One of the things successful businesses have in common is that
they provide good customer service. Senior citizens and
especially baby boomers demand it, and start-up enterprises that
neglect this aspect of commerce do so at their own risk.
If Time Warner Cable on Staten Island had trained its service
staff to treat customers with more respect, I would probably
still be using its Road Runner broadband service.
Whenever the weather was bad, I would lose my Internet service
because the poorly installed cable line would become waterlogged.
The recent thunderstorms that knocked out electrical service in
Queens prompted yet another service call to Time Warner, and the
cable company representative snidely berated me for reporting so
many outages and then canceling the repair calls.
I explained that the original installation was apparently faulty
and, rather than doing the right thing and installing it
properly, the repairman would merely jury-rig the connection with
duct tape. This only worked until the next storm. Once the cable
dried out, my service would come back.
As I was explaining this, I wondered why I was even wasting my
breath talking to this rude and unreceptive agent. I abruptly
canceled my service and called Verizon, which had recently wired
my neighborhood for its superfast FiOS service.
Competition is a wonderful thing. It promotes innovative
solutions and progress. I now have fiber-optic Internet service
that is not only less expensive but faster than what I had
before, and it is not affected by intemperate weather. When
Verizon gets approval for fiber-optic television service in New
York, it's bye-bye to Time Warner Cable.
If every time I had called Time Warner to report an outage I had
received considerate customer service and an apology for the poor
connection, perhaps I wouldn't have switched. Instead, I reached
individuals who acted as if I had interrupted their lives with my
complaint. Why should we put up with this?
Ironically, I was recently at a book party that was relevant to
my experience. These events usually feature tomes on political or
social issues, but this time, the unlikely starring title at the
Princeton Club was "Treat Your Customers: Thirty Lessons on
Service and Sales That I Learned at My Family's Dairy Queen
Store."
The author is a charming immigrant from India, Bob Miglani, who
grew up in New Jersey and worked summers at his family's Dairy
Queen franchise. What he learned there helped him to become a
top-notch sales executive with a Fortune 500 company. The book
itself is small and can be read in one day, but it's chock-full
of common sense lessons that should be required knowledge for
every MBA student.
Mr. Miglani charmingly uses references to the ice cream business
for the names of some of his chapters, but the lessons apply to
every industry: Always replace a dropped cone; once in a while,
taste your own ice cream; if they ask for a medium cone, give
them a medium cone. Chapter 3 covers the basic premise: The
customer is still royalty.
After Mr. Miglani's short but inspiring speech at the book party,
he opened the floor to comments and questions. One gentleman
lauded the excellent care with which Omaha Steaks delivers its
product. It's always fast and delicious, and the customer service
is top-notch. He was so enthusiastic that I found myself eager to
treat myself to an Omaha Steak. That's another perk from treating
customers right - the word of mouth.
But how are corporations and even small businesses treating their
customers now? My first full-time job was with the New York
Telephone Company.I went through an excruciating six-week
training course, and incoming calls were monitored by supervisors
and quality analysts. I handled everything from installations to
credit calls and billing. Now problems are handled by robots and
touch-tone buttons one through nine.
In retail shops, helpful sales personnel are vital, yet many
stores are represented by disgruntled and listless employees. Mr.
Miglani says happy employees make the best sales staff. Employees
who are treated with respect do their jobs well. This precept
works well in any industry.
Big box stores like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and others encounter
bitter opposition from politicians and unions when they try to
come into our community. The opponents claim that smaller mom and
pop stores will be threatened, but that's just not realistic. My
local hardware store disappeared after Home Depot came to town,
but no one missed it because the owners were rude and inattentive
to anyone but favored customers.
Any business that treats its customers like royalty, as Mr.
Miglani's book suggests, need not fear a Wal-Mart.