Customer – is he the real king?

We talk about Customer delight. We talk about customer being the centre of our business. We boast “customer is the king”. Very good; But how do we act really? Does the customer feel he is the centre of your business or does he feels cornered.

I recently went to the town’s best super market. Even though there was plenty of space before the store, I was forced to park my car 500 meters away. When asked, the floor manager replied “We receive stocks twice in a day and if customer vehicles are parked, it becomes difficult for us to unload”. Fine; after surfing the first floor, I moved to the second one, I found that the steps were too tall for aged people or a kid to climb up, and there were no elevators. To my dismay the floor manager replied “tall steps reduces cost and occupies less space”.

The placard in the second floor read “customer is the king”. Second floor had a pleasant restaurant. The owner is to be praised here; he has banned usage of plastic inside this restaurant (he is planning to do this for his entire shop). Comedy commences then. You bet me a lakh for not laughing, damn I win. Yes! Paper tumblers were used instead of plastics. If you order for two dosas they give you 6 tumblers. To save cost they don’t cover it with anything. From the serving area to your table, you become a Michael Jackson to minimize the spills.

This continued until I took my car out of the parking area. Customer service is wrongly understood by the people who do business. They think a welcome smile at the entrance or pleasing staff’s or offering a surprise gift is called as a customer service. This guy has not thought about making shopping experience a pleasant one. Every inch of the shop proves that the shop is created and maintained, for the convenience of the people who do this business, and above this weak basement they are trying to build a strong customer centric business. Its always easier to say from the owner’s seat “my business is facing the customer”. I would request all of the business men to wear their customer’s shoes for a day. You will understand that your business is facing you, your employees, your organization and is showing its back towards your RESPECTED customer.

A paradigm shift is necessary to bring in the concepts of customer service to ground level and make your customer really feel “customer is the king”.