HOW DOES YOUR

CUSTOMER SERVICE RATE?

  

Three words can quickly evaluate customer service--rude, indifferent or hospitable. 

 
 

Receiving hospitality at a business is truly refreshing. Hospitable means "cordial and generous to guests". Let me outline how this looks:

 

• As previously noted, a hearty, friendly and sincere greeting!
• Friendly staff and a friendly, involved & helpful management.
• Empowered staff...The Nordstrom (Department Store) Way shows the direct link between empowering your employees and creating a long-term relationship with your customers. 
• Sales staff that build rapport well, are focused on the customer, provide excellent product knowledge and close effortlessly.
• Cashiers that process transactions painlessly, helpfully and without drama.
• Service after the sale & service handling complaints that avoid hard feelings, make friends. 

Indifference....a few different meanings here but the one I like from Webster's is "having no particular interest or concern; apathetic." The definition says a lot but here's how it might look...

•  Restaurant servers texting on their cell phones while customers wait to be seated.
•  Staff & management that are unavailable, uninterested in helping customers. 
•  Sales staff that don't ask for or use a customer's first name and avoid eye contact.
•  Distracted staff.

And then there comes, rude. "Ill-mannered ; discourteous." Another definition, a little humorous is" sudden and jarring." I would add hostile, malicious, irritating, and "too much drama." This environment can't just be blamed on staff, but it can reveal management problems as well!

• Giving priority to phone calls while in-person customers wait.
• Argumentative, overbearing and antagonizing sales staff.
• Excessively unpleasant or being "stressed out"
• Feeding a customer's anger instead of calming it.