A Little Piece of Your Heart
Isn't it great when you like your job? And it's even better if you love it—really love it. Now, I'm betting there are precious few of us out there who can say we really love our jobs. And for those of you who do, I hope you realize how truly lucky you are.
I live in the real world, however, so I know that many people are simply tolerating their jobs. And this is a really bad thing. Because when you are just tolerating your job—or even worse, you hate your job—there is little chance that you are doing your best. And when you don't do your best, things fall through the cracks, customers suffer and bad things happen. I'll give you an example.
I called Buy Buy Baby (a retailer of baby products owned by Bed Bath and Beyond) recently, in search of a particular item. I talked to a woman who told me that, yes, they had the item in stock. Not two hours later, I showed up to buy the item. It was nowhere to be found on the shelves, so I asked a salesperson. She looked. She checked the back. She looked again. No dice. I said, "That’s funny, because I called earlier today and the woman I spoke to on the phone told me you had them." And she said, "Yeah, that was me. I thought I saw them. Sorry."
Needless to say, I was taken aback. And, further, I can guarantee you I will NEVER shop there again. Not only was she insincere in her apology, I was just appalled by the inherent laziness in this exchange. And I will not reward that kind of behavior that is so completely disregarding of the customer experience.
So, here is my point. If that woman cared about her job and the customers she was paid to take care of, that would never have happened. If she put just a LITTLE bit of her heart into what she was doing for a living, she would have cared enough to make sure that she actually saw the item on the shelf, not just THINK she saw it. And Buy Buy Baby would still have me as a customer.
- Categories:
- Business Management - Marketing/Sales
Blogger, author, consultant, coach and all around evangelist for the graphic arts industry, Kelly sold digital printing for 15 years so she understands the challenges, frustrations and pitfalls of building a successful sales practice. Her mission is to help printers of all sizes sell more stuff. Kelly's areas of focus include sales and marketing coaching, enabling clients to find engagement strategies that work for them and mentoring the next generation of sales superstars.
Kelly graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science and, among other notable accomplishments, co-founded the Windy City Rollers, a professional women's roller derby league. She is also the mother of two sets of twins under the age of ten, so she fears nothing.
