Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Customer Service Anyone?

Recently, I was talking with my brother about vendors that we deal with through work and vendors that we deal with in our personal lives.  We were commenting about how surprisingly poor the customer service was at so many companies that we deal with.  You would think that owners and vendor employees would be conscientious enough to do their jobs and do it with pride.  However, that really isn’t the case whatsoever for all too many companies.  To be honest, as a business owner, I don’t really get it at all.

The complaints about these vendors run the gamut.  On the one hand, it’s like an act of congress to get some of these vendors to even call you back.  It’s as if the people don’t want to do business and make sales, a critical piece of being in business.  In other cases, the vendors make it so challenging to do business with them.  They have these corporate formalities and hoops to jump through that are a big waste of time.  Why should a customer have to jump through hoops to do business with a vendor?  Everything should be simple and clear so the customers can get what they need and move on with more important things in their lives.

Then there is the lack of communication.  For example, I am told that my clothes are going to be altered and be ready tomorrow.  I go in to the store to pick up the stuff and it isn’t ready.  Why couldn’t you call to tell me that it wasn’t ready so I didn’t have to waste my time?  It’s as if people just aren’t thinking and they have no respect for their customers.  Don’t they want me to be a repeat customer?  Again, I just don’t get it and can’t comprehend how a business could succeed when it lacks a critical component.

Then there are those automated voicemail systems that can drive you absolutely nuts.  Press 1 if you want an operator.  Press 2 if you want to stay on hold for an hour.  Press 3 if you want to speak with an actual human being who isn’t going to pick up the phone or return your call or even have an answer to your question.  It’s a freaking joke.  You know exactly what I am talking about and I am sure you feel the same frustration.  I can go on and on, but I really don’t want to focus on the negative of other company’s poor customer service.  What I want to focus on today is how my companies make all efforts to do customer service right and you should do the same at your quilt shop.  Customer service is such a critical part of the business equation and even more so for small and family owned businesses.

In our New York office, we have two customer service reps to service the New York companies (A.E. Nathan, Blank Quilting, Henry Glass Fabrics, Studioe Fabrics and the other lines we distribute).  Renee and Lliyi (pronounced lee-g) are super conscientious and take great pride in resolving customer issues and getting customers the answers they need in a timely fashion.  A timely fashion to us is usually within a day from receiving an inquiry, and of course, sooner if possible.  At times, it could take a little longer to get an answer as the question could come at a time when the warehouse is closed or it could relate to an overseas shipment whereby the time differential makes it hard to attain an answer quickly enough for our liking.  In any case, these ladies take great pride in what they do and we are proud to have such experienced and professional employees running our customer service team.  Please let them know you appreciate them the next time they help you out.  Likewise, tell us when you think we can do better so we can focus on improving as that is equally important.

For our other companies, we now have a massive customer service team in the Greenville, SC office servicing the FreeSpirit and Fabric Editions accounts.  Barbara Freeland is the leader of the FreeSpirit team with about another half a dozen others.   Karen Schleier manages the Fabric Editions customer service on her own.  

In addition to all these customer service representatives, our managers and the rest of the staff, please know that Greg and I are also always available to deal with any customer issues.  We are both very accessible and glad to help get an expeditious resolution for you.  So much of our days are spent solving problems.  Personally, I take pride in getting customers answers because I value their time.  With that, if there is something going on that you are not happy about or if you are having an issue, please don’t let it linger.  Please bring it to our attention so we can fix it asap and all move forward in a positive way.

Finally, to all of our quilt shop customers, I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that your customer service is also critical to maintaining a good reputation.  Many a customer service issue could turn a customer into an enemy or your biggest proponent.  Please keep that in mind and tread gently. 

Customer Service Scott