Call or walk into any physician’s office or retail store, and after “Hello,” these are often the first words you hear. You have probably even trained your staff to say this when they answer the phone or greet someone at the front desk.
But do they really mean it?
Recently, I was at a major national retailer with their latest marketing mailer in hand, looking for the product prominently displayed on the front. It was exactly what I had been looking for. I went straight to that department and heard the familiar
greeting, “May I help you?” However, what happened next was anything but helpful:
1. I showed them what I was looking for, and the first thing they asked was if I had looked around the store for it (I had). Not
helpful.
2. Then they took the flyer and said because there was no sku number on it, they couldn’t look it up on their computer so there was really nothing more they could do. They suggested I could check at their other locations, but they couldn’t tell me if those stores would have it either. Not helpful.
3. I decided I wasn’t getting anywhere fast so I went to find the manger of the store and asked my same questions only to get the exact same responses. Really not helpful.
What could they have done differently?
1. Make sure they had the product they were advertising. Expected.
2. Make sure their staff was not only familiar with their latest marketing mailing and the products in it but willing to walk me over and show me how to find it. Helpful.
3. Offer to call and research it a bit further. I imagine a phone call to their marketing department probably would have shed some light on where that product could be found. Really helpful and also memorable.
Bottom line: They lost a long-time customer that day, and I have already told several people about this negative experience (in
addition to using it as an example in this blog).
Lesson learned: Your marketing is only as effective as your delivery of your product/service. And your staff are a big (possibly even the biggest) part of your product. Are they helpful?