How NOT to treat customers
"Customer. Please stop complaining! When I have been delivering your paper every day.
If paper is not putting where you want it, please call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx and tell me where you would like for me to put it.
Thank you!
Your friendly delivery person.
God Bless You!"
I bet you've also had instances where you've run into this kind of attitude while shopping or in your day to day business. I've included this message here because it's such a perfect example of how not to deal with customer complaints. Whether you're a newspaper delivery person, a clerk in a retail, a franchise owner dealing with either customers or employees, or if you're in any other position where you have to deal with others.
What I find really sad about this letter is that the writer obviously had no idea how this letter would be perceived. I'm sure he meant well. That's why he signed it "Your friendly delivery person." But the way he addressed the issue simply made the problem worse.
This is such a great example of why it is so important to train staff in how to deal with complaints. Can you imagine overhearing one of your employees talking to a customer like this? I'm sure you'd cringe!
While shopping for a franchise, why not take a minute and ask the franchisor if they can help you with training your staff in how to deal with customers? If they don't offer training in this area, ask if they can recommend someone that does.
At the very least, buy some books on stellar customer service. The one I own and recommend is "Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless: How to Make Them Love You, Keep You Coming Back, and Tell Everyone They Know
Two others I found during a quick scan through Amazon are:
"The Big Book of Customer Service Training Games
and
"Customer Service Training"
For a list of other training resources, enter "customer service training" in the following "Search Amazon" box.