On a recent shopping excursion, I was looking for something VERY specific, shock cord to restring a broken tent rod. I decided to use this as a little experiment. I decided to go to three stores, big box have everything store, small scale chain store and lastly, locally owned small business store. My experiment would be to wander the aisle looking for something and see how long it took for someone to, 1 - Notice me and ask if I needed help and 2 - Give me proper guidance on the product I am looking for. In all honesty, I thought that actually finding what I needed would simply be a bonus in this process.
Big Box - You guess it, I roamed for 10 minutes holding the example of the product in my hand until someone said, "Can I help you find something?" I showed them my example and they told me they didn't carry it. Then, I went looking on my own and sure enough found it. Brought it to the check out counter, purchased and showed it to the person who asked me if I needed help. FAIL!
Small Scale Chain - AMAZING customer service! I walked in the door, was greeted by cashiers and someone immediately asked if there was something specific I was looking for. (Remember, I had the example product in my hand.) They walked to the department and introduced me the "head" of that department. Within seconds, I had the product in my hand and even some guidance and best practices on how to use it! I will go so far as to name this company because they are a "hometown brand" but are expanding, maybe to city near you! Scheels Sporting Goods, you are awesome!
Local Small Business - Good customer service, very personable and helpful but because I was there as the same time as 5-6 others, I had to wait for service. In the end, they didn't have what I needed, but they told me where to find it and some questions I should ask before I buy it.
When companies build and pride themselves on customer service and satisfaction, it shows. When companies take time to listen to their customers and guide them, even when they can't help, it makes a difference. In this experiment, I returned my product to the big box, reaffirmed my fondness for Scheels and found the service at local store worth another trip back there to make a purchase or two in the future.
With a fixed tent rod and extra shock cord for the next incident, I keep going!
Big Box - You guess it, I roamed for 10 minutes holding the example of the product in my hand until someone said, "Can I help you find something?" I showed them my example and they told me they didn't carry it. Then, I went looking on my own and sure enough found it. Brought it to the check out counter, purchased and showed it to the person who asked me if I needed help. FAIL!
Small Scale Chain - AMAZING customer service! I walked in the door, was greeted by cashiers and someone immediately asked if there was something specific I was looking for. (Remember, I had the example product in my hand.) They walked to the department and introduced me the "head" of that department. Within seconds, I had the product in my hand and even some guidance and best practices on how to use it! I will go so far as to name this company because they are a "hometown brand" but are expanding, maybe to city near you! Scheels Sporting Goods, you are awesome!
Local Small Business - Good customer service, very personable and helpful but because I was there as the same time as 5-6 others, I had to wait for service. In the end, they didn't have what I needed, but they told me where to find it and some questions I should ask before I buy it.
When companies build and pride themselves on customer service and satisfaction, it shows. When companies take time to listen to their customers and guide them, even when they can't help, it makes a difference. In this experiment, I returned my product to the big box, reaffirmed my fondness for Scheels and found the service at local store worth another trip back there to make a purchase or two in the future.
With a fixed tent rod and extra shock cord for the next incident, I keep going!
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