Service Cultures - Part 2

In our last posting, we were telling you the story of our "service" experience in Michael's, a national arts and crafts store chain.

As you know, I was not getting treated with much appreciation as I stood under the Customer Care Center sign in the store.

And, I certainly was not going to stand for this - especially from someone wearing a button that said, We love our customers. "Sorry, sir, this is our policy" as she directed me to the scotch-taped sing on the counter. "No receipt means I have to charge the 20% fee. Its our policy."

I asked to speak to her manager who in turn spoke to the store manager and then the store manager came over and had me explain it all again. The store manager then said to the cashier as if I was not there (in her best curt voice) "just do it for him this time, but only this one time." And then she walked away - no smile, no thank you, nothing.

the moral of this story is simple. Your culture drives your service. I do not care how many buttons you have printed (see "flair" in Office Space) or signs you have posted or marketing slogans you coin and play in cute jingles on XM radio. The service your employees will deliver is based on the culture they live in.

Signs do not make a culture, behaviors and values do. Obviously, in this store, service is valued as policy and nothing more. And here is why.

As I was leaving the store, 2 men carrying briefcases were entering. Aha! Our 26 years in retail told us that people with briefcases are not shoppers. District Manager with his Regional Manager! It has to be! So I returned inside to eavesdrop and then I heard it. The first thing the DM wanted to look at when he got there was their returns history.

No wonder they were so uptight; they knew they were about to get blasted for it. Blasted in the Customer Care Center!

In this case, the culture values what the boss values and the boss values controlling returns and exchanges - NOT making loving on their customers like the buttons said.

Now is this just a case of this one store and not indicative of the whole company? Well, that would be another blog post, now wouldn't it!

Part 3 coming up...