I went to Walgreens pharmacy yesterday to pick up some medicine for my sick daughter.
I drove up to the window and asked the pharmacist for the prescription. She looked in the computer and said, “We have no record of that prescription.”
I mentioned that the pediatrician told us she was going to call it in two hours earlier. The response: “We have no record of that prescription.”
I asked how prescriptions were received. Was it by fax or electronically? She said, “We just finished processing all our faxes.”
Flustered, I picked up my cell phone and called my wife to confirm that the prescription had been sent. While on the phone, the pharmacist returned to the window and said that the prescription would be ready in 30 minutes.
What?
When customers are looking for help, they don’t believe you unless you actually go and check.
So what do you have to do to go and check?
Acknowledge that the computer may not have it yet, but that you’ll go check manually.
Explain that sometimes there is a delay in these things.
Customers are looking for reassurances that everything is in order and that you actually know what you are talking about.
If you recite the same excuse repeatedly, it undermines customer trust.
So if things aren’t where you’d thought they’d be, double check. Double check and explain to the customer what is happening and why things may be the way they are.
Showing that you are putting in some effort will reassure the customer that yes, you know what you are doing and that you actually care about the customer.
It sounds as if she was being outright lazy. The management there should take a more active role in ensuring that their staff are providing better customer service for their customers. I find this in many retail shops I visit these days. Many of the staff seem they could care less about the actual customers, and likely the managers have a very lax attitude as well when it comes to correcting this kind of behaviour, likely due to their lack of training themselves. I can understand how frustrating it can be. If only they show a bit of effort…wishful thinking?
@JB – I think you’re right: it is a combination of training, supervision, and incentive. Combine the three and employees’ behavior can change for the better.