When your customer service sucks

Here's an example of when an anecdotal customer experience perfectly illustrates why a business is struggling.

Someone I know was in one of the stores of a venerable vacuum cleaner retailer. This retailer has been in the news recently because of its ongoing woes.

This someone I know was in the store with their young child, who happens to really like vacuum cleaners. This child loves watching vacuum cleaner test videos on YouTube and looking at them in stores like Bunnings and Kmart. Odd, but endearing. He knows a Dyson from a Miele.

As a bit of a treat, mum thought she'd take the young boy to this well-known vacuum cleaner emporium: A potential sales prospect in the making for a salesperson with a little initiative.

Maybe the salesperson in this struggling retailer's store could have used this opportunity to engage this customer and possibly sell a vacuum cleaner? Surely it would make sense to use this child's enthusiasm to engage mum in a conversation about the latest, greatest stick vac or whatever?

No. Much better to chase them from the store instead. To quote my source: “They just told us off for using it. ‘It's not a toy. If you want to use it, then you need to buy.’ Pretty much got kicked out. I sure as heck know I'd never be buying from them. I'm their target audience. How do they know I wasn't aiming to buy it for my child? Or for me?”

“The annoying thing was that the first guy said it was fine (for the child to be using the vacuum), but the other guy then told us off. There was no one in the shop.”

Better an empty store with pristine, untouched goods than pesky customers in the store trying products out. Mum and son promptly left the store. After all, the salespeople probably had important stuff to do, like rearranging displays or checking World Cup highlights.

Moral of the story: It’s your vacuum cleaners that need to suck, not your customer service.