Most people that know me, know that I’m truly passionate about customer service. I always try to focus on the customer experience in anything I do, in all my business and personal interactions with people. Everybody is my customer.

But it surprises me how many people and organizations are just not customer-friendly. In fact, it not only surprises me, it down right annoys me. I try not to let it get to me, but sometimes I find myself scratching my head in bewilderment, wondering how these guys can stay in business, given that they have competitors right next door, or around the corner, just dying to ’steal’ their customer.

But then it hits me, that even their competition (if they have any) aren’t that impressive.

Why is this? Why do so many businesses give lip service to customer service? And why are they still in business? Are we as consumers too polite? Have we been “trained” by these companies to accept a lower standard of service?

I know that I certainly could be guilty of this. In my busy life, I don’t always have the time to complain. A wise man once said that you have to choose your battles…. but is that approach the downfall of our customer service expectations? It’s like a downward spiral.

For example, last month, my Canadian mobile phone provider inadvertently charged me an extra $2.47 for a call received while I was allegedly roaming “internationally”. In reality, I was on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and received a call on my Canadian mobile phone. I assume that the close proximity to the US border led to my signal being picked up by a US cell tower and thus the assumption that I was roaming.

Of course I don’t want to pay for something that I didn’t use… nobody wants to do that. So I call my carrier to see about getting this charge reversed. But after being on hold for 20 minutes, I decide it’s just not worth my time. So I feel ripped off and feel that I have no recourse. Unless of course I wait on hold for god knows how long but just cause I eventually get through to somebody, will they really be a person I can speak to and if so, will they really have the power to do the right thing?

I’m sure this happens all the time to a number of people. But if you think about the company, not only do they have a pissed off customer, my call on hold must’ve cost them someething as I tied up their phone line for 20 mins… maybe their cost on a phone line is 1 cent per minute? Multiply that by the number of calls they get, how many are abandonded, etc.

For a large mobile carrier, I’m sure these numbers add up to a lot… and these are things that directly impact their bottom line! But I digress.

So here I am, pissed off because I have to pay $2.47 for something I don’t think I should’ve been charged with. Not that its a lot of money, and I’m sure I’ll soon forget about it and it’ll be water under the bridge. But the fact that I couldn’t speak to somebody about it, pisses me off even more, and that’s something I won’t forget for a long time.

Boy I wish we had more choice for GSM carriers in Canada… imagine how the world would be if there were competition? Oh wait, we had 2 GSM carriers in Canada before but 1 of them didn’t like the idea of competition so they bought the other. Now they have a license to rip people off and provide poor service.

Hmmm, anybody want to startup a GSM carrier in Canada? Oops, sorry. Just realized, you wouldn’t be allowed to compete against the incumbent monopoly carrier.

A lot of people believe that the customer is always right… it’s an old saying that seems to have gained momentum.

However, I’m not so sure that I would agree with it. I think it’s a little dated for our current business environment. I’d agree that the customer is a lot smarter nowadays. Many of our customers travel and experience things around the world, all of which shape their perceptions and expectations.

Plus, they can access a ton of information on the internet which makes them a well educated customer. Often, more knowledgeable about their specific requirement or product/service they want than the people we have helping them. But does that make them always right?

I’m not advocating total anti-customer anarchy… what I’m talking about is focusing on the business rather than the customer. Sometimes, it may be in the best interests of the business to look at the customer as right, sometimes not.

Sam Walton, the late founder of Wal-Mart once said “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

While this is very true, it can be misleading as not all people can be your target customer. And this is where the “what’s in the best interests of the business’ strategy comes in to play.

Sometimes, the employee is right, or sometimes its the Manager that’s right and not the customer.

So, I’d suggest that anybody who believes the customer is always right, should rethink their stance.

Surprisingly, I see this more often than I would’ve imagined. Many people think they know sales, and even those that know they don’t know, pretend they know… isn’t that weird?

Its as if they don’t understand that sales is just as much about customer service as customer service itself. And if you can’t master the basics of sales, then you’ll damage your customer’s experience. In most cases, this damage is permanent, as in lost a potential sale permanent!

The other day I called up a company that had a pretty impressive client list and that’s done some excellent work, looking for a quote to possibly do some work for one of my consulting companies. I knew exactly what I needed and asked specifically for that.

The sales person decided to tell me about all the other things they could do (mistake #1 - never assume you are smarter than your prospective customer) and proceeded to try and upsell me (mistake #2 - never try to sell your customer something they don’t think they need).

I don’t think she even took the time to understand what I needed or explore my problem that I was looking to address (mistake #3 - never offer a solution to a problem that hasn’t been acknowledged). Sure, I might need the services she offered, but I need lots of other things.

The difference is… what am I interested in buying? Often, what I need, and what I want, can be pretty different. And that is the point. Very rarely will your customer know what they need… but they will often know what they want :-)

To turn a prospective customer in to an actual customer, focus on selling them what they want, not what they need. Then, once they’re a customer and you have a relationship with them, they might be more interested in listening to you tell them what they need.

So a few days pass and I get an email with a quote for 20k! Here I was thinking I needed this small thing for about 1k, and somehow this sales person thought it wise to push my budget twenty-fold. Imagine my surprise, and frustration! Generally you want to make the sale as simple as possible… be easy to do business with.

Needless to say, I’ve got a pretty bad taste in my mouth and probably won’t be doing business with them.