08/ 11/ 2008
by Jeffrey Moses
Not long ago I viewed a very unpleasant incident in a local retail store. As I was working with a sales associate to set up details of the service I was ordering, a manager interrupted us. The conversation between the manager and the associate escalated into an argument. Apparently, the associate helping me was supposed to have gone on lunch break about the time I walked in. This seemingly minor infraction—which was, after all, only the result of good customer service—resulted in a visibly shaken sales associate helping me with my order after the manager left.
This got me to thinking about the well-known Las Vegas slogan: "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Along this line, the motto for every business should be: "What happens in the company should stay in the company." In other words, customers should never see or be involved in any internal disagreements within the company, no matter how important or trivial.
The reason for this should be obvious. A company needs to project a unified, professional image to the world. This is the way to instill confidence in customers. In my case, I left the store wondering if a disgruntled employee would handle my order. As it happened, everything turned out all right. Even so, I still have the distinct impression that behind the scenes, the management of that business has problems.
To make sure that what happens in your company stays in your company, consider the following points:
- Never discuss company policies in front of customers. If something needs to be clarified between employees at the point of sale while a customer is present, the employees should excuse themselves and discuss the matter in private.
- When policies are established or discussed at company meetings, or when presented during orientation to new employees, it should be made clear that questions about the policies should be addressed only in private meetings between managers and/or employees.
- Employees should always be encouraged to follow company policies. When uncertainties about policies arise while helping customers, employees should seek clarification privately. For instance, an employee should ask a customer to wait for a moment while going to a manager.
- It's disconcerting to customers when employees discuss among themselves even something as trivial as who will be working certain shifts, or who will be closing the store that night. When employees discuss these and other items of a personal nature in front of customers, it may give the impression that the employees really care more about their own schedules than about providing customer service.
- This idea extends to conversations employees have with friends while assisting customers. Few things are more aggravating for customers than to have, for example, a sales person yakking on the phone about private matters while helping a customer. Such behavior should be discouraged, as it gives a most unprofessional impression to the entire organization.
