Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

“Marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale — “telling and selling” — but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler pg. 4)

                As a society based around consumerism, the retail industry is a large part of our daily lives. There are many retail companies that attempt to create a good rapport with their customer base, but tend to fail more than succeed, because they simply go about it the wrong way - how many times have you been hounded upon entering a store about the company's latest deals and promotions, rather than being offered assistance to meet your needs? I've lost track of how many times this has happened to me, and as such, I go out of my way to avoid interacting with employees at retail chains when I am shopping; I just don't want to be bothered anymore. When I have encountered a situation that requires more knowledgeable cooperation, I have also often been on the unfortunate end of being ignored by workers. I was born and raised in Las Vegas, so I suppose you could say that I have become accustomed to the low standards of customer service and common courtesy in this city, and do not expect very much leeway in this department. However, despite the fact that I have had more negative experiences than positive, every once and awhile there will be someone who surprises you. For instance, my standard routine of grocery shopping involves listening to my ipod and avoiding the use of a cart as much as possible – normally I only need a few things at a time and do not need to push a cart around the whole store. One day, I decided to break my routine, because I wasn’t feeling very energetic after the previous day’s work; I secured myself a shopping cart and acquired my small list of required items, before heading to the aisle with the cases of water. In an effort to avoid small talk and more sales pitches, I almost always use self-checkouts when they are available, and during my checkout process I was asked by an employee if I would need help to my car with my water – I politely declined. After my completed transaction, I was once again asked if I would need help on my way out the door; again, I declined, and at first I was mildly insulted that I had been asked by two people if I needed the assistance. I may be small, but I can certainly handle a case of water! In retrospect, however, I realized that this was the first time that I ever received this kind of customer service from that particular grocery store, and because I am conditioned to bad service, I did not recognize it for what it was. I would not mind returning to this grocery store again.