Saturday, December 22, 2012

Eternal Vigilence is the Price of Customer Service

I visited a Stew Leonard's store today ... with much anticipation.  Stew Leonard's has been consistently cited as a retailer with nearly perfect customer service.

Unfortunately, the reality wasn't quite the customer service heaven I was anticipating.  The store itself wasn't set up for customer service.  There was no customer service counter.  The clerks were busy stocking shelves (during prime shopping time) and couldn't seem to be bothered to look around to see what the customers might need. 

The check out experience wasn't any better.  The clerk was engaged in a conversation with a fellow worker about who was responsible for making coffee in the employee lounge.  So I wasn't greeted or acknowledged.  In fact, he never even looked at me. 

I guess it goes to show that, once on top, companies can't rest when it comes to customer service.  Today's laurels are tomorrow's compost.

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