“Hello. You’ve reached ABC restaurant. If you get this message during normal business hours, we are either on the other line or helping a customer. Please call back in a few minutes. If you get this message after normal business hours, please leave a message and we’ll call you back.”
Guess I need to sharpen my ESP skills!
I’m looking for a specific item from a particular company. The item costs about $4. I’m told by the sales gal that they do indeed have this item, but it’s only available as a gift if I buy $50 worth of that company’s product. She spends 5 minutes explaining why I can’t get this as a stand alone item — it would mess up their inventory tracking system since the item doesn’t have its own SKU number, and it also wouldn’t be fair to the manufacturer.
Excuse me??
I find this elusive item in an outlet type store. I approach a cashier to pay. She tells me that I need to stand on the one line that feeds into all the payment stations. There are a least a dozen people in line for 3 registers, all with a number of things in their arms. I say, “This is only one small thing for under $4. Everyone else has a lot to purchase. Don’t you have a check out line for just a few items? Can’t I just pay quickly and be gone?” She says, “No. That’s the rule.” I decline to wait 20 minutes to make a $3.79 purchase.
In the time it took to have that conversation, she could have completed the transaction.
I’m on a business trip and looking for a rental car. I call Enterprise because they can pick me up. They’re very busy and take my number to call me back. After several minutes I call back; they are still busy and promise to get back to me as soon as they can. It’s getting close to the end of the day when all the rental companies close down, so I call another company and get someone to drive me there. On the way, the gent from Enterprise calls me back, apologizing for the delay. When I tell him I couldn’t wait any longer and have made arrangements with a competitor, he says, “OK, great. As long as you’re taken care of, that’s what’s important. I hope you’ll give us a call next time. Is there anything else I can do to help you before we hang up?”
I’m staying at a hotel for a conference that has promised free WIFI, but their system is down with a part needing replacement. Due to miscommunication among the staff, I’ve spent hours trying to fix what has turned out to be their problem. I ask to see the general manager, who makes time for me right away. He listens fully, apologizes for the inconvenience and misunderstanding. “What can I do to make this better?” he asks. “Well,” I reply, “I’ve got some critical time sensitive things to complete. I’ve had to rent a car so I can go somewhere that has Internet access since you promised I’d have it here and you don’t. How about paying for the rental car?” “No problem,” he says, “Just get me a copy of an invoice and we’ll take that amount off of your bill.”
The biggest lessons you can learn about business are from your own experiences. No matter what field, good outcome or bad, if you take the time to observe, consider and adapt, you’ll learn essential fundamentals that will put more money in your pocket.
So, do you make people jump through hoops or is it easy and pleasant to for them to connect and transact? Which kind of business owner are you?
