An experience I had recently that illustrates perfectly how essential Customer Service is.

The importance of Customer Service in the digital age

Recently I’ve been thinking about getting a new monitor for my computer. After some research I found the model I wanted and a company that had it at a fair price.

I gave them a call. The first gentleman I spoke to couldn’t get rid of me quickly enough after realising I only wanted one unit. He said he dealt with schools and would get someone else to call me back. He had my number so someone would call back straight away. Over an hour later a call came in.

I told the lady the model that I was interested in and quoting the price I’d seen on their website. It turns out the price that was quoted was only available if I had trade-in with certain specification and age. This offer had to be claimed retrospectively direct from the manufacturers, not them. So considering I was already on the phone and still wanted the same model I said that I was happy to continue with the new (and real) price I was quoted.

“That’s great” the sales woman said “postage and packaging is £9.99 for next day delivery”. Feeling cheated, I said “but that’s not on your website”, to which she mumbled that that was simply the price.

Again, feeling like I’d already come this far I agreed to the additional cost of P&P. Asking to pay on my Amex card she said “that’s fine, but there’s an added 2.5% charge for American Express”. Shocked at yet another add-on cost, I asked instead to pay on my Mastercard, to which she explained would be a charge of 0.9% instead!

I cancelled the order, thinking that I’d rather pay another company more money than feel like I was being swindled.

Learning from their mistakes

It was a shocking example of squeezing every penny from the customer by any means necessary. The sad thing is, I bet a lot of customers simply cough up the extra charges just because they’ve already gone so far, only to feel afterwards like they’re glad the ordeal is over with.

This might be a way for this company to make a few extra pounds and pennies here and there. However, it is not the way you build a respected business that people will go out of their way to deal with. It’s the exact reason people look to Amazon for almost everything now; they offer the cheapest prices and the journey from “I think I want X” to receiving X is easy and painless.

Now, the Amazon route is one way to go, but what if as well as offering a straightforward journey from ‘thought’ to ‘purchase’, you offered a friendly and comforting touch. Our job if we are in selling is surely to make the customer think clearly and feel good. What if you were someone that customers went out of their way to deal with, that whenever one of their friends mentioned that they were looking for a sofa/car/phone/monitor/etc they would instantly recommend you or your company.

When was the last time you walked out of a store feeling impressed by the service?

It takes a little extra work to be friendly, convincing and reliable, but the rewards are worth that extra effort.