Your Company Policies: Friend or Foe?

This past week, I was running errands on King Street, the famous shopping district in historic Charleston, S.C. As I parked my car at the meter, I realized I was short on change. The Puma store was directly in front of my meter. I walked into the retail store and asked the sales clerk to exchange my $1 bill for four quarters. She said it was against company policy to make change for people.

From the customer’s perspective, this is an irritating and unfriendly company policy. I understand that this is a busy street and I understand it is annoying for the people who work in the store to make change, but how does this policy affect customer service? I may not have been a Puma customer that day, but anyone who walks through the door is a potential customer…one day. This experience left me, the potential customer, jaded and upset with the store’s rigid, and harsh policy.

So, why would a retail store on a busy street enforce such a policy?

1. The store does not want employees to open the register without a transaction.

 2. It is an annoying, repetitive action to employees.

 3. It takes away from employees focusing on actual customers.

These are all valid objections to passing out change. But consumers are fed up with being treated poorly! And customer service provided by staff affects all levels of your operation, especially word-of-mouth marketing. Any individual who interacts with your staff (customer or not) has the power to share their “experience” with all 453 of their Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and real-life contacts. So, are your policies customer-service friendly or are they more about what is convenient to the company?

What are some solutions for Puma? How could they have handled this scenario better? If the reason is employees cannot open the register without a transaction, this could be explained to the potential customer. I might have decided to wait for someone to purchase something or better yet, and more likely, I would have just purchased a small item for some change, thus increasing revenue and getting my desired outcome. If this is a common occurrence, Puma could keep a change jar behind the counter for just this circumstance – then be sure to train employees to send the “right” message so potential customers understand the value service Puma is providing. For example, a sales clerk might say, “We are not allowed to open the register but we want to provide everyone on King Street with a great shopping experience, so we keep this change jar here just to provide change. Thanks for coming in to Puma today!” Now, that would be a WOW moment and an opportunity to create brand ambassadors.

Today, so many companies use the cliché phrase “going the extra mile” and describe it as a core customer service value. But how does that show up in your policies? Do they really encourage the “needle mover” moments of truth or do they encourage looking the other way because it is easier?

The Hampton Inn brand is a great example of a company who “gets it.” Hampton Inn has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. 100% satisfaction or you don’t pay. Now, that is customer service oriented company policy. Does it scare you? Of course it does! It is a bold offer to put out there. But it is important to remember the principles of the bell curve grading system from school. One or two students get the highest grades in the class, one or two students get the worst grades and the rest fall into the middle. Our customers are like this too. We should not make polices based on the outliers, or the one or two bad apple customers who will try to take advantage of the system, but instead focus on the middle. So, take a moment with your staff to review your company’s policies. How do they affect the customer? How can you tweak them to WOW the customer?