Scenarios : People make the different.

I have always imagine that should I own a restaurant or a shop, I would apply the best customer service to my customers. This is basic in business, and some see them and some don't. For a big corporation that run services, they have cultivated this approach among their workers, especially those whom directly interact with the customers. But there were also some small hiccups even for this big companies. Human factors are pretty subjective.

Scenario 1 : Learning from the West


While I was at the United States, i noticed a self-motivated customer service system. A Levi's store somewhere near L.A. There, I noticed that every single salesgirl is trained to treat their customer profesionally . After you closed a deal, upon payment, the cashier will ask you who was the salesgirl that engaged/assisted you. I could guess that they applied the the bonus system for every single sales that the salesgirl closed. Common sense. Of course, the system moves the employee by itself to do more sales. So clever, improve sales and improve customer service. Next, I observed the staffs at Universal Studios, California, almost everyone, from the event organizer, the host , tour guide, ticketing , usher, security and up to janitor were all well trained , to at least greet the visitors. It wouldnt increase their operating cost, but it did increase the customer satisfactions, and most importantly, it respresents their people attitude. The first world country attitude.

Scenario 2 : The Technology industry

Back in Malaysia, recently , I was shopping for a laptop. Hoping from one place to another. I could obviously see the different kind of approaches from one shop to another. When I eventually made the final purchase, it was actually more than 10 outlets that I visited. The last 9 outlets have almost the same machine that I was looking for. But the last outlet made a whole lot different. It was an outlet that sell Apple products, located in Sbrg Jaya. The owner or the training team had done a good job. They have trained their salesperson very well, I tested few of them and most of them are very customer oriented and more importantly , not selfish. They dont even ask me if I purchased any products from them.

I ended up paying almost 2x the original amount I was willing to fork out in my earlier planning. I agree that the decision of the purchase was not just ab the salesperson. A combination of beliefs in Apple's product, Steve Jobs fever/believer , friends (content expert) justification on Apple products, my own experience having an Apple product. But let's not forget the good salesperson  that was genuinely helping me to understand the product more, convincing me without forcing me to buy, and most importantly knowledgeable and honest. That person made a whole lot different. I went to an almost similar shop in Ipoh, that sell Apple products, ironically, the salesperson there didnt see me as a potential buyer. People do make the different.

Scenario 3 : The Food Service Industry

From IT service industry to simple food services. My favourite Nasi Kandar , Hameediyah, Penang, they too had good customer service. They greeted my kids, treating my kids like family. Fast delivery of food and beverage, and of course , the original mamak test of Briyani. But still, the people matters. People make the different. Recently in Kulim, there is a stall selling Nasi Lemak. No doubt the food are considerably good, but the owner him/her self lack of customer service. I noticed some unsatisfied customers just walked away. I noticed that people buy, but without a full satisfcation of money that they are paying for. Faces of the customers are something that wrote " I dont like you , but your food is delicious, so just gimme that damn f%#kin nasi lemak thing and I want to f@$k off". Another shop is the one selling "Soups". I have been noticing for many years that the faces of those who work at that food stalls are like slaves or prisoners under custody. No greeting, no smiles. And they can simply say "no stock" or "already finish" without empathy towards the customers who came to the stall. But surprisingly, people still go there. Probably because no one complaints, they don't really care or bother about customer like me. Probably that was also their strategy, so that people just come and take away /Tapaw, or if they choose to eat there, they eat and go, and dont really "lepak" for hours. Perhaps their strategy, I do not know.

Scenario 4 : The specialty shop service industry 

Couple of weeks ago, I drove 400 km, all over from Kulim to KL. I was told by a friend about an outdoor gear shop located in Petaling Jaya. As I took my family for a holiday, I took the opportunity to stop by at the said outlet. So excited to find the shop with my quite an "outdated Garmin GPS", I planned to buy a house tent for my next camping trip and couple of camoing gadgets. Upon reaching the store, I was so impressed with the products display. Inside,  there stood my favourite survival hero character, the one and only Bear Grylls , a kiosk displaying Gerber products, The Ultimate Knives, Fire-Starter,  and some other BG series. At the main counter, there were branded hunting/survival knives, haversacks, outdoor gadgets, clothings , you name it, full of accesories that I love and dream of having them. They even sell kayaks. But the shop lack of human touch, they simply don't pay attention for the customer service. No customer greeting, not even a smile. Very passive kind of respond when I inquired about a product. The products may be great but these people behaviour had made me felt like an unwelcome person into their territory. I could still remember the face of the salesguy. Someone that looks like he had to work without getting any pay. No initiative to close the deal. It's something like , " if you wanna buy, you buy, dont wanna buy, up to you..I have some other better thing to do...". That kind of attitude.  I tried to move to the other salesperson, even worst, the next person don't even put an effort to even notice my appearance. As expected, I left the shop without buying a single thing. I simply should have spent at least RM1,000 shoud the salesperson know how make things a little bit better. And knowing me, that was not the first time I walked out of a shop due to poor customer service. I would rather buy at a more expensive price as long as the owner or the salesguy have manners / polite. The shop may not lose much mathematically, but I guess I am not the only one that feel in that way, and multiply by those unsatisfied customers, i guess they still lose some significants amount of business potential. I don't think that I should mention the outlet name. Probably the real owner wasn't there to ensure things are running fine. But you see, Walt Disney was also not there when I visited Disneyland. Steve Jobs wasn't there when I purchased the Macbook Pro.  So, the owner presence shouldnt be an issue or excuse. But the effort taken by the owner to instill the right approach of customer service wasnt there. I guess if I were to make big purchases in future, I may not consider this shop.