Today I had an experience with a local business that in a round about way taught or I should say reminded me of a vital business lesson. This is something I’ve known for a while, but have at times lost sight of myself. I’m not perfect, but I strive for it.

The lesson is this; Listen to your customers.

I know it sounds so simple and obvious, yet it’s not. I’m literally blown away at the amount of times I run into just the opposite when out and about, being a customer. And even surprise myself at times when I fail to remember the lesson in my own business dealings, fortunately that doesn’t happen very often, but it has, and I’ll probably do it again sometime. Like I said I’m not perfect.

What happens when you don’t listen to your customers?

Misunderstanding, anger, loss, emotional stress, and bad word of mouth. There is a lot more, but these are the most basic and important.

If I come to you as a customer with a valid complaint such as; “Why did the person who answered the phone tell me to come down right now at 9am, if the policy is you can’t rent new releases until 10am?” And you only reiterate the policy rudely or argue moot points, like how far away I live from your store, you have not heard my complaint, and frankly I get the impression that you care very little for my personal concerns.

Now, if I ask you to please get a manager, and as you walk away you say in a extremely snotty tone “Fine, but he’ll just tell you the exact same thing!” Then hop on the phone and loudly misinform the manager of the issue, so that he’s already prepared to back you up. You’ve just proven that not only did you not listen to me, but in fact were lost in your own world where facts and truth don’t exist.

When the manager shows up and he has the same attitude and repeats word for word the lies you just told me, this tells me that; one: this conversation is going nowhere and two: no one in this god forsaken store cares one bit about my issue or complaint and would just as soon have me leave the store and never come back, rather than solving the issue with a simple apology, without excuses.

Also, if this same manager wants to argue the same irrelevant points that the clerk began and he wants to be just as rude in tone as the clerk, this tells me that the business where I spend approximately two-hundred dollars a week in assorted supplies, groceries and movie rentals no longer wants my business. Then again it may be a “phone company syndrome” situation, where they know they have the only decent thing going, and can treat their customers anyway they like, as the customer has no other choice.

So that brings me back to the lesson, and this should apply to all customer service related businesses, not just small ones, and not just ones with ample competition, but ALL businesses.

Listen to your customer.

We’re not always looking for you to solve the problem, as much as we want to be valued and listened to. What happened to me this morning only came across as disrespect and showed me how little this company values it’s customers.

What company was it? Well, it was Boundary Trading Company a local grocery store and the employees Missy and Paul (owner/manager?) are absolute a-holes without regard for the people that make their paychecks possible.