When I enquired about price it was quoted to me fully accompanied by tone and body language which said "you can't afford it".
Treating potential customers like deadbeats is a sure fire way to do yourself out of a potential sale. Not a great start.
Second was my regular pilgrimage to JB HiFi. This store can do no wrong in my opinion and generally you get greeted and asked if you need assistance by at least one staffperson in a visit. Unfortunately this was not the case this time, although to be fair, they were pretty busy - so a pass mark but being busy shouldn't cause a reduction in the level of service that you provide.
But a French bakery in Herne Bay was the low point.
A mate and I caught up at the venue and it came with a high level recommendation for their pastries.
I went in with reasonably high expectations but came away from it with anything but.
We got acknowledgement from the barista but the dude taking orders just make eye contact in a "so what's it gonna be?" manner.
Generally, when someone offering a product or service takes a confrontational posture I tend not to purchase. He then wiped his forehead and scratched the interior of his left nostril (this is important for later).
My friend ordered a coffee and we both asked for pain au chocolat, I asked also for my trade mark flat white. No word of acknowledgement and a hand was extended in a, you pay now gesture - I started to think there was residual pain from the World Cup Final at play. Then, incredibly, our man attended to our food order by dispensing with the tongs and picking them up with his bare hand, fresh from a sortee through his hair.
I wanted to say, "why don't you rub it over your face before you hand it over" but was more polite and selected a clean one myself.
A delighter will keep you coming back for more, but the opposite will place a business in a long term negative perception with current or potential clients.
Make sure that you and your staff keep your customers experiencing positives so they keep coming back.
