As a customer, what makes your experience good or bad?

Not a day goes by that most people aren't customers - at stores, gas stations, on the phone etc. As a customer, what makes your exp. good or bad? How do you duplicate (or avoid) this in your business?

There is that old tried and true saying of, "treat people the way you want to be treated". Now there is that small select group of people that this does not apply to as they have this thing about being abused and humiliated, so we are not talking about them!

The one thing that I do not do is start in with the hard sell I talk about any and everything and get to know the person I am dealing with. They have my attention and I come from behind my desk and they get a genuine smile and not a fake put on smile. My smile is real because I know that I have something which they will enjoy and they are the whole reason I am employed. So, I want them to have a nice experience and I am not going to try to talk them into something that they do not want, because if I do that they will be trouble later. So, I want them happy up front and my job is to keep them happy and loving their community!

According to the customers who come to see me after a bad experience, It is the leasing staff not being friendly and/or being rude to them (these are the exact words the customers have used).

This is coming from customers moving from a community and prospective tenants visiting a community.

I have noticed a pattern of several of the same communities in my area where these comments are a result of.

I am in South Carolina where nearly everyone is friendly and hospitable, so being rude and unfriendly is very noticable and unwelcome behavior in customer service.

For me, personally, I would have a bad experience if I were in line waiting on something, could be getting gas or a parking spot, and someone jumps in front of me, as if I wouldn't notice. Of course, I would say something and it could get ugly, depending on their response.

Someone going the extra mile always makes for a great experience. It doesn't have to be anything big, something as simple as making polite conversation can go a long ways. For example I am a Starbucks addict and pass 4 on my way to work. I go to the same one every day because they know me by my car and my voice. When I pull up to the little speaker box, they always say good morning Stephani, drive on around. Even better if there is a really long wait when I get to the window the wont take my money (I just stick it in the tip jar anyway This store is the farthest from my home, but even on my days off I load up the dog and head to my favorite Starbucks, they always have a treat ready for him and everyone there knows his name. If there's a new employee they always call them over to introduce them to my pup
At work I try to do the same, just a little extra. If I see a resident struggling with several bags I offer them the use of our hand cart. I make an effort to know a little bit about each of my residents in order to make conversation. They really appreciate that I remember their interests or something about their kids.
My husband works from home and at one point he rarely left the house. When we would go out together and someone offered me great customer service I always made a big deal about it. He couldn’t understand what the big deal was. Now that his business requires him to be out in public more he sees what I was talking about. More often than not the service we receive is not very good. I would rather run into the HUGE Costco for a loaf of bread (knowing that the bread is all the way in the back and I may have to stand in line) than my local Food Lion simply because the folks at Costco have a personality unlike the people at Food Lion who look dead behind the eyes!

The most important thing that anyone in a customer service role is to remember and use the customer's NAME! People are naturally subconsciously egotistical and the most important word to them is their own name.

True story:

When I worked in retail, but specialized in corporate/government/educational accounts at a major computer retailer that local firms used as a local source to fill their needs; I had a client that had a particularly difficult name that I took the time to learn. He was the purchasing manager for a local school district. This school district had won a technology grant under No Child Left Behind for $200k (both federal and state funds) that told the teachers that they had to buy computer equipment for personal use. I was the one they came to for assistance in spending this money. Since the teachers had to provide receipts for reimbursement, we had the local teacher's credit union on site cutting checks for the purchases. I had in total $250k in sales that month, I had special operating hours for the teachers and involved vendors for demo days as well. Since the grant was for $200k, and my sales from this topped $250k, you know the teachers were also using non reimbursed personal funds as well.

This person was also friends with the IT person at a local private school that required all of their students to have their own laptops for class. I was the one the parents were referred to so these kids could get them, but it turned out that the parent was buying laptops for themselves and giving the older units to the kids; as long as the older units met their standards.