Yes, The Economy is Lousy, but Please Quit Taking it Out on Your Customers

Running a business can be daunting, especially in these challenging economic times. Faced with all the intricacies of day to day operations like managing staff, keeping up with competitors, collecting receivables and all of the other responsibilities, it can be easy to forget why we are here: the customer.

More, now than other, every business owner needs to be focused on providing excellent customer service. Even with a smaller staff and reduced resources, business owners and managers can become re-dedicated to making customer service a priority in their company. And happier customers will increase the bottom line.

Don’t Nickel and Dime Them

It’s a dilemma, you need to raise your prices because of rising costs but  fear a customer backlash so instead of raising prices across the board, a surcharge is added to each customers bill to cover the cost of an extra item, like fuel. However, additional fees that don’t add value to the primary purchase of the item sticks out like a sore thumb in a customer’s mind. Customers generally prefer an all inclusive charge, not being pelleted by fees and surcharges. (This is the reason most of us hate our banks!) Think about your last attorney’s bill; what sticks out most, the $175 an hour or the $10 he charged for a fax? If he just charged $180 an hour we probably would not even glance twice at the bill.

Surcharges should only be implemented for uncommon, one-time fees and used as the exception not the rule. Otherwise, just raise the base rate of your product or service to cover increasing costs. Additionally, customers don’t want to think about the bill or the fees too much. The more attention that is drawn to the bill, the more focus is placed on the cost rather than the product or service. Consider this, if the airlines just raised their flight rates quietly and uneventfully, to cover the cost of excess baggage, no headlines would’ve been made, we’d just pay it and move on.

Take Down the “I hate my Customer” Signs

When a customer comes into your business, you want to promote a gut reaction that makes them want to come back, right? (Think warm fuzzies.) You don’t want little signs that make them feel them feel unwanted or uncomfortable.

I recently walked into a local sandwich shop. The food is okay and the prices are moderate, not a deal breaker either way. But as I sat to eat I noticed very disturbing signs. “Bathrooms for customers only”; “One napkin per person”; “We don’t make change”; “No loitering, time limit for tables 20 minutes”. There were several other signs too. Uh oh….definitely not warm fuzzies. I quickly felt unwelcome even though none of those signs applied to me. That’s all I remember about the place other than it was a national chain. Then I began to notice these types of signs all over town. That’s when I dubbed them “I hate my customer” signs. I strongly believe that the negativity that those signs produce is far worse then the original problem. Instead of putting up an ugly sign declaring your indignation with an issue, deal with the issues individually and discretely. Whatever you do, please don’t take your frustrations out on your good customers.