Have you ever had the experience of calling a business on the telephone, or walking in the door of an establishment, and because of the way you are treated, perhaps because of things that are or are not said or done, never gone back?
Unfortunately, this happened to a friend of mine recently. She stopped in a specialty craft store after passing by a number of times, and immediately liked what she saw. What she didn't care for were the three people - the owner and two employees - loudly bickering at the counter. She did receive a response to her inquiry about a product, but other than that, there was no other acknowledgement of her presence.
Will she return? In her words:
"I am unlikely to go in there again just to look. What an unpleasant shopping experience. If these people had behaved themselves and acted as though they were somewhat glad to see me, the store would have been a delightful discovery. I might have made a habit of stopping there, and who knows what I might have seen that I couldn't live with out. As it is -- probably not."
Offering customers a positive service experience does not have to be an added expense, but clearly, to not do so can be costly in the end.
