A couple of friends shared with me their story of appalling customer service they recently experienced in a newsagency.
They had been in the shop for 10 minutes or so, selecting around $25 worth of stationery to purchase along with a magazine. On their way to the sales counter, the stopped at the newspaper stand and picked up a newspaper. They were from out of town and wanted to decide whether to purchase it. Less than 30 seconds after picking up the newspaper they were hassled by the newsagent. The rudeness of the approach resulted in them putting the newspaper down and purchasing only the items they had already selected.
While a newspaper purchase would not have added much to their basket, it may have got them enjoying a paper which they would buy again.
I doubt they will go back in the newsagency. Indeed, their story of what happened is likely to encourage others to not shop in this business.
There was no need for rudeness, especially given the value of what they were purchasing.
Some people should not own a newsagency. Customer service is just about all we have going for us. Bad word of mouth about one newsagency reflects badly on the whole channel, unfortunately.
While i have never pulled anyone up for reading a newspaper (sometimes it is tempting) just last week i had one customer get up another one for standing there reading the paper with no intention of buying , it was funny .
I may have mentioned it on here before no sure but i even had a customer one day take pictures with there phone of the classified section instead of buying it , after awhile you can understand why some get pissed
If “customer service is just about all we have going for us” Mark then maybe these newsagents should not own a newsagency.
If you have no point of difference to offer customers other then a smile and service then you are on a flogging to nothing as most customers are becoming more and more concerned with price over service. Say what you like but if you do not offer something that no one else has then get out now while you can as it will only get worse once the majors start getting serious.
Shopping local and supporting your local newsagent will not win out over cheaper prices, people are more price sensitive now then ever and will no longer pay more for the same thing they can get elsewhere cheaper.
We are constantly on the lookout for stock that no one in our area offers so customers have a reason to shop here because we offer things that others don’t, this is changing all the time as we drop out of areas that we are no longer competitive in and bring in new stuff.
Luke we also try and stock only stock that no one else has , normally if another business in town has a certain line we will not go into it because we like to be unique.
Without customer service and a smile you would not last a week in the town i am in . It is not that hard to serve a customer with a smile is it .
too many inconsiderate, selfish , self centred customers and thieves. i don’t blame him
Mark only has his friends version of this. We wait for sometime before we say anything but when they actually sit on the papers to read the paper and they are “just looking to see if something I want is in here. ” Usually you can tell who is just wanting a free read but we usually ask “Do you want to purchase that paper” (or magazine etc) and they move on if they don’t. We had one customer sit on the floor where we could not see her and tear out what she wanted. We could hear the paper tearing. We have customers just looking to see if I they can get the subscription details but don’t want to purchase a copy to get it. Its difficult to remain polite in these cases but we do try. We have a sign up for people to take old papers for mulching. Two customers turn up on Mondays now looking to see if we have topped the weekend Australian yet. They want it for mulching of the bottom of the bird cage but only want the weekend Austalian, We get all sorts to contend with but at times we may seem a bit rude when we spoil their plans.
Too True Shaun, a smile is a given but a smile is not customer service, I have seen plenty of cheerfull idiots working in retail that turn more customers off the shop then get them in, my point is that if the only thing you have going for you is service, no matter how good then you are just killing time because people are being trained to look for the lowest price, they can even take photos of stock and then search online for the lowest price. I even look at both coles/woolies brochures BEFORE I do my weekly shop so I get the best price.
I have been into too many newsagents that are religiously sticking to product mixes that were outdated decades ago ie mags, cards, papers, cigs and a little bit of stationery, we need to take note of the majors and get in and get out of stock reguarly to keep people interested.
I have in the past been guilty over moving on customers who were only “looking” but have moderated this behavoiur over the past few years to find most purchase something anyway. Like Carol I still won’t tolerate people sitting on the florr, sitting on the papers or spreading the paper out over the paper piles, this is a hinderance to and discourages more genuine customers.
All in all, tolerance is the best policy …….. until a (non) customers actions are being detrimental to other customers.
I expect my staff to show tolerance towards customers, however, I did not show a good example the day I sprung a ‘customer’ kneeling on the floor with the Trading Post open, mobile phone stuck in his ear calling the contact number in the relevant advert he had located. He didn’t buy the paper or hang around
I like to try to find the positives in life so
when our landlord told us to”move everything back into the shop and out of the mall or face a breach” we did so this morning.
Our new centre (under development for the last 2 years) looks amazing and I for one am very happy with how my shop looks today.
Instead of being angry with my landlord who has charged me so much rent and not understood my “where are all the people” issues I would like to say that sometimes being forced to do something
indirectly helps you in another way.
My windows are on the mall side of the shop and they look sensational today.
We have a lot of Xmas stuff in already and
the shop is now “chockablock” with all the diaries, calendars etc that are part of this
time of the year but we have diligently applied ourselves this morning and the result is fantastic.
Customers are buying gifts (that were obscured by tables before) because they
can see the windows and the gift cubes perfectly well from outside the shop.
I don’t think the landlord has hurt me at
all – we’re having a good morning.
Hopefully, it will translate into a good Xmas
which will go some way to making up for
the last two years of hardship.
Our grand opening is on Melbourne Cup Day (yes the boffins upstairs didn’t check
the date or day) so maybe it will be a quiet
opening and then, hopefully, we will return
to our normal trading. Can’t wait!
Carol, the friends are colleagues from in the newsagency channel. I trust their version.
My favourite customer service story relates to a delightful lady who asked if I provided a photocopying service.
I cheerfully replied that I did, at a cost of 30c per sheet. She then proceeded to remove a $12.95 AWW Cookbook from the shelves & requested that I copy 10 recipes from it for her.
When I refused, she abused me as though I had the problem.
Good times.
There are always 2 sides to every story and no matter how nice you are or the way to put things to people you will always “be rude” to someone. I have had a customer ask is she could borrow a newly released copy of the AWW so she could take it to the beach and read while her husband was fishing then bring it back on there way home So i could sell it to someone whom wanted to buy it. Just last weekend I had someone rent a DVD from me when they returned it they wanted to know if they would get there money back because they thought they had paid a deposited that was refundable upon returning of goods despite being informed when they where hiring it it was a weekly rental. I am sure the conversation I had with both parties either one could of left feeling I was the big bad meanie out to spoil there day.
I don’t doubt that everyone has a bad day and sometimes it could be reflected in our manner but there are always 2 sides to every store sadly often the other side is not heard and judgements are often made too quickly.
I understand customer service is important and a quick welcome greet and thankyou have a nice day go a long way sometimes other issues may effect us and while we should not allow them to impact on us they might hopefully it does not happen frequently and that customers regulars and new comers understand that we also have a private life and the odd bad day and do not hold it against us. And remember that we are all human and are not prefect.
This situation was one of straightforward ignorance by the newsagency representative. They risked a $25 sale in order to stop a quick browse of a newspaper. As it is they have lost probably $500 a year in stationery sales.
We can and need to do better than this.
Apart from losing the future business of just the customer involved, I bet Mark’s friends have shared their bad experience with others, who may choose not to go to this newsagency either.
The number of times people recount a bad retail experience to others is scary, and can do a lot more damage than you may realise. This is especially true of close-knit communities and small towns.
Sometimes it’s best to let it go.