Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:40:21 -0400
From: Al Wyllie
Subject: Why are they in business?
There seems to be a flood of complaints here of late on businesses in Chatham County that are simply not customer friendly. The owners of businesses that are really successful put customers first, employees second and stockholders (owners) third in their list of objectives and priorities. Giving customers MORE value and quality than they expect is a sure way to not only get their repeat business but the business of their friends as well. Business owners that do this will find more profit from more business and won’t have to resort to sleazy methods to cheat customers.
When a customer is haggled for hours in trying to buy a car, overcharged for car repairs, vet bills or any other service, the customer not only will look for another business next time, they will tell their friends about their unfriendly experience. It used to be that a pleased customer would tell 3 other people and a dissatisfied person would tell 10 other people, but with the new age of the internet, dissatisfied people can tell hundreds or thousands about their sorry experience. And, guess what, they can also tell hundreds about how well they were pleased, too.
Always be on the look for customer-unfriendly signs when you walk into a business, like No Refunds, No checks, No charge cards, If you break it you bought it, Minimum Service Charge, After 30 days….., Not Responsible for…, etc. Try the sign you see at some of the successful retailers…Satisfaction Guaranteed.
That’s the sign I want to see.
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