Some of us remember the lady in the long black trench coat who hosted the short lived but interesting television program called ‘The Weakest Link.’ A recent service experience made me think of the title of this show.
I had a rather expensive product delivered to my house. Think about the last time you purchased something like that for your home. There is actually an excitement and anticipation about the delivery day, especially if you have waited and saved for the purchase for some time.
When the delivery vehicle arrived at my home which has a tight circular driveway, I met the driver outside. There was no friendly greeting, just a ‘You need to move that car so we can pull around.’ I informed the driver that from past experience we know that a truck cannot make it around the driveway without running off the pavement and running into bushes or over grass. For that reason I told him that they would not be able to go any further and that they would need to back out from the current position when leaving.
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At this point I got a pretty large eye roll. When was the last time a service representative rolled their eyes at you? What was the message it conveyed? In my case it spoke volumes without uttering a word and none of the message was positive. The negative attitude continued as the product was brought into my home. Now I am starting to get irritated. Why? Because when I spend my hard earned dollars on merchandise, I would expect the company delivering the product to be thankful and gracious. But let’s back up for a moment. The sales staff of the company where I bought the product WAS thankful and gracious so what is the big deal… after all this was ‘just the delivery guy.’ The big deal is that this delivery representative was the ‘weakest link’ in the service chain, and unfortunately for this business that weakest link was my last impression of the business he represented.
And by the way… No one on your service team should feel like they are ‘just the delivery guy’ or ‘just the teller’ or ‘just the receptionist.’ Every individual should be appreciated and understand their link to service and sales success!
Think about the service links for your customer’s journey. Make sure that you ask for feedback on every impression generated by your business when in contact with your customer.
Have you experienced a weak link in service lately? If so share it in the comment box!
This article was originally published by Allen Speaks
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