Another Bad Apple

Guest Blogger - Steve Puckett, Prepress Manager

One thing that is very important in a business relationship is customer service and this should continue long after the sale. I recently had a disappointing experience concerning my relationship with my vendor after the sale.

I have a vendor that, years ago, sold me a product and services for that product. That vendor went through a corporate restructuring and my contact was let go. Since then I have had no one contact me from that organization. On the flip side there is another player in the game that has been very aggressive to gain my business. Prices and quality of service aside, one thing that made me lean toward the up and comer is their aggressiveness. I feel they want my business and are going to earn it. They are a local company, family owned like the Flottman company and hungry for the business. It’s not impossible for a large national company to compete with a smaller local company. It would seem that size is on their side but somehow along the way they have lost their personal touch.

We publish a value statement that reads “We believe in growth through relationships with customers, employees and vendors.” We want to grow and we want to see our customers succeed.

I believe the Flottman company prides itself on the continuing relationships we have with our customers and vendors. Another part of our value statement reads, “We are a business family” and “Our customers and employees are part of that family”. We all need to evaluate our customer service and make sure that we are earning our customers business through the years and not just resting on our laurels.

Treat Yourself Like a Customer

It is an old problem, it is hardest to be your own customer.

When it comes to your project, it is usually pushed back for the paying customers, corners might be cut to make it quicker, easier, cheaper. It makes sense: it is hard to justify the time, the expense, plus you are always doing it for other people, sometimes you just want a break.

But remember, if you can't do it for yourself, why would people want to hire you to do it? When I am working on a self-promotional printed piece I run into all these problems and sometimes it seems so much easier to give in, but I have to remember. I am sending these out to my customers, I want them to do projects just like these. Why would they, if what I send them isn't spectacular?

1 Bad Apple

"Customer Experience" is haunting me this week.

Last Friday, I attended a presentation by Bill Leinweber, owner of Landmark Experience Consulting, entitled "Stop being 'Customer Centric' and Start Getting Customer Serious." One of the concepts I found most interesting was the idea that once a new customer is acquired (after all that wooing) what happens then? Is there a system in place to make sure all that wooing wasn't for naught. Convincing them to buy is only the beginning after all. Are the communication channels of your business open? Does everyone even know this is an important new customer, who should be getting at least a little special attention?

Just a few days later I was discussing my boss's recent business trip and there it was again, customer service. He arrived at his hotel and was very impressed with the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff. Everything seemed to be going great and then the business portion of the trip began. And bam . . . positive experience wasted. As helpful as all the hotel employees had been to that point, the people he encountered in the business center were not. And of course the good experience only helped to highlight how bad the bad experience was. So bad in fact, the group is considering not holding their meeting there next year.

It is so easy for one person to spoil what should be a triumph, but it is especially easy if that one person doesn't even understand what is going on.