Ah, customer service. It’s the thing that every customer comes to adore or despise about everything from the grocery store to the dog groomer. And it’s a little like how Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart defined obscenity: I know it when I see it.
Or, as the case may be, I know it when it’s done poorly.
A recent case in point was a trip to the local Atlanta Bread Company location in industrious New Berlin, Wis. I’m a periodic customer there, or I was. I don’t know if I ever saw the same server more than once, which may add to their non-customer service orientation.
On a non-descript weekday night I walked up to the counter to place my order at this store. There I found a young man on a cell phone in active conversation, an active conversation about something other than the soup I was about to order. He acknowledged me, said to give him a couple minutes and then continued his discussion. I gave him the rest of the night; I left.
There is simply nothing worse than bad customer service – in any business. It is the difference between making the sale and securing loyalty and simply dumping your brand in the back of the pack. This isn’t merely one-on-one bad manners (although it qualifies), it’s systemic. Why is it that servers at Culver’s can be attentive and even friendly while serving their soup on time? Are they hiring the best and the brightest? Do they have a better pension plan? Nope. I think they spend a few minutes talking about customer attentiveness and the importance of that face time.
So it’s hurray for Culver’s and boo to Atlanta Bread. But more than that, I hear a little more ching chinging happening for the butter burger guys.
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