Difficult customers just need more advice.

I looked at some of the headlines in the February issue of "kbb review" and read;

"Tough but positive year for Ripples"...
"Wolsely pulls out of lossmaking....."
"BLP bought out of administration..."

It makes fairly depressing reading but our business levels indicate optimism in a shrunken market and this being the case, our ethos of placing customer service at the heart of everything we do, is a wise one. I'm not saying that it's easy to do so but if I feel aggrieved at being the recipient of poor customer service levels, then why won't my customers feel the same?

The series of pages in the "kbb review", citing the industry's current issues, placed customer service as a new entry at the 8th biggest issue, facing the industry.

I read the "Editor's comment" - "....keep calm and carry on...", explaining that perhaps we are over the worst but what short memories we risk having.

Then, I read with some dismay, the article about "Nit - picking customers", from Tim Foley, advising to "ditch them".

I continued and then read replies to Lisa Mather's previous article about "Time Wasters", filling almost a page with opposing opinion and backlash. All I can say is, quite right, too.

Lest we forget, customer service is at the heart of providing a great customer experience and we train all of our staff and sub-contractors in delivering such customer excellence. This ensures, that we not only do not fail in our goal but ensure that we have the skills to deal with all situations.

Have we all forgotten the hard times recently witnessed and the ensuing aftermath? A pound is a pound, wherevever it comes from but you can't extract profit from that pound with rudeness and arrogance.

At Rubicon Developments Limited, we have a couple of mottos;

"Good enough is never good enough" and

"Step back, look at your work and ask yourself, if I were paying this money, for this installation, would I be happy to accept it?".

If we have the slightest hesitation, then there is work to be done.

Mr Not-Happy and Mrs Nit-Pick, as referred to by Tim Foley deserve high standards. I'm sure that the previous correspondents promise them when taking a deposit, so the customer can expect them. The "Time Wasters", referred to are admittedly not always easy to sell to but it's our job to use our industry knowledge and expertise to win them over and give them confidence.

Fair enough? - I think so!