I went to Verizon today in order to upgrade my phone. My contract is up, the phone I have is horrible and I have my eye on a new Smartphone. Well, unfortunately, I did not leave with a new phone, instead I left will a huge bag of disappointment.
The sales representatives were completely unhelpful and spent their time speaking with each other instead of the customer (me) even though I was the only person in there! Also, when I dared to interrupt their conversation to ask about rebates the reason as to why I couldn't get one was ambiguous and inconsistent (I asked more than once!) I left disappointed and frustrated because as a consumer I felt helpless and as if no one could give me a straight answer. What was even more upsetting was that the representatives didn't care that they lost a potential 200 dollar sale. What's crazy is that I am on a plan with 4 other people, which is 1000 dollars in upgrades per year over the course of 6 years (do the math) and we could switch to a new provider at any point. Yes, they lost 200 dollars today, but think about their losses in the long run. As I left I thought a lot about certain businesses today. What company sees losing a customer as a good thing? When did the customer stop being the focus of the business? What happened to the customer is always right?
I am not saying that all Verizon locations are like this, but the fact that one was is extremely surprising, especially with the competitive environment today. Let me set a few things straight. 1) The customer is and always will be the focus of a business. Without customers, there is no business. As a customer, if you are treated badly, LEAVE, you don't deserve it! As a business, TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH RESPECT! THEY DESERVE IT! 2) The customer is always right (even if they're not!) If a customer walks into your store asking about a deal they saw and they deal is either expired or unavailable DO NOT look at them like they are crazy and say "I have no idea what you're talking about" (yes, this happened!) Word to the wise, customers are not stupid. They do their research, evaluate alternatives, and are completely aware of their back-ups. Thus, businesses should not treat their consumers like children. 3) Losing a customer is NEVER a good thing. You may think that if a customer leaves then you just lost one sale. But, if they leave in a huff, you have lost more than one sale because of the power of word of mouth. Give one person a hard time and everyone they are connected to knows about it!
People reading this may think, "that's so obvious, of course we know that," but, sadly, in truth a lot of people don't. If they did, I would not be writing this entry. Some businesses are EXCELLENT at understanding their customers and treating them like royalty. Disney is an exceptional example of such a company. You feel like you're special when you enter either the Disney store or go to Disney. The workers are there for you, understand you, and do anything to make your experience magical. And you know what, people love Disney! They tell others how wonderful the experience was and how they can't wait to go back. Disney is a diamond and companies can learn a lot about customer service from them.
As a student in marketing, I am hyper-aware of when businesses are making mistakes and I experienced some mistakes first-hand this morning. Businesses need to start acting like a businesses and less like a control-center. "I don't need you Verizon" so you better start treating me like an asset, rather than liability.
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