good customer service.
What about complaining, of a newsagent owneress, whom you’ve dealt with for the last five years.
She magically lost I estimated, nearly 2 thousand dollars a year in turnover, due to putaways, lotto and extra purchases.
What caused the final schism… I noticed over a 1 metre high pile of returns, stacked onto where Wheels magazine should be, which I wanted to look at. The owner doesn’t use a trolley, just gets the staff to ‘dump’ them there.
I made a ‘wincing’ noise then, in front of the whole shop, ‘she’ decides to explode at me “Are you telling my staff what to do!” In front of about 12 customers.
She uses Tower software, I had one of Mark’s rep’s call a few years ago, on using/installing the sms plugin, instead of calling me by phone, I got abused for that.
She’s overstaffed, doesn’t have a clue on returns issues, doesn’t even live in the top 100 newsagency realm. I’ve never told her I read this blog.
She’s got traffic, that supports old style thinking for a newsagency. How long it’ll last… well three newsagencies closed down around there, in the last 2 years. Should help, cover up the slops…
John that type of business has no future.
Thanks Mark, you are a good mentor, for so many. If only the owner used, the benchmarking component of your software, I’m sure life would be so much easier, for the owner.
I’d suggested so much to her, the benchmarking, suggestions from your blog etc., but I was treated like an absolute idiot. I was just a ‘customer’ interested in all things newsagency wise.
Here’s a wise thing for all people, wanting to get to know the owner of a business, in a ‘friend’ like way… don’t! You may find their interest’s aren’t with the ‘sector’, so to speak, more like with how they ‘look’. Impressive façade…