I recently received an email regarding my business that upset me. The content, the situation and the customer’s perspective all frustrated me. The customer acknowledged how great our facility is and how great the care is but felt when she called us the next day, the receptionist was rude. The customer let that phone call dictate her future experience with us stating she would never spend another dime with the business.
I tried to let it go, but I don’t like when customers have those type of experiences.
Shortly after receiving the email, I went to mass, still thinking about the situation and how to remedy it. During the homily, the priest, an admittedly open recovering alcoholic, spoke about his struggle with addiction and how some people have continued to judge him on that one aspect of his life. Regardless of how long he has been sober (I believe he said 30+ years), people continue to peg him as an addict.
It hit me. The customer pegged us.
As humans, we peg people every day. Unfortunately, I’m guilty of the same. We hardly ever give people the benefit of the doubt. My employee was wrong from the customer’s perspective, and that is what matters. The employee could have been having a bad day or could have been busy, but no benefit was given. I’m upset because the customer had the experience. I’m disappointed I didn’t know about it sooner. Why not report it when it happens so it can be resolved? It was three months after the situation when I was notified.
My point is this – don’t peg people.
People can change, people can have bad days, people can have bad moments, people can apologize and move on; we’re all human. Isn’t that why companies offer customer service training? To make individuals better at those skills.
