Price Vs Customer Service

Many managers believe that consumers seek products at the most inexpensive price. From my 15 years of retail experience, I have observed that people will pay more for a product at a business where employees provide World Class Customer Service.

Think about a time and shopping location where employees greeted you. Now think about a time when employees tried to provide expert advice. Lets say that the previous company was 5 dollars more per unit than the competitor. Now lets take the more inexpensive competitor. In this business their are no employees on the floor, no employees acknowledging customers. The lines are long; would you shop there?

From my experience, the less expensive company would be Walmart and the more expensive company would be Target. Customer service in the Walmart’s in my city are lacking. Customer service in most targets in my town are excellent. As a note, I do not speak for the two corporations, this is just what I have observed in my regional US city.

On a more personal note, I spent almost 10 years in a corporation that’s product offerings were 5 to 10 dollars more than Amazon. However, our company invested in high quality training, so that our customer service was superior to Amazon. People payed more for the goods at my company in exchange for world class customer service. I actually later worked at a subsidiary of Amazon, and their upper management was constantly purchasing supplies from my former employer, not Amazon as they were suppose to do.

On a final note. Making a sale is not just about business. You have to get to know your customer, make small talk with them, discuss things other than the sale. I believe modern America has forgotten about Customer Service. Also remember one final statistic; 1 happy customer will tell 2 people about a positive experience, and 1 unhappy customer will tell 5 to 10 people about an unpleasant experience. Also price is not the main factor to making a sale; making a sale is about having well trained employees who are experts in customer experience.