Get to Know Your Customers Day 2025 is on Thursday, January 16, 2025: What is with customer service these days?

Thursday, January 16, 2025 is Get to Know Your Customers Day 2025. Attract New Customers - Be found in more online searches‎ Start advertising with Google today

I got my retail training in the old school, where the customer always comes first, but then I have been doing it for 25 years. Part of it is that self service stores just plain aren't training their people. They expect a high turnover rate, so they don't bother to invest in them. They don't even teach these kids how to bag groceries anymore. They pay low wages, hire warm body part-time teenagers, don't offer them options for training or advancement in the company, it's no surprise when the kid leaves for a better job in a few months, they don't see retail as a career option. That they rely on teens in the first place is one of the reasons why service as a whole is bad, as the person behind the counter is immature and just looks on a job as something to do for a cash reward on date night, not for future development or fulfillment in the job itself. As it is, the entire self serve concept is based on the idea of the customer helping themselves, but there is still a need for knowledgeable, personable people to help the customer make a decision, and especially at the cashier and customer service desk. Self service stores just look at the majority of their people as an expendable resource, and if somebody leaves, there will be another kid coming along to clock in for a check for a few months, they have stacks of applications for people who would love to have any job right now. They don't see their employees as a resource that should be trained and developed, and don't see paying a better wage, training, and retention of a long term mature employee as a justified cost. For some reason they see lost sales due to bad service, and the costs associated with the high turnover as a justified cost, they apparently view it as cheaper. You are more likely to get better service in a store where the employees get commissions, and get training and development to help them be more successful, but you get what you pay for, the products in those stores are also more likely to be more expensive. It all comes down to money, the more you are willing to pay, the better the service is going to be. That is why someone is all over you in a car dealership or a jewelry store, or a bridal shop, and why a Walmart employee turns around and walks away when he sees you coming up to ask a question. The Walmart employee is young and doesn't have sufficient training or supervision to deal with you, and the commission sales professional is more likely to be older, more mature, and more likely to have someone standing behind them to chew them out if they were ever to ignore a customer to stand around talking to a friend. Local small businesses are more likely to have higher standards, for the reason that they are hungrier, and more likely to be run by an individual who really depends on that sale to put food on the table, so checking for the products you want at a small business is also an option if you want better service. It comes back down to money and selection again though, a small business owner doesn't have the resources to buy and warehouse product by the shipload the way a larger operation such as Walmart does, so the small business owner pays much more for the smaller quantities carried, and tries to make up for it with better service. So I guess the bottom line is that if you want better service, and have been sufficiently blessed to have some means to put out there, go to the places where people really need and want your patronage. The majority of jobs in the future will come from small businesses, but they are all folding up in the bad economy as people are going where they can get the rock bottom prices for the selections available, and the mom and pops really want to serve you and stay in business another year.

What is with customers these days?

I've had a customer who read the menu price wrong and later called and came back to the store accusing the store that we lied to her. How did we lie?? It's her fault she doesn't know how to read the menu! Customers these days..