Customers want things done on their terms. It really is a conundrum for the businessperson: people want your attention, but they don’t want to have to bring you up on stalking charges. The only answer is to compromise: be helpful and available to your customers but don’t be a business that acts like a used car salesman. Do away with the checkered jacket and the gold tooth.
Businesses that Make Assumptions: Making assumptions are human nature, but they have no place in business. It may seem natural to make an assumption about a customer or potential customer based on their appearance or the tone of their voice, but a good business will never react, or fail to react, merely based on a notion.
There is a pivotal scene in the movie Pretty Woman that attests to this very idea. Julie Roberts, dressed in her prostitution-esque street clothes, is ignored by a snotty saleswoman at a posh Rodeo Drive store and asked to leave. After spending hundreds of dollars in other shops, and adorning clothes laden with wealth, her character returns to the store and asks the lady who previously ignored her if she works on commission. After stating that she does, Julia’s character bellows a strong, "Big mistake…huge," and storms out.
If this scene taught us anything, other than the often-overlooked fact that sometimes hookers do finish first, it taught us that no one ever knows what a customer has to offer. Thus, no assumption should ever be made.
These three types of behaviors make up a paradoxical realm. There is irony in the businessperson who is bad at servicing customers. It is similar to a firefighter irritated by heat, a doctor irked by viruses, or a cop annoyed by donuts.
Poor customer service has no place in a small business, but luckily, it can be remedied with one simple solution. If you don’t like to work for or deal with people, then don’t get a job that involves striving for customer satisfaction. Instead, become a postal worker.
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