I had a big meeting the other day.
For this meeting, I was hosting about 15 people, for about an hour or two, so I wanted to be a gracious host and bring refreshments to the meeting, so on the way there I stopped at a local Tim Hortons and ordered two of their “pack 12’s” coffee boxes.
If you’re wondering what that is, it’s basically a bag full of coffee put into a nice carrying box with a spout and it has a little shelf on the back where all the cups, cream and sugars go, and it’s designed to put on a table and let folks serve themselves. It’s really quite handy, and far easier than carrying a dozen individual coffees!
Anyhow, when I arrived to the coffee shop, there was only one person in front of me, and two behind me.
The instant I ordered, the cashier became visibly annoyed that I ordered this. In fact, he went out of his way to tell a fellow coworker in a very sarcastic voice, and out loud, that I ordered one of these coffee box things.
Here’s the thing. They don’t have an “easy” or at least quick way to fill these. They have to make several pots of coffee and dump them in through the little spout one pot at a time. It’s a bit slow, can be messy, and well just a tad inconvenient.
I get it.
And as a business owner myself, I can understand and relate.
But I left that meeting feeling like I was a problem. Like I was a bad customer. Like I did something wrong. Like they didn’t want my business.
It gets worst…
Not only did I feel really put off by the whole experience, but when I got to the meeting, I told every single person I ran into about how annoying this experience was. And here’s the best part, I had 2 others tell me they’ve had the exact same experience, one was even at the wee hours of the morning, we’re talking 430AM, when there’s not a soul in sight, so it’s not like there’s a big line up!
During my bitching about my experience, someone told me about a time he was at a pub that served these “trays” of beer samplers that had about half a dozen samples on it and when he ordered one he was met with the same annoyed and disgruntled employee. (because it takes a few minutes to pour all these little drinks VS cracking open a beer and passing it over).
And while telling me the story, he made a very good point. He said “If they don’t like making it they shouldn’t have it on the menu.”
That really got me thinking…
How many times have I been annoyed at something my customer did when all they were trying to do was buy? Are there ways to make the buying process smoother, more efficient, easy flowing?
It’s amazing how many times we get in our own way. We turn off customers that are waiting to throw money our way.
So take a good look at your business, clean it up, get rid of the speed bumps in the buying process and make sure that all your staff understands that a sale is a sale and they appreciate and be grateful for anyone willing to exchange their money for your product or service.
That’s it for now! I’ve got to get the family ready for a wedding now 🙂
To your success
Al
