During the holiday season, we tend to interact with more people and businesses as we make our holiday purchases. While our patience tends to be lower from both the consumer and the busy workers perspective, it seemed as though customer service was at an all time low this season. How many times during the holiday season did you experience a poor customer experience? I honestly lost track! You would think that a business owner would go above and beyond to give great customer experience and service (not the same thing) during the holidays. Many customers that shop during the holidays are looking for a business that they can trust and possibly use again throughout the year. I have personally had three poor experiences recently, one with a fine dining restaurant, one with a home improvement store and one with a plumbing company. Two of these businesses are prominent companies. While the big companies have a lot of customers, shouldn’t every customer be important and worth keeping, rather than just being a number?

In attempting to conduct business with Wyman Plumbing, I was actually told they didn’t want my business because I questioned their service person’s lack of knowledge and customer service. A new plumber, who came highly recommended uncovered some major plumbing issues I was having at my home. He took the time to educate me on what the process would be for replacement, cost, timelines etc.. This job will cost ~$7K, therefore this company will make a sizable revenue and a happy customer that will recommend their services. Had Wyman Plumbing taken the time to provide me with a great customer experience, they could have had a BIG job!!

In conducting business with Home Depot on my November appliance purchase. It was astonishing at how poorly their sales people were trained. This was at more than one location. There were invoice mistakes so I contacted my salesperson same evening. He assured me someone would get back to me. I waited three days for a return call. I finally called to speak with accounting. I was put on hold on numerous occasions, hung up on a couple times and the list goes on… When I did reach someone I would get a polite person that transferred me to numerous departments. After reaching the correct person I thought I got the install problem corrected however they never followed through. As delivery date got closer problems escalated and I am still waiting to get my appliances in mid January.

In visiting Fogo de Chao a fine dining restaurant. Service was slow, meats were of a lower quality or cooked improperly, then we were overcharged and the list goes on. I did receive a call back on my Yelp restaurant review 3 days after I posted it. This was the second time we had bad service there, so not interested in receiving anything for free. We will not be returning anytime soon.

I did give all three of these businesses a second chance however will not be giving them a third chance or referring them business.

If you think these are isolated instances, you are wrong. These situations happen all the time and cost companies revenue every year.

Maybe it’s time to find out how you are losing revenue:

• Rude business owners or employees
• No one answering the phone
• Poor return policy
• Slow service
• Poor products
• Unresolved complaints
• Reviews on Social Media or Yelp
• Untrained staff
• Unprofessional team

We at The Hart Experience can assess your business from the beginning of the sales process to the end of the sale. Contact Debbie at 602.717.3271 / Debbie@thehartexperience.com / www.thehartexperience.com