One morning at 8 am our countertop installer called with bad news. “They sent the wrong backsplash tiles. Your installation date is this morning, and if I don’t come and install these tiles you may have to wait weeks until I can get back to you”.
The job was already weeks behind and he was probably dreading my reaction to another delay. But I was at a loss to figure out why he’d think I’d prefer to have a tile I didn’t want and didn’t order installed in my pristine new kitchen. What I understood from his question was that he’d like me to accept this change to make it more convenient for him! I’m sure my salesperson would have been appalled to know what the installer was saying to the customer.
While I knew my salesperson would have never wanted the installer to suggest installing the wrong tile, as the customer I recognized that the installer was representing the company and the message they send. How often do we send our frontline staff out to our customers and have them misrepresent what our company stands for?
Is it common that frontline people don’t have the ‘people skills’ needed to keep customers and get referrals? I got my answer from everyone I relayed this story to: not one was surprised by his comment. If you are wondering why customers leave your company, or don’t recommend it to others, start to pay close attention to what your frontline people may be saying to your customers.
By the way, two days later the correct tiles were installed beautifully in our sparkling new kitchen.
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