When Customer Service Reps Poison Customer Relationships

Curtis, As a buyer of fine giftware for 25 years, I would say that I had approximately 200 reps who called on me. I can count on both hands the reps that gave really good service. Of the rest, the better ones were "the best of the worst" amd were not even good order takers. I've enough war stories to fill your computer hard drive with all the bad experiences I had with poor reps. Problem was, that for many of the products we bought from them were of such good quality that even their ineptitude did not stopping us writing orders.

Saying this, I agree with you that when the service or lack of same from a rep is so evident, that given a choice, buyers will find another source.

Here is a poem I ran into a few years ago that Edgar A. Guest in 1942 wrote about the subject of good service called "Good Business"

If I possessed a shop or store,
I'd drive the grouches off my floor!

I'd never let a gloomy guy
offend the folks who come into buy

I'd never keep a boy or clerk
with a mental toothache at his work,

Nor let a man who draws my pay
drive customers of mine away.

I'd treat the man who takes my time
and spends a nickel or a dime,

with courtesy and make him feel
that I was pleased to close the deal

because tomorrow, who can tell?
He may want stuff I have to sell,

and in that case, then he will be
glad to spend all his dollars with me.

The reason people pass one door
to patronize another store,

it is not because the business place
has better silk, or gloves, or lace

or cheaper prices, but it lies
in pleasant words and smiling eyes;

The only difference, I believe,
is in the treatment folks receive.

Alan
Alan J. Zell, Ambassador Of Selling, Attitudes for Selling
www.sellingselling.com
azell@aol.com
Awarded the 1992 Murray Award for Marketing Excellence
Member, PNW Sales & Marketing Group
Member, Institute of Management Consultants
Member, International Speakers Network

Curtis

Sadly, we all know of people like this. People who poison the workplace through their difficult behaviour. And as Francis suggests, getting rid of them can be very hard to do. Sometimes impossible.

There have been a number of great books and articles on the topic recently, including:

Building the Civilised Workplace
McKinsey Quarterly
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/04/mckinsey_quarte.html

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
by Robert Sutton
http://www.amazon.com/Asshole-Rule-Civilized-Workplace-Surviving/sim/044...

Happy Reading.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager