Customer Service

In the hustle & bustle of this world of not enough time in the day & societies fast pace, businesses have gotten away from customer satisfaction & customer service has become a lost art. Being that good customer service is the livelihood of my business (since I am a barber), I feel that it's a must that some of these issues be addressed. Since I am a "customer" in the since of the word on a daily basis (i.e. I shop at stores, fast food places,etc.) there are some special treatments I feel that I'm entitled to! It is not a right for a business owner to receive my money for their product or service. It's a privilege!

First of all, the main goal of good customer service is repeat business! When a customer of mine enters the barbershop where I work where there are 5 more equally qualified barbers & chooses to wait however long it takes to get service from me, that's mainly because of superb customer service (not to mention the cuts are tight also)! No matter what the business is, the customer needs to leave there happy no matter how much money they parted with. A good experience will help them get over the pain of parting with their hard earned cash! If they have a good experience they'll pass on positive feedback to others.

The essence of good customer service is forming a relationship. You have to make that person feel like their the only one who matters at the time & in a sense they are because they have what it takes to keep you in business...CASH! If you're not a customer, you're a salesperson because you're trying to sell your product or service. A good salesperson makes the customer want to pursue them.

I recently patronized a Kentucky Fried Chicken establishment located at 106 W. Illinois Ave., Dallas,TX 75224 (#214-941-1673) & had several bad experiences. It's definitely my fault that the occurrences have been frequent seeing that I should have stopped frequenting them after the first couple of incidents. Anyway, since I did here's a few things that happened. I went through the drive thru on one occasion & the person working it didn't see me because he was on a cell phone with his back turned. The never have everything on the menu & it's usually what you order that's not in stock. When I complained to the "manager" he said,"My bad my nigga!" Now how disrespectful is that? Upon another visit, there was a line of people in the lobby with one person working the register & the drive thru. But, the manager was standing there with her purse on her shoulder with several other employees standing around not helping.

Needless to say, I won't be patronizing them anymore & what's worst is by me sharing my experience there will be several other people who will stop eating from there. Several attempts to speak to a customer care representative failed. That's another major problem in itself. If the ownership or upper management don't get a handle on this one location soon it's bound to doom!

In my research of top businesses I've comprised a list of customer service pluses that has these businesses succeeding.You first must answer your phone. People want to talk to a live person. Not a recording.You must keep your promises.As a barber, if I tell someone I can stay late or come in early for them, I have to keep that promise. That type of service will probably make that person an exclusive client of mine, that is repeat business.Listen to customers. It's annoying for customers to have to explain something over & over again.You should make appropriate responses & problem fixes.Deal with complaints.You can't please all the people all the time but your attention to the complaint may please this one customer this time.If you have staff, properly train them & make them knowledgeable about your business.Be helpful even if there is no immediate profit.Take extra steps. If you work in a grocery store & I need to know where an item is, don't direct me to it, take me to it & ask if there's anything else you can assist me with.Finally, throw in something extra like a discount, additional information or even a smile. As a barber, I do extra things like beard & mustache trims which we usually charge for.

There are a lot of places that sell chicken like KFC so you have to have better services than your competitor & to be successful you must exceed your customer's expectations. What can you offer that's better then the competition? A lot of people just lower their prices but their just prices, not service.Hassle free convenience & a pleasant experience provides customer service that distinguishes you from the competition.All products & services are the same. It's the customer service that makes them different.

The last observation that I would like to make is that for some reason business owners horribly neglect customer service in the inner cities or "hoods"! Why is this? Maybe it's because it is widely accepted in the inner cities & there is a lack of respect & self respect. Why should we be subjected to piss-poor customer service when we frivolously spend more money then anyone else. We are over charged & under serviced & we take it with a smile. We go into establishments like we owe them something when they should be showing their gratitude to us just for considering their business.The problem we're facing in dealing with these challenges are self propitiated. If I continue to spend money with someone who has poor customer service, they'll continue to treat me the same way. Why stop doing something that works?

In conclusion, no one wants to spend their hard earned money. So while they are, the experience need to be made as pleasant as possible. In the case of the KFC, I was so upset that I ordered over $60 of made to order food through the drive thru & drove off once it was prepared.That's unfortunate for the owner but"OH WELL!" This location & others like it in the inner cities needs a total management make over & I believe that once this happens & these steps I've previously outlined are put into action I can enjoy my barnyard pimp a little bit better!