Especially in this day and age when people are very picky with how they spend their dollars. Every transaction with every customer, every business relationship is still at it’s core, a relationship– with a person who wants to be treated like a person, with respect. Those relationships are not the easiest to come by now, so when we’ve got them we do well to remember to treat them well.
Someone should’ve reminded Mike the night clerk at the DoubleTree in Houston about this. Have you heard this story? Two business men flew in from Seattle at 2am one morning in November of 2001 for an important client meeting. But when they arrived at the hotel, Mike told them that he had sold their guaranteed reserved rooms three hours earlier; and the worst part is they were card carrying Hilton Honors club members!! As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mike went on to say many classically off things, like “I don’t think I have anything to apologize for.” Hadn’t he ever heard “The customer is always right? even when they are wrong they are right?” (In this case they were right though–they had confirmed their rooms before flying out). Anyway, after a long night and a less-than-stellar business trip, the two gentlemen decided to let the management at DoubleTree know of their experience…so they used their business skills to create a Powerpoint about their unfortunate experience with Mike and where they were taking their business. They sent it to Mike and his managers, and then posted it online. You can see it here. Needless to say it caused a bit of a problem for the DoubleTree brand 
Customer service has always been important, because the customer is important and it makes the customer’s experience pleasant and enjoyable. And we all know that a happy customer will tell their friends, and that can turn into more happy customers. But as Mike learned, if you treat them poorly, the bad buzz can travel fast (especially in our online world) and can really damage your business. Every customer represents a whole group of people that could be your customers –so keep that in mind!
And while we’re talking about it, we in the ad department at Appen seek to serve you well through good customer service. Let us know how we are doing!!
Tags: Alpharetta advertising, customer service, Duluth advertising, Gwinnett Herald, Johns Creek Herald, Revue & News, Suwanee advertising
