Cold and Impersonal?

I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last posted on my blog. Time sure has a way from slipping away from us. It has been a a hectic three weeks and there is a lot to be excited abut. With the Budget Committee for town we wrapped up our meetings and the public hearing and submitted all our paperwork to the town and the state. I have also become involved in the committee to bring the moving wall to Center Ossipee for Memorial Day Weekend of all days. I have been asked to serve on the executive committee for the project and we are all very excited about this opportunity. The honor of this appearance of the wall on such a solemn holiday is immense.

Now to the reason for this post. I got tired today of being house bound because of the depth of the snow in the yard. The weather was fantastic, about 4 inches of fresh powder sat on top of the ice encrusted snow out in the field, all four feet of compacted snow. I went out int he barn and dug out my old snowshoes which I have had for about 30 years. They are made by an old Indian in a traditional style. Varnished wood and gut webbing with a modified neoprene binding. There is a basic simplicity to the design of these shoes. They have been hand crafted and worked with a quality that is hard to imagine. Tref Bolduc was the maker of the shoes with a quality that is seldom seen today. The warmth and sturdiness of these wooden shoes can not be equaled by the cold impersonal metal contraptions they sell today. Yes the newer models may be lighter weight and easier to care for but they lose the personality of the traditional snowshoe.

This is so true in all aspects of our society. We go for the cold and the impersonal rather than the warmth and caring. Rather than the local hardware store or lumberyard people shop at Lowes, and Home Depot. Rather than the local supermarket people shop at the warehouse stores such as Sams and BJ's. The cold and impersonal has become the mainstay of our society rather than the customer service of the smaller stores.

When I as out at a training class for Pella they gave us a book about customer service. The gist of the book was about how to make you customers happy, and give the personal touch. There are several stories in this book about how people have made the difference. The first story is about a boy with Downs Syndrome who wanted to make his mark on the customers of the store for which he worked. He decided he could find a quote of the day and print it out and put one in each customers order as he bagged the order. The result of this little initiative was people were willing to wait in line for Johnny's quote of the day. His personal little touch made each persons day just that much more enjoyable. People would stop by the store daily just to buy a small item so they could get Johnny's quote. Other departments started doing small little things for their customers as well making the store a much friendlier place to shop. I reflect on this often as I watch my wife go about her daily job at a small grocery store. She takes the time to make her customers experience in the store much more pleasurable. There was on little lady who unfortunately passed away recently, but she would come by the store and being legally blind she could not see the things she needed to get, so Janet would take her around the store and help her do her shopping. She jokes with customers and tries to make their visit to the store a more pleasurable one. She refers to them all as her customers. She enjoys her job and she tries to show that to each and every customer that walks through the store.

I don't know why we settle for inferior products and impersonal service. We seem to have grown used to it as a normal course of life. I usually shop at Freedom Hardware, when you go to the counter and ask for an item someone comes out from behind the counter and takes you to the product you are looking for. Recently I had to go to another Hardware store in the are to get something. I walked up to the counter and asked where the gaskets were, one guy just pointed in the general direction of the stairs, another said it was downstairs. When I went down the stairs there was an employee sitting at a work table downstairs , just sitting there not really doing anything, I again asked for the gaskets and he just pointed to a rack. When I was over at the gaskets I was hesitant about which one I needed, he never asked if he could help me, or what exactly I needed, he just kind of grunted at me about the whole think being kind of complicated. This is a prime example f what our customer service has become.

I have been a salesman most of my adult life, and I am a customer service fanatic. I believe follow though is one of the most important things you can do.When I sell a customer a window package I try to give them a small gift to show my appreciation for their order. It may be something as simple as a framed poem I wrote, or a copy of my book. I did a job once for a gentleman who was restoring a camp back to original condition. It had a lot of native American decorations, so I found a small knick knack that fit in with the decor of the house. He loved it.

Let's put the customer and the service back in customer service, and not settle for the inferior service that we seem to have become used to.