You have every right to complain

about bad customer service.

And a huge obligation to compliment good customer service!

 

When our children were growing up, I used to tell them this often.  And much to their chagrin (or worse) I demonstrated what I meant.
  
It embarrassed them when I complained and they did not realize that few other people bothered to compliment good service.

Not infrequently, I would go into a restaurant kitchen, seeking a manager, so I could tell them about good service or good food.  Once, I even asked a server to bring the chef out to the table.  She agreed, not quite knowing why.  When he arrived, I told him my Grouper Escabeche was excellent and gave him a $10 tip for my $25 meal.  I figured the chef seldom gets to hear directly when his creation has excited a customer in a positive way, but they need to hear it.  (If a customer is unhappy, the chef may get it back in the kitchen for some sort of "rework.")  Later, the server confided that the chef was her boyfriend of some three years and he had never had that kind of compliment. [BTW .. I still go into kitchens.]

Over the years, my wife and I have sent letters to hotels and motels praising extraordinary service, sought out and thanked store managers for special help received from someone on the floor, and thanked people directly for their attentiveness or going beyond doing only "what is expected."  

More and more, we are becoming a service economy.  Even for us who make products, our service, more than any other thing, will set us apart from our competitors! 

 

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Colonoscopy

I originally started this post while "recovering" from a colonoscopy earlier earlier that day.   If you have not had one and you are over 55 or 60, you should!  I had my first one six years ago and polyps were discovered and removed. Three years ago, another colonoscopy and more polyps.  Thus, I have just had another, with you guessed it, more polyps, which were removed.

These were flat polyps, "so come back in one year!"  Flat polyps are more difficult to detect and remove, so having a skilled, diligent, and experienced physician is especially important.  Flat polyps are more dangerous that other types, so they are tracked more closely. 

Entrepreneurs , lawyers and doctors all seem to have a level of belief about their invincibility and hence put off such screening tests as colonoscopies.  I have a friend, a lawyer, who does "not want anybody messing around with putting any chemicals into me which will affect my brain" and thus he will not consider a colonoscopy, even though he is over 65.

I once had a doctor tell me that he believed doctors had an "extremely high and unhealthy level of feeling of invincibility   ---  just like lawyers, and entrepreneurs, (including farmers)."

You have to believe strongly in yourself in lots of careers!!!!!!!!

But no matter what your level of self perceived invincibility,    

GET A COLONOSCOPY.

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Customer Service at (insert your favorite store here)

My wife is hard to fit for clothing.  She is skinny.  Thus she has a hard time finding clothes that are small enough.

In our metro area we have two Buckle stores.  (They cater mostly to younger people who are more likely to be smaller, though they have a wide range of sizes) 

My wife usually goes to store "C" where they are always friendly and helpful.  A couple of days ago, she went to store "W" because she was in that area.  She told them the size jeans she was looking for.  Most of the staff was disinterested, but not busy.  One person said "we don't have that, but how would you like to try on" a larger size.  My wife said no, that would be too large.  So the salesperson tried again with the larger size idea, because "I know we have that size."  No one made an effort to look for the waist size my wife asked for.  Frustrated, to say the least, she left.

At store "C" she was greeted near the door by a salesperson who asked, (with enthusiasm) how she could be helped.  She told the person the size and style of jeans she needed.  The person (college aged) asked her name and then said to a couple of other staff members who were not busy "Karen is looking for waist size "X", can you help find some."  The store was abuzz with activity.  They found some and Karen bought them and passed out compliments to staff members in  the process. 

That is why she keeps going back to the Buckle in the College Square Mall.

She has talked before of their customer service and I have observed myself the level of attention and service at the College Square store.  We had assumed it was a corporate culture, but now I think it may be a local store manager more than a corporate culture.

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I struck a nerve

Special mid-week post

I have had lots of comments about last Friday's car dealership piece.  Most of them were about the "air of superiority" and "arrogance" of car sales people.  One person told me of a saleswoman for a dealership that grew from a modest building into a larger new and fancy building.  The ego and demeanor of the saleswoman seemed to grow worse even faster, so my reader stopped even trying to buy from her.  I suspect that maybe she was given a choice of becoming "big dealer like" in her sales approach or leaving the company.

Others mentioned that they, too, had a "good" purchasing experience at a smaller dealership at some point in the past.  One even told of a good experience at a big high volume dealership.  One lady said she rather liked the games and deal-making.  I should add that she is a very effective purchasing manager for her company.

A couple commented about car salesmen they knew on and off the job  --- and the difference in personalities they exhibited both places.


Following are two direct quotes from people who are professional salesmen and have been for some time.


"Buying a car is THE worst... My experience like yours has been most of these guys are incompetent hacks hiding behind their arrogant facade."

"Right on!  I have often felt in the years of car buying experience the feeling that we weren’t good enough to buy a vehicle from the dealership we visited.  Always made sure that I was nicely dressed, clean shaven and had deodorant on.  Did not seem to make a difference."  

I once looked at a used flat-bed equipment trailer at a dealership near here.  When I noted that the frame was rather badly rusted, the salesman replied:  "If the next guy does not notice that, it will be his problem, not ours, as soon as he pulls it off the lot."  The salesman was the son of the owner!!!!    I have never visited that dealership again in 15 years. 

So there you have it folks.  It seems fairly universal, especially in the larger dealerships. 

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. 

If I owned a car dealership........

I hate to buy vehicles.  I don't like the games that are often played.  And I don't like the attitude of most car sales people.  Dammit!  You people are not superior to the general population.  I have known some who seem to turn on "the switch" when they walk into the dealership to go to work, even though they are decent people otherwise.

This week I bought a new minivan (my favorite vehicle body type) from a dealership in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, just across the Mississippi River from Iowa's East Coast.  Sut Hill Motors is now my prototype for the way I would run a dealership.  They sell both Chrysler and Ford products.

Using the internet, I had originally narrowed my search to two dealerships, one in Iowa and one in Florida, near Cocoa Beach.  The Iowa Guys played their version of "the game" immediately, so they were gone!  The Florida guys waited until the last minute to play the game, when the price was suddenly $200 higher than it should have been.

Reopen the search.  Find exactly what I want at Sut Hill.  Send email. Talk to salesman Ryan Deegan.  In a few minutes he called back with a price.  I gave a "buy signal" and then he said "I think we can get you another $750 "Chrysler Loyalty" rebate".  Deal sealed  -----  even if the added rebate didn't materialize.  (It did)

A couple of days later, we drove the hour and a half to "Prairie" to pick it up.  The building, neither large nor fancy, was staffed by friendly "real" people.  Took care of the "paperwork" with a nice (and competent) lady named Beth Keeney and then Ryan introduced me to Mr. Sut Hill.  We visited for a few minutes during which he told me he had owned dealerships in Iowa and as far away as Sarasota, Florida.  I'll bet every one of them has been run the same way!    Real and honest people, intent on helping their customers genuinely get the best deal they can give them on a vehicle.  Refreshing and rare in the "car business."  Any of the "master salesmen" I have profiled in previous posts would fit right in at Sut Hill.

If you are interested in a new Ford or Chrysler product, (and probably any brand of used vehicle) you should check out Sut Hill.  I am sure you will not regret it. 


If you like to play games and be surrounded by people who like to swagger around acting like you are clearly slightly inferior to them, go to most other dealerships.  I know there are others like Sut Hill, but they are hard to find.

This has been an unpaid and unsolicited testimonial ----  and clearly biased by my experience.


Click to meet the Sut Hill staff

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.

Secrets from two master salesmen ... the final "episode"

I have known Kevin for about twenty five years and we have bought a lot of magazine advertising space from him.  Like the others whose secrets I have shared, his style is not flashy or pushy, but gets the job done...well.

His Secrets:

Try to be a good listener and find out what the prospect is looking for and then meet his or her needs

Deliver what I promise

Go beyond just being reliable and "nice"

I have always thought of Kevin's approach as that of a consultant who just happens to have a product to sell that meets some, but not all of "your" needs.  He helps with a whole program, not necessarily just his magazine.

Finally, my friend Stan, whom I have known a long time, is another consultative salesman.  Stan has been our commercial insurance agent for a long time.  He "watches out" for us and his other clients to make sure that we have the right coverage and at the appropriate price. 

Rather recently, the large and respected agency for which Stan works has run a series of TV commercials locally in which the main theme is just exactly what Stan has done for years --- consult and watch for clients and help them manage risk.  I like to think that they have seen his success and realized this approach builds long term satisfied clients. 

Another thing about Stan.  He shows up,  just like every other master salesman I have profiled.  It is hard work to be successful.  The last agent we had before Stan, (a long time ago) thought that showing up once a year a month before renewal was adequate.  It was not and he lost our business.  He was a nice guy, but that alone was not enough.


Soon  ---- a summary of Master Salesmen.   And then --- Secrets of a Master Marketer.

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Connecting with your audience

Last Saturday night my wife and I attended a concert by Jimmy Buffett, which was opened by Jackson Browne, a headliner in his in own right.  We had a great time, just as my friend Kyle said we would.  Alpine Valley Music Theater, southwest of Milwaukee, is a great open air venue

Regular readers will know that customer service, reasons for success, and numbers are all hot buttons for me.  I rarely am anywhere for very long without thinking about at least one of the three and Saturday was no exception.

On the way back to our motel we talked about several things, including the fact that Jimmy seemed to be having fun all the time. He was interacting with the audience in a way that they (we) felt and shared in his fun.  He was connected with his audience (and his band)!  Jackson Browne was similarly connected.

Think about it.  If you want to succeed in most things you are doing that involve an "audience" you HAVE to connect with your audience.  This is true whether you are teaching, preaching, parenting, selling widgets, healing, serving food, or many other things.  

Read doctor reviews by patients sometime.  Are the ratings based on medicine or customer service and connection to patients?  Most ratings seem based on such things as "did I have to wait long?   was the staff "nice"    was the doctor "nice"  etc.       "medicine" is rarely mentioned.  I want both -----  good medicine and "nice"  (nice = connected).

Take a look at the top pro athletes.  Usually the ones with the most endorsement money work hard to connect with the fans.  I have read that NASCAR management insists that drivers work at connecting with fans because they know this is an important part of creating a large customer base.

We had some of the best seats in the house! (8 rows back, 2 seats off center).  My wife was the top bidder for a Jimmy Buffett package at a Skin Cancer charity auction held as part of a surfing tournament in Cocoa Beach last November.  Kelly Slater is an 11 time world surfing champion, a native of Cocoa Beach, and the sponsor (with his two brothers ) of a big invitational surf tournament in Cocoa Beach.  And he is a friend of Jimmy Buffett's.  BTW-----  the Slater family does not just put their names out there!  They connect!   As an example, Kelly's sister in law, April really directly runs the charity auction.  We went to her house to pick up the Buffet Package and couple of other items my wife "won".

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