Wednesday 4 July 2012

Good service

The difference between a 'dive' and somewhere that is 'quirky' is good service. You can actually make a run down cafe feel quirky if the coffee is good and the service is offered with a smile.

On the other hand, you can damage a perfectly good brand with bad service.

Yesterday I put my car in for a service with a Mini dealer. The dealer has just spent a sizable amount of money on a brand new showroom. The cars are gleaming, the fixtures and color palette on-brand (as you would expect) but no matter how much BMW/Mini insist on a certain type of chair or sofa, the whole experience rests with the people doing the serving. And yesterday they were particularly bad.

Of course you can't always expect people to be free when you walk through the door but you can expect some form of acknowledgement. It might also be reasonable to expect the management to lend a hand when it gets busy instead of looking into their screens and hoping no one will see them. And when you eventually get served, an apology for having to wait wouldn't go amiss.

Last time I heard GDP had shrunk for the second quarter running. If you have just invested in your business you might want to think about holding on to the customers you have so making a small investment in customer service training might also be a good idea.

As for my Mini dealer, I will be finding somewhere else to service my car next time.


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