Chicken Wing Customer Service, and Ready for Business

What do chicken wings have to do with customer service? Well actually quite a lot, when you go to the restaurant and receive chicken wings that are much smaller than what you just had a couple days before. I saw these new wings and thought this must be a mistake, but the server said the new restaurant owner had purchased some new chicken wings. This was no doubt done to save money, but at what cost? Customers will be quite unhappy with the new size, and the negative word of mouth will spread fast, causing customers to stop coming to the restaurant. 


It is always amazing how companies do not see customer service as a powerful marketing tool to keep customers. In this restaurant example, the business will no doubt lose revenue on the new and smaller chicken wings. Also, the negative word of mouth is not good as it will cause some people not to go to the restaurant at all. What more companies need to see is that customer service can be a very powerful marketing tool to increase business revenue and to save on marketing costs. It costs a lot to get new customers, so a business should be very focused on designing a great customer service training program for the staff.


This short chicken wing story brings me to an important milestone in my life. I have been working on a business idea for a few months, and now am ready to announce the official launch date of my business. May 1, 2012 is the official launch date of my business which is called Lightray Marketing. You can check out the website at www.lightraymarketing.ca . This business will be focused on providing customer service training as a powerful marketing tool for small businesses. 
My mission is to help you build your business one smiling customer at a time.

Store Closing Time, Customer Service Story

It always amazes me when I see obvious examples of bad customer service. Since I am in the business of customer service training, I seem to observe customer service more closely than most people. This is an example of what not to do when a customer comes into your small store.


So I go to a small store about five minutes before closing time, and the clerk can clearly see me come into the store. I know there is only a few minutes left, but I know what I want and will be at the counter by closing time. So I have my products and get to the counter, and then I am amazed at what the clerk says next, " We are closed". Sure its maybe about 30 seconds before closing, but I have money and what to buy things and the clerk is basically saying, forget your money, I need to go home, at precisely closing time.


What really amazes me is that the staff saw me come into the store and did not say they were closing, but rather waited for me to come to the counter with my products, and then tell me they were closed. Needless to say I was not impressed, and started to wave my money and say I really want to purchase these items. Can you imagine, its almost like I have to beg to give this store my money. This clerk clearly does not understand that without customers, they would not have a job, and would then not have to worry about leaving at closing time.


It is always interesting when you go into a store near closing time and see what kind of service you will receive. Customers have many reasons why they go near closing time, as we all have busy schedules. If your schedule is busy, you should not feel bad about going to a store near closing time, as you are giving them money, which allows the business to continue to exist.


How do your staff treat customers near closing time? This might be a good time to evaluate your staff to make sure they treat customers great near closing time, so that positive word of mouth develops from this sale. Perhaps to encourage staff to be friendly near closing, you could schedule their shift to end 15 minutes after the normal closing time. There are other options as well, but the main thing to let staff know is that, customers are the reason they have jobs, so treat them great all the time, even near closing time.