By Judi Badnani, SupportSpace
Ever been totally and utterly frustrated with the service you’ve received in your local stores? I would be prepared to bet my months’ salary that 99.9% of us have had a bad experience one way or another! I can re-count several stories of being served by less than professional service reps, who are happier talking amongst themselves than serving me (in fact, what was I thinking “disturbing” them in order to ask for help?!)
For those of us who really feel strongly about this, there is plenty of written matter on the subject, not least in the form of Fred Reichheld’s book "The Ultimate Question", a must-read for anyone concerned about customer service, on the detractor theory. Detractors are company critics who will eagerly tell friends, colleagues, and just about anyone else, about their bad experiences.
He maintains that "In the past, the accepted maxim was that every unhappy customer told 10 friends. Now, an unhappy customer can tell 10,000 'friends' through the Internet."
Having started my career in retail I can remember the old adage “the customer is always right” and although, of course, that is not strictly true, we always found a way to make sure that the customer left our stores, having enjoyed a positive shopping experience. It’s also true, that no-one likes to be taken for a sucker, but surely this is the art to being a professional retailer.
I have recently been reading several blogs detailing catastrophic stories from unsatisfied customers who have basically been made to feel stupid and insignificant. No wonder then, that online services are experiencing the kind of boom that they are. Surely, we can understand the attraction of shopping online, be it for groceries, clothing, holidays, gifts or yes, even technical help. Imagine how much calmer we will all be, when all these services are literally a click away. No more travelling miles only to be told what you need is out of stock, trying to find a helpful assistant to give you professional help or persuading store managers that you actually do have a point when you have a problem.
Thankfully, companies such as SupportSpace are here to help! Slowly but surely, the days of taking computers, printers, iPods etc into a store to be fixed are coming to an end. Now you can register to SupportSpace, a website which gives you instant access to a robust community of independent, certified tech support experts who will be happy to help solve pretty much any technical issues. You can choose your own expert and as opposed to the regular service call centers, you can keep coming back to the same guy, who again, surprisingly, will treat you like a human being and not a pain in the neck!
Give it a try…I think you’ll like it!
