10 The Financial Times Guide to Business Development
6. There’s no job more important than helping
customers or clients part with their cash!
One of my seminar delegates, a company director, shared a recent clothes shopping
experience with me. She told me how at 4.30 pm she had walked into the tting room
of a national retail chain to try on two items of clothing. A member of staff stopped her
and said, ‘Sorry, you can’t try those on.’ ‘Why not?’ asked my delegate. ‘Because I
have other jobs to attend to here in the tting room area before we close.’
If I was being very charitable, perhaps this might be understandable and
justiable at 4.55 pm if the store closes at 5 pm. At 4.30 pm, however,
with a full half hour to go there is absolutely no justication for turning a
potential customer away. Apart from any lost revenue from those purchases
it does nothing for customer service.
Whatever jobs the store member of staff had to perform, nothing was more
important than helping or indeed allowing a potential customer to make a
purchase. Never forget, it is your customers and clients who pay the wages,
and not the company.
7. Don’t let technology get in the way
I once found myself in a US-style restaurant diner. I had met with a client for coffee
and by 11.45 am we had pretty much nished and fancied some food. We were told
we couldn’t order anything, because ‘We enter your choice of food onto our hand
held terminals . . . and the computers don’t let us take orders until 12 noon.’ Simple:
we left and bought an early lunch elsewhere.
How often have you been faced with ‘the computer is down’ or ‘the com-
puter says no’ excuse? How does this make you feel as a potential customer
or client?
While many do what we did in this example and buy elsewhere, there are
still many consumers who reluctantly accept that this is okay. It is not!
Nor is it acceptable from a business point of view. If you are aware of ‘tech-
nology excuses’ happening in your business, then do something about it,
before you lose customers.
Making use of modern technology or computer systems to enhance ef-
ciency is to be supported, but if for any reason you have a problem with
your technology or you have a customer or client who wants something
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