Whatever Happened To Customer Service?

We've all heard about the demise of customer service in all areas of business. I had an experience the other day that started me thinking about the way that people do business today and it made me ask the question "Whatever happened to customer service?"

I ordered a pizza the other day and had it delivered to my home. When the pizza arrived the deliveryman was busy talking on his cell phone, which from the sound of the conversation was obviously a personal call. He gave me my pizza, took my money, gave me my change, didn't say thank you or have a good day, and never missed a beat of his conversation.

Is it just me or does anyone else find this a somewhat offensive way of doing business. It disturbed me so much that I went to the company's web-site and wrote a letter to the home office telling them of the incident. I received a letter of apology back and an assurance that the matter would be brought to the attention of the manager of the store in question.

Imagine you've just finished making a presentation for a rather large corporate account. Landing this account would really put your business on the map. You're feeling pretty confident that the presentation went well and you are just about to get the order when your cell phone rings. You not only answer the phone but you proceed to have what is obviously a personal, non-emergency phone call leaving the customer to sit there and wait until you finish your conversation. Do you think that customer will place that order or any other order with you in the future? Would you do business with someone who treated you the way you just treated that customer?

When it comes to the way you do business how do you define giving good customer service? Being in the gift industry is a challenge we all acknowledge that, especially during those peak times of the year when the phone is ringing off the hook, the orders are coming in, help is short or non-existent, and if you're like me you start feeling like if you have to tie one more bow you'll take that ribbon and strangle somebody.

It's at times like these when we're feeling overwhelmed that we can let our drive for giving good customer service go lacking. We all have various reasons for getting into the gift basket business, but the bottom line is still the same. We all want to express our creativity while supplying a quality product and giving our customers good customer service.

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