“We’re in the customer-service business; we happen to offer air transportation.” Collene Barrett, President of Southwest Airlines.

Your customers may buy from you one time because of the uniqueness or fit of your product or service. They will come back and recommend you to others based on the service experience they have during the first or second sale. Most companies herd their customers through the selling process without paying any attention to that person’s individual experience. If customers don’t feel listened to, nor cared for, they can choose to make purchases from online stores that know what they are likely to enjoy based on past purchases, and those that ship their purchases right to their homes the next day.

Retail stores are a bellwether indicator of the rise of poor customer experiences. Their same store sales metrics are down across the board. This is primarily because customers’ in-store experiences are abysmal. Good customer service is expected and will rarely be overtly acknowledged by customers; however, bad customer service is rarely forgotten. The research is clear: rudeness, unhelpfulness, and inattention to customers are becoming the norm for most retailers. The push to lower per store expenses and reduce the hours of training and mentoring given new associates have short term appeal, but come at the risk of losing once loyal customers.

With more choices in the marketplace for products and services, customers are much less forgiving than in the past, and businesses are losing customers they can't afford to lose. A 2007 Harris Poll reported 80 percent of customers said they will never return to a business after a negative customer-service experience. This is up 12 points from 2006. Employer and employees are not taking the time to get to know who their customers are, and to respond to them with the proper offers at the right time.

There are plenty of remedies for this dilemma. You can spend some time with your front-line customer reps. Simply observing and seeing a customer’s reaction to these individuals will clue you in to who is doing a good job. Reward employees for great customer experiences and use bad experiences as a teaching opportunity. Survey customers often, watch for trends, and respond to customers’ suggestions as they come in. Pull together customers for a roundtable discussion. This is easily done over a free lunch or dinner, you will get great suggestions, and the customers will really understand that you care to listen. Bring in a trainer to help with teaching listening techniques. Today, we are likely to provide special training to the warehouse worker who drives the hi-low, but neglect to train the front-line employee that has the biggest impact on your loyal customers. Research shows that measurable and profitable success comes down to training, experience, and having good role models from which to learn. The bottom line is this: we all need to work better to protect our most valuable asset, customers!