How to Treat Your Clients Like Crap
May 21, 2007 business, marketing, small business marketing
My wife and I are pretty patient people. We don’t easily get upset. We aren’t picky eaters. We seldom argue. But we have decided that we will never go back to Blockbuster Video.
“Why” you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s because they treat their customers like crap. You’re thinking, “Wait a minute, I’ve been in there plenty of times and I never noticed anything wrong.” Here’s why…because you’re used to getting treated like that gum on the bottom of your shoe. We’ve become so used to mediocre service, that it has become acceptable…even normal. We’ve become so used to shopping at WalMart that we don’t remember what it’s like to go into a store that actually has helpful salespeople.
A Bad Example
Here’s what irked me. A couple of summers ago, my wife and I were temporarily living across the country. We didn’t have family or friends nearby so we often resorted to renting movies. The problem was that I didn’t usually get home from working until about 10 PM and the local store closed at 11 so by the time we chatted about our day, decided what to do, and then made it to the store, it was about 10:40.
We would walk into the store excited to find just the right movie only to be reminded by the associate at the cash register that, “We’re closing in 20 minutes!” (As if I had somehow missed the big sign right next to the door handle that said, “Open ‘till 11 PM”). This wouldn’t have been too bad except that every two minutes, another associate would approach us and repeat, “We’re closing in 18 minutes.” I’d think to myself, “Wow, really? How weird, that’s the same time the girl at the cash register said you’d be closing.” To add to this frustration, if we happened to arrive at 10:55, the doors would already be closed. “Wait I thought the store was open ‘till 11. Maybe you should change the sign to read, ‘Open ‘till 10:55’.”
After two or three nights of this, we got fed up. We decided that we’d go somewhere where we were appreciated as customers. Hollywood video was just another block away, open ‘till midnight and we never once heard anyone say, “We’re closing in X minutes.”
Tags: Buzz Marketing, growth
