You can view an update to this post (and an update to my update) here.
In an economy where there’s lots of competition for a smaller and smaller number of dollars, good customer service becomes an issue of survival. While product is important, customer service can make the difference between creating a life-long customer and losing a loyal customer. I’m sure we’ve all heard those wonderful stories about Zappos refunding customers for shoes long after the final return date and Nordstrom refunding a customer for his snow tires (or was it chains?), an item they do not actually sell. It’s good experiences like that which make us loyal, even if their prices aren’t necessarily the lowest. I’ve had some great customer service experiences that have permanently wedded me to those companies or service people. I still get my hair cut by the same person (in FLORIDA!) who I’ve been going to for years. But just as good customer service can make people fiercely loyal, bad customer service can lose much more than a single sale.
Last night, I had a very bad experience with Pottery Barn Kids customer service, which I wrote about on my other blog. While the quality problems with the furniture definitely put a bad taste in my mouth, an accommodating and apologetic customer service response would have made up for it. By suggesting that I drill the holes they’d neglected to put into the furniture myself (holes that will make the difference between the changing table staying on the dresser or falling off of the dresser) instead of offering to replace everything at their expense, they lost me as a customer.
What I really wonder is if these companies understand what they’re losing when they do this. Sure, they’re saving money on delivering another dresser, but they’re losing a whole lot more. I’ve been a loyal customer of Pottery Barn since I first had a place to furnish. My home is practically a shrine to Pottery Barn — there’s no room that doesn’t have something Pottery Barn in it. I’m sure I’ve spent close to $10,000 there over the years and would have spent more than that over the course of my life. I was actually planning on replacing a good bit of the furniture over the next couple of years as some of it isn’t toddler-friendly, some of it is just getting old, and I will certainly need new stuff as my son grows. But now, they’ve lost me as a customer. Was that worth the money they saved in not offering to immediately replace everything?
When we provide bad customer service at our library, do we think about the long-term impact of that? Will that person come back? Will they ever use a library again or will they begin to see libraries as irrelevant in the digital age and much less worth supporting than their cozy Barnes and Noble or Borders? Perhaps this person will one day be mayor of your town and will not see much reason to support what they see as a dying institution. Perhaps this bad experience will lead them to one day write a letter in their local paper about the irrelevance of libraries. All it takes sometimes is one bad experience. On the other hand, when someone receives great customer service at their library, they will come out of the experience feeling like libraries are the bees knees. They will vote in the affirmative on bond issues that positively impact the library and will perhaps even join their local library’s Friends organization. At a very minimum, it will keep them coming back and loving libraries.
It’s not always about having the best or the fanciest or the techiest or the 2.0-iest stuff. Sometimes it’s as simple as creating an environment where everyone feels welcome and valued. Because in this economy, none of us can afford to lose our customers.
I have my own letter to write to Southwest Airlines for (yet again) botching up a customer service opportunity this holiday flight season, but that’s another story. Let me take a devil’s advocate’s approach to your message to libraries: I think we’ve spent too much time thinking about customer service, too little time recognizing that good service comes from refining the work we do with the stuff to which we do it. I recently read an article in a professional organization’s monthly update to membership, yet another round of “We need to serve our users more like Nordstrom serves its customers.” This is a stunningly bad idea. First, Nordstrom is clearly in the business of turning profits, nothing more. The occasionally nice–or even better, sartorially tasteful–sales clerk can indeed make the shopping experience a positive one, but it ultimately isn’t why one shops at Nordstrom. One shops there for the clothing (or whatever) lines, the convenience, sometimes the quality, all full well knowing one pays a very high premium to do so. Second, has it ever occurred to librarians that Nordstrom likely learned about satisfying its customers by observing how people are served at, for example, public libraries?
You “really wonder…if these companies understand what they’re losing when they” pick nits with customers rather than aim for unconditional satisfaction. Of course, they do know. It’s built into the operation. Nevertheless, I bet if you write a letter, you’ll get both an apology and satisfaction. Otherwise, your loyalty stands for nothing, inasmuch as they have no efficient way to measure it. You must tell them, and by “them” I don’t mean the front line service operator over the 800 number.
There is no assurance that well served public library customers “will vote in the affirmative on bond issues that positively impact the library and will perhaps even join their local library’s Friends organization.” In fact, these are unlikely outcomes. Most well served patrons do not join the Friends, and bond issues are notoriously hard to win, even in communities where libraries do the very best they can with little financial support. This is no argument for providing bad customer service, nor against good, of course. It simply points out matters of fact, and reminds us to focus on excelling at the work of librarianship. That excellence will manifest itself, among other ways, in confident, empathetic, good-spirited staffs who enjoy working with library patrons, even those whose demands challenge the library’s policies.
Okay, you want to see bad customer service?
Dillards lost me as a customer 4 years ago. They were very busy in the girls department and one of the cashiers was helping a co-worker purchase a dress. I asked the coworker if I can be taken care of but she told me she is a customer too. I told her NO she is not because she has her nametag on, she is behind the counter taking up my time and my times and money is what pays her salary. The manage did nothing to offer me assistance, did not appologize and they lost me as a customer forever.
That’s pretty bad Jon. I haven’t heard of an employee pretending to be a customer to avoid work, but it doesn’t surprise me. That’s why I think it’s essential that companies use mystery shoppers. Mystery shopping isn’t about catching employee’s doing things wrong, it’s about catching them doing things right and rewarding that positive behavior, but shoppers certainly do catch employees doing things wrong. Mystery shops hold both the managers and teh employees accountable, and just knowing that he/she may be mystery shopped usually keeps employees from doing things like that.
Here’s a “good” story about customer service. This past weekend while traveling in Connecticut, I stopped into the LL Bean outlet store with my sister-in-law, Sheila. I told Sheila that LL Bean has a great return policy…they will take anything back, any time, no questions asked. She said no way…so I said watch this –> While I was checking out (having purchased a few sale items) I asked the clerk if I could return the coat I was wearing (an LL Bean all weather parka I had purchased in 1997?). It was a bit frayed around the cuffs, not to mention very worn and a bit dirty. They clerk asked if I had my receipt. I said no. She said then all she could refund me would be the last sale price on the item. She was willing to take it back then and there, no questions asked. She didn’t even blink. Well I didn’t return the coat, as I actually like my coat. Personally, I think that returning an over-used item after ten years, is pushing the envelope a bit…but I appreciated the clerks willingness to observe their policy and especially liked that she did not treat me like I was weird or crazy, even if my request was a bit weird and crazy. I like the quality of customer service I get from LL Bean, which is why I am a returning customer.
Developing a culture of trust may not be such a difficult thing to do. LL Bean would not have such a long standing policy if all their customers abused it. I agree with you, Meredith on the idea that good policies and good experiences in libraries can translate into lifelong opinions about libraries. We might learn a thing or two from companies like Nordstrom and LL Bean…take the good and leave the bad behind.