What is great customer service? To find out we must look at the definition of customer service. Customer service is defined as the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.
What then is a great customer service experience? To me a great customer service experience is a feeling of satisfaction. I want to walk away from my buying experience feeling happy. I want to tell the world about the great experience I encountered.
To demonstrate my feeling of great customer service I’m going to tell you all a story about a great customer service experience I had and compare it to a bad one. Oddly enough both experiences were with the same company at two different locations. The culprit of my experience was Guitar Center. The experience I had at the Guitar Center located at 8621 W Charleston Blvd in Summerlin Las Vegas was a bad one. I walked in the store and asked where I could find a portable recorder. The first representative could not help me and said that I needed to go to another section of the store but did not point me in the right direction. After, looking for that section on my own for a couple of minutes I was finally approached by a sales representative. He appeared really friendly. He asked me what I was looking for and I gave him a description of what was needed. He took me to the counter and continued to ask me additional questions to narrow down the exact item I was looking for. I was looking for a portable audio recorder. He proceeded to bring me software that I didn’t need. I said to him that I did not need that item and would like to see the recorders. He then proceeded to tell me for the next 5 minutes that I would be better off with the software and did everything he could to talk me into buying that product. I told him I understood where he was coming from but would still like to see the recorders. He then proceeded to tell me about how qualified he was and that the item he was showing me was what I needed. I proceeded to tell him that I appreciated his help but that I would no longer need to purchase anything from him at this time and walked out of the store.
The experience I had at the Guitar Center located at Town Square in Las Vegas was a great one. It was really simple. I walked into the store and was greeted by the individual at the door. They asked me what I was looking for and directed me toward the section I needed to go to find the item. When I approached the counter the sales associate was very friendly. I let the associate know that I was looking for a Shure SM58 microphone. He brought out the microphone I was looking for and gave me a description off it along with the price. He also brought me out other alternatives that were cheaper. The associate did not push me into the product and gave me a few minutes to make my decision. Once my decision was made he let me know about the warranty and rung up my sale with a smile.
I feel that all companies should maintain great customer service. The customer service should remain consistent and should apply to all customers good or bad. I pulled this quote from the CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh “Our whole goal at Zappos is for the Zappos brand to be about the very best customer service and customer service experience". (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, 10th Edition) I think that all companies should live by this quote. I will never return to the Guitar Center store at Summerlin and have also made it known to family and friends that this is not the place to shop.
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