I’m a retailer, a supplier, just another B in the B2B world. But most days
I’m also a consumer, a customer, a Ms. Jones in heels and in a hurry. I’ve
been on both sides of the customer service counter.
“We’re nice. Our customers love us. We do follow up surveys and people tell us all the time what a great experience they had. Our service sets us apart.”
Blah blah blah.
Do you ever tell Ms. Jones no? Is it a better service to say no than to say yes and fail? What can you do when you can’t do anything? Can you call your competitors to find what she wants? Can you rack your brain and search your racks to find an alternative? Or are you willing to sacrifice your staff and stretch your resources to “try” to leap through Ms. Jones hoops?
Do you have any convenient interruptions? Ms. Jones won’t wait around while we wile away the hours. She’ll go find herself a company who’s willing to do the hard stuff.
Have you ever fired a customer? There’s a time to decide you aren’t going to be pushed around like a kid on the playground and stand up to a bully Ms. Jones. There’s also a time to give in to unreasonable demands just to keep the peace.
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