Monday, July 13, 2020

Customer service and its importance


As someone that deals with customers for my business, I understand the importance of good customer service and quick responses.  If you are dealing with customers via the web, you need to try and ensure that you can provide a fairly quick response time.  The better experience someone has with you, the move changes you have of getting a repeat customer. 

Recently I had an experience with one business where I started to talk with them about a purchase and everything seemed to be doing well until all of a sudden the communication stopped and even after sending additional emails and a phone call, I got no response.  As this was a purchase that I wanted to get completed, I decided to try another contact with a competing business.  Well, the good news is the communication with the second business was wonderful and within a few hours I had all the information I required, and I also had made the purchase.  Getting a quick response made me feel that I was valued by them and that they were available to assist me.

Customer service is a way to make or break a business, and understanding how keeping customers happy is very important.  It ends up through this experience that I will be trying to make more purchases through the second contact, as they have been available to assist quickly.  I understand that everyone is busy trying to make sales and help everyone, but if it takes you three days and I still haven’t got a reply, I think that shows me that I might need to check another spot for the purchase.  If you are away and are unable to reply to a person, it is a good idea to ensure that you have your out-of-office notification on.

Customer service from a single-person shop to a major retailer has to understand that one bad experience can affect recommendations to others.  If you are looking for a successful business, know that assisting your customers or even future customers can help or hinder your overall success.

Monday, July 6, 2020

Rules of the road and social distancing

Social distancing not working
As a lot of the world, we are still dealing with COVID-19 and all the restrictions that are being put in place.  One of the biggest things is the idea of social distancing and staying 6 feet apart (2 meters) from others when you are standing in lines etc.  Well, in this picture you can sure see that people aren't standing the distance apart and most of them don't have face masks on either.  I understand that they are outside, but it is still recommended to wear a mask if you can't social distance.

Another issue with this situation is that the van which is selling fruit and veggies is parking in a bike lane.  Just in front of the van is a no stopping sign that seems to be ignored on a regular basis by these vendors.  Also in the bike lane is another vehicle that is parked, and the person is standing in line to purchase things.

For us, it is very frustrating to see these vehicles stopped in the bike lane because these lanes were put in our neighbourhood to promote biking.  Now, with these vehicles stopped, it means that the cyclists are forced out into the live lanes of traffic instead of in their designated lane.

I have continued to report these vehicles, and it just doesn't seem to help at all.  If we were to stop in one of these lanes, we would probably be the ones that got the ticket. I understand that people want to purchase things, but either find a safe spot to park this vehicle or go to the store and get the stuff.

Social distancing rules have been put in place for the safety of everyone, and I hate seeing so many people think that these rules don't apply to them.  So please when you are out and about remember that we all want to get back to doing the things that we enjoy doing and the only way to do that is to wear a mask and social distance.