Generation Integration: Roberta Matuson Unites Boomers, X-ers and Millennials in the Workplace

I Beg of You...Please Train Your People!

File this under, you cannot make this stuff up. I took my kids yesterday to Pro-Cuts for their back-to-school haircuts. This chain advertises haircuts for $12.99. What they fail to mention is that for that price, you have to do it yourself.

Let me explain. My daughter's hair was a bit tangled in the back of her head and required more than the standard three minutes allotted for her cut. I would have gladly paid an additional amount to untangle the nest that was implanted in her head. Instead, the twenty-something year-old young lady asked me if I wanted to comb it out myself. I stared back at her and then said that I brought my daughter there for a haircut and that I had no intention of doing her hair since that's what I was paying for!

Please tell me why I would even go to a hair salon if I wanted to do it myself. More importantly, are these people even trained in the art of customer service? Clearly not.

You can see how easy it is to stand out in the crowd. All you have to do is train your people to care for your customers.

Poor Service Has no Age Barrier

I'm constantly hearing people complain how Millennials lack customer service skills. Complaints range from poor attitudes to texting while speaking with customers. The most vocal complainers seem to be the Boomers.

I believe that poor service has no age barrier. We blame what is easiest to identify. A young person gives you bad service so you immediately leap to the conclusion that all young people lack the communication skills necessary to work with people. When in fact, there are many situations where service is lacking, regardless of age.

Here is but one example. I went to my local Roche Brothers supermarket yesterday, where I'm willing to pay a premium for their fresh fish. It's like eye candy to me and I simply can't hold myself back. I was being waited on by a man who appeared to be in his early 60's. He was moving along at a decent pace until the phone rang. He walked away, right in the middle of my order, to answer the phone. I stood there thinking, "Okay, this will only take a minute." He must have been on the phone for well over five minutes. Perhaps with a customer placing an order. But that didn't matter to me. What mattered most is that I was forced to stand there while he tended to someone who was obviously more important to me. When he completed what he was doing, he chatted briefly with a co-worker and then came back to finish my order.

He never apologized for making me wait. It was as if nothing happened. I call that poor service. I'm dropping at least $25 on fish and it's as if I wasn't even there. I call that poor customer service and I don't believe it has anything to do with his age.

So the next time you decide to go on a rant about how the Millennials have such poor customer service skills, think about the real reason for the service failure. It may have more to do with how engaged the employee is with his employer, than his actual chronological age.

Why Bother Giving People Titles Who Have No Authority?

Okay, I'll admit it. Every once in a while I hit the big W (Walmart) to pick up a few items. Thought I'd kill two birds with one stone tonight and buy a few grocery items while I was there in East Falmouth, MA. Six items to be exact. I'm not quite sure why the cashier didn't place all six items in one bag, but apparently he decided to use two bags for my rather small order. Of course I left with only one bag.

It wasn't until I returned home 30 minutes later that I realized four of my items were missing. Simple problem to fix, right? So I call up Walmart and ask them if there is a bag there with my four items. I even provide them with the specifics, including the calorie count on the yogurt. They confirm my merchandise was left behind. I ask for my left items to be credited back to my credit card. No can do.

You see, I have to come in and sign the credit card slip. Well, that's according to Asst. Manager Jeff, who refuses to give me his last name. I try to politely inform Jeff that I live 30 minutes away and if I were going to come in for my credit, I may as well come back and retrieve the items that were left behind. Jeff wasn't listening. Instead, he chose to tell me there are rules and this is one of them. No credits over the phone. Again, I try to explain to Jeff that I'm not a criminal. Just a customer who would like her account credited back. Funny, Whole Foods had no problem doing that yesterday when I came home and found out that there was a problem with some cheese I just bought.

You see, Jeff has a title. (No last name, but a title) Yet, he has no authority. So now he has a pissed off customer who will continue to let everyone know exactly how she was treated tonight. All because he did not have permission to make a simple credit to an account when he had the merchandise in front of him.

Walmart needs to take that stupid smiley face off their store. A smile means happiness and that's one feeling I'm  certainly not feeling towards this store.

Hanging Your Employees Out to Dry

If you've been following my Tweets over the past few days (@matuson) and my blog, you'll know that I experienced a situation at General Cleaners in Easthampton, MA that I find puzzling. You see I wanted to give the owner, Tim Dachos an opportunity to correct a situation that has gone terribly wrong in one of his stores, before I made this public. I gave him the courtesy of a phone call and he chose not to return it. I also filled out the comment section of his web site and received no reply. Seems he's too busy running his other business.

I've had some time to think about what happened (see post below) and I now realize this employee is most likely modeling the behavior that is prevalent in his organization. I suspect this employee gets treated by his employer the same way he treats his customers.

I realize now that the real blame for what happened should be placed where it belongs...at the top.

There are lessons for business leaders to learn. Here are just a few:

• If you are not interested in customer service, then don't start a business that requires customer service.

• In small towns, people talk. Make sure they are talking about how great you are and not telling others to avoid your business.

• Don't spread yourself too thin or you might have more than one business that is unsuccessful

• Watch your own behavior. Your employees are certainly doing so and are treating your customers exactly like you are treating them.

I suspect there are plenty of other dry cleaners in this town that would love my business. I'm heading out to find one today.

Summer Jobs

It looks like this year summer jobs will be even harder to come by for young people. Maybe someone should have told this to the young clerk at General Cleaners in Easthampton, MA.

I went in to pick up my dry cleaning today only to find that the pants that go with my suit are no where to be found. In an effort to track down my pants, I asked him a few questions. He then told me my bitc***" attitude wasn't going to make my pants appear. Oh really?

This type of "service" isn't going to add any revenue to this company's bottom line. In fact, I'm taking my business elsewhere. 

There are tons of people waiting to take this guy's job. He doesn't know it yet, but I suspect by next week he will get the message loud and clear, as I've just sent a note to the owner regarding my experience.

So here's my advice to those young people who have jobs. This isn't the time to diss your customers. Do what they ask and do so with a smile. And for those young people who are looking for work. Stay the course. Go back to the places you applied to every few weeks. I suspect there are more people out there, like this guy, whose job will be opening up shortly.

Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Training?

I had the pleasure of spending the day at a fancy bowling alley in Boston. I have to say, I was a bit surprised that I had to leave my credit card at the front desk while my children bowled. Did they think we would run out the door wearing those fancy bowling shoes?

As I settled our bill ( you don't really want to know how much it was) the young attendant hung onto my credit card as if it were a winning lottery ticket, even after I told her I was paying in cash. It was clear to me that she had been trained to retain all cards until the transaction was complete.

I eyed my card and thought long and hard before snatching it, when she turned away to place the cash in the draw. After all, I didn't want to get caught red handed stealing my own card back.

Who makes these rules and how do they make the customers feel?  Believe me, if you can afford to bowl at a place where the bumpers go up and down based on who is bowling, you certainly aren't going to skip out on the bill. As for me, I'm heading back to my local bowling alley, which is now in my living room thanks to my Wii.

Are Your Sales People Sending Off the Wrong Vibes?

After a long day of meetings on Wednesday, I decided to stop in at Nordstroms to see what the buzz was all about. The media always mentions Nordstrom as the type of store other retailers should aspire to. Hmmm...I'm not quite getting this.

Yes, the shoe department is impressive. So much so that I wanted to take a few minutes to soak it all in. Instead, I quickly ran out of there after being approached by four sales people in less than five minutes. Now, I used to work in a large retail store where this type of action was the norm for the commissioned sales people on the floor. But, I expected more from a place like Nordstrom.

I have to say, I was a bit taken back by how empty the store was, even though the mall parking lot was full. But now I understand. Aggressive sales people can quickly chase customers away.

We are experiencing a slowdown in the economy. How are your employees reacting to this change in the environment? Are they becoming overly aggressive, as customers pull in their purse strings? Or are they staying the course and continuing to build relationships?  

For many of your younger employees, this is the first time they are experiencing a downturn in the economy. Take the time to reassure them and provide guidance on how to safely navigate through these choppy waters, before your customers float away.

Faking It

How disappointing...According to a story on CNN.com:

Games organizers confirm that Lin Miaoke, who performed "Ode to the Motherland" as China's flag was paraded Friday into Beijing's National Stadium, was not singing at all.

Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough.

What type of message is this sending to the children of the world?

This is a photo of the little girl who was actually singing the song. Maybe I need glasses, but she sure looks cute to me. But that's not even the point here. Why fake it?

Are people in your company lip-syncing to your customers? Or are they the real thing? Sooner or later your customers will find out who is genuine and who is not. It takes a long time to build a trusting relationship with a customer. All it takes is one blog spotting to reveal the true nature of your authentic workforce. Are you willing to take that risk?

Comcast Could Learn a Few Customer Service Lessons from Acura

All too often, we bloggers only post when we have either had a negative experience or we have heard about a negative experience. I had yet another customer service experience today worth blogging about. Only this one was another amazing Acura experience at another Acura dealer.

I had some problem with my automatic locks on my Acura so I hit the navi button and quickly found the closest Acura dealer. In my case, it was over 58 miles, in the fair state of RI. Acura's navigation system is so slick that all I have to do is hit the send button and it calls the dealer for me. I quickly connected with my buddy Jason, (Comcast, take note...he actually gave me his name so I could call him if I needed anything else.) I told Jason about my problem and he said I would need to have the car looked at. In most situations, that would mean that I would have to give up a day of my life to have this done.

I told Jason about my dilemma and he quickly suggested that for $20, they would come pick up my car, bring me a loaner and return my car. My response, "You're kidding. Is that $20 each way?" Jason, "No, that's the cost for roundtrip delivery." Me, "You do realize I am on Cape Cod." Jason, "Not a problem, when would you like to schedule your service?"

I then asked Jason what type of car might be delivered. He rattled off a few options and I told him to try and make it a specific car because I was just talking about wanting to come in and test drive this very same vehicle.

Needless to say, it was a good thing we had this conversation while I was in the parking lot or I would have driven off the road. This is a prime example of a company that goes out of it's way to make life easy for it's customers. Are you doing the same?

Do You Know What Your Employees are Saying to Your Customers?

This story would be funny, if it weren't true. My friend had to cancel her plans to come see me the other day because she was waiting for Comcast Cable to arrive. If that was not bad enough, she had spent 5 hours on the phone with a woman from India over the weekend and an additional few hours trying to work out an e-mail problem that clearly was not hers.

When the 19 year old rep finally arrived, he did so with mud caked on his boots. My friend asked him to remove his shoes before walking on her newly cleaned carpet. He refused saying it was against company regs and proceeded to track mud through her house as he rambled something under his lips.

We have all been there. Waiting hours for Comcast to arrive only to try and convince us the problem is ours and not theirs. But here is the kicker. How many of us have actually had a technician call us a Fu***** Bit** to our faces? This is exactly what happened to my friend.

I'm enraged and I wasn't even there. I told her she needed to shoot a letter to the President of Comcast. She just looked at me and asked, "Why?" You see she already knows that he doesn't give a crap. No where on the site can you even find his name, never mind his contact information. So my friend, you know the Fu***** Bit** (oh heck, you can just refer to her as the FB) will now tell everyone she knows about the lovely service she has received from this company. And I will do the same and hopefully you will do so as well.

Some of you may be thinking, "My employees would never do that." Yeah, maybe Comcast is thinking the same thing. My advice for you is to make sure your contact information is on your website front and center and that you have a close pulse on what your employees are saying to your customers.

I am hoping the Boston Globe picks up this feed. It might just embarrass companies like this to stop treating their customers like nuisances.