How Easy Is Your Company To Do Business With

Writen by Bill Lee

This may seem like a rhetorical question, but stop and think about your business ― from your CUSTOMER's perspective, ask yourself: Is your organization truly easy to do business with?

I recently called a local auto dealer to schedule routine maintenance on my car. I spoke with the Service Manager who was very nice. He was very efficient, in fact too efficient. He hung up on me while I was in the process of asking to speak with a salesperson.

I've always liked the dealership so I called back. The Service Manager answered the phone. I told him that we'd just spoken and that he had hung up on me! I assured him I didn't think it was intentional, but that he was merely in a hurry. I also explained that I wanted to speak with a salesperson.

He apologized, thanked me and hung up – again! I called back a third time and a salesperson answered the phone (thank goodness!). After answering my questions about a new vehicle I wanted to purchase I asked to speak with the General Manager.

The GM was pleasant until I explained my concern -- that in their effort to deliver fast service they were delivering poor service. His response was a very defensive and loud, "You did it wrong! You should have called sales first and asked them to transfer you to service!!"

I did it wrong.

Now, I'm sure this car dealer thinks he's real easy to do business with. I disagree. How many of your customers would call you three times to make a single purchase? Not many, I would bet. Now, I'm questioning whether to do business with this dealership in the future. Like all customers, I have a lot of places to choose from when deciding where to spend my money. You can bet your last dollar I'm going to think twice about choosing someone who yells at me.

And I'm not going to do business with an organization that makes me jump through hoops to do business their way, either. This is especially true when "their way" is not transparent. How was I supposed to know that if service answers the phone I am supposed to ask for sales first and then ask sales to transfer me back to service?

Why couldn't I just take care of my service issues while I had service on the line?

Nor am I going to do business with someone who doesn't know how to handle customer comments. That's Business Basics 101. Organizations that have not mastered "How to Handle Customer Comments" are not worth patronizing. They take too much time, which means they're not easy. Take a look at the process your customers go through.

Where does your company make doing business more difficult than it needs to be?

How can you make it easier for the customer? Easier for you? It's worth taking the time. After all, with all things being equal, it's human nature to follow the path of least resistance. That means your customers and prospects are going to do business wherever they find it to be easiest.

Try this: Periodically call -- or ask a customer friend to call -- your place of business with a specific customer service-related issue and find out for yourself how effective your personnel are at dealing with customer service problems. If your customer friend has the equipment to tape record the call, you may wish to use the recording as a training tool at an upcoming customer service meeting.

Bill Lee is author of 30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot ($21.95) and Gross Margin: 26 Factors Affecting Your Bottom Line ($29.95) Plus $6 S&H for the first book and $1 S&H for all additional books on the same order. See Shopping Cart at http://www.BillLeeOnLine.com