SMART COMPANIES HAVE A good handle on how to serve their customers.
Others, well…they try, but they miss the mark.
Three different businesses served three generations of my family recently, with different tactics and outcomes.
My mom bought a Sharp calculator from a local store that was going out of business. When she got home, she realized that the manual for the machine — which was more high-tech than her old model — was missing.
The store didn't have one, and directed her to Sharp's 800 number. She called, explained her situation, and was referred to their Web site.
This was great, except for the fact that my mom doesn't go online. She's 81 and highly intelligent. But she's not Web savvy, and at this stage of the game has no desire to become so.
The phone rep told her in not so many words that if she couldn't get online, she was out of luck.
In a few minutes, I was easily able to find the right manual for her at Sharpusa.com. But Sharp should remember that while most people do go online today, not everyone has Web access, or a relative or friend who can navigate the Internet for them.
Will I ever purchase another Sharp product? No way. If they can't bother to print out a manual for a customer in need, I can't be bothered to spend my hard-earned cash with them.
Faring better for the next generation — myself — was the CVS drugstore chain. I picked up a prescription and a few sundries there a few weeks ago, and presented my ExtraCare loyalty card to the cashier, who forgot to scan it.
She didn't know what to do to retroactively enter my points, and called over an associate, who told her to enter my phone number. The problem here was that the account had been opened years ago when I lived at another address. I had no clue what number was linked to the account.
The cashier didn't know what to do then, and rather than referring me to a Web site or an 800 number, without an apology or a care, she moved on to the next customer.
I went home and logged on to CVS.com. To view my account, I needed to enter my card number, my ZIP code and the first three letters of my last name. Ugh. Did they have my maiden name or my married name? My new ZIP or my old one? After trying every possible combination unsuccessfully (and never being told exactly which part of the equation was wrong), I turned to the phone.
I climbed the phone tree for a few minutes, and went round and round in circles. I thought I'd updated my phone info, but still couldn't access my account with either the phone or account numbers.
I hit the key for a live person and was transferred almost immediately to a wonderful rep, who entered all my changes quickly, explained that the Web site was experiencing a few snafus and offered to add the missing points if I had my receipt handy. (I didn't, and didn't really care. But like any gal, I just liked being asked to dance.)
Finally, even at the tender age of 3, my son Jacob is a major influence on my purchasing decisions. Not only is he a big consumer of basic stuff like diapers, wipes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirts, but he has a great say in where we dine and snack.
When you have a small child, eating even a cracker in public can become a situation. The child typically has different ideas about proper behavior than you do, and this can lead to disagreements.
One afternoon after daycare, we stopped by Dunkin' Donuts to pick up iced coffees for myself and my mom, who was at home watching Jake's little brother Daniel.
Now, I live in the real world. So I knew there was no way I'd get the boy out of there without buying him milk and a donut. He happily picked out “a pink one” (i.e., strawberry frosted). I gave it to him and Wonder Tot promptly took the donut out of the bag and gingerly placed it on the ground, where I guess he was going to picnic.
“Get. The. Donut. Off. The. Dirty. Floor. Please,” I growled through gritted teeth, as I prepared to buy him another one because I was too tired to listen to him scream about not getting a treat.
I looked up and the counter-person already had another donut bagged and waiting for me, free of charge. A small CRM gesture, but it meant a lot to me in terms of goodwill. Will we stop by there again? You betcha.
So what's the score? Dunkin' Donuts: 1. CVS: 1. Sharp: 0 — and that's downright dull.
