A Visit to Customer Service Wonderland

By Mark Fulton

The story in my last column about an annoying customer service experience I had at the post office prompted a number of people to tell me their tales of customer service incompetence. While it’s been fun wallowing with others in righteous indignation, I don’t want anyone to lose sight of the fact that there are plenty of businesses who provide exemplary customer service. The following true story is an example of how to get it right.

I visited an HQ hardware store one day, looking for some bathroom caulk. Mr Do-It-Yourself I am not, but re-caulking a bathtub is well within my range of handyman capabilities. Nevertheless, I always like to talk to someone who is knowledgeable in these matters before I undertake a project—just in case residential rehab technology has changed since my last adventure in home repair. I walked into HQ hoping to find a helpful clerk.

I approached the first green-aproned worker I spotted and asked where I’d find caulk. He pointed in the general direction of the opposite end of the store and mumbled the number of an aisle that turned out to be filled with electrical stuff. After wandering up and down aisles stocked with everything but caulk (which is apparently not important enough to be listed on a sign), I tried to locate a clerk for another stab at getting directions. No luck. Meanwhile, the line at the information desk hadn’t moved since I came in, so I left.

Undaunted in my pursuit of the Immaculate Bathroom, I went to Lowe’s, another hardware superstore. Once inside, I immediately headed for a gaggle of clerks that had made themselves easy targets by gathering in the lighting department. Then something amazing happened.

One of the blue-aproned workers broke away from his cohorts and approached me. “Can I help you find something, sir?” he said.

Stunned and confused, I managed to mutter, “Um, yes. I need some bathroom caulk.”

“Right this way,” he said and strode briskly down the main aisle. A sudden sense of anticipation engulfed me and I eagerly fell in behind him. After passing five aisles, my young guide abruptly made a right turn. I was following him so closely (for fear that he might be picked off by another shopper) that I nearly stomped on him when he suddenly stopped.

Before I could thank him for his effort, the clerk plucked a tube of bathroom caulk from a bin and began to speak. “This is what I recommend,” he said. “It does a nice job and is guaranteed for 10 years. There’s no point in paying more for this other brand.”

I tried to wipe the stupid, dazed look off my face as he continued. “You’ll find this one is pretty easy to work with. Just be sure to keep your application movement steady and you’ll get a nice smooth bead. It’s really easy to clean up, too.” He smiled at me and seemed to be waiting for me to say something. After a few moments he asked, “Do you have any questions?”

I glanced around furtively, expecting Rod Serling to step from behind the bathtub display and say, “Welcome to the Twilight Zone.”

“No, I think that just about covers it,” I said.

“Great,” said the clerk. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No. This is all I wanted,” I responded.

I half expected him to wiggle his nose and disappear into a Coleman lantern. Instead, he marched over to another customer and proceeded to offer his assistance. I could tell from the look on the customer’s face that she thought she was on “Candid Camera.”

I don’t know if Lowe’s had trained the young clerk who helped me that day to do what he did. Maybe he was just being helpful on his own accord. If so, my guess is that he’s a store manager by now. If he isn’t, he should be. If Lowe’s does train their employees to provide that kind of customer service, they should be congratulated and emulated.

Here’s an excellent book on customer service that ought to be required reading for every business leader: “Customers for Life” by Carl Sewell and Paul Brown. Ten years after is was published, it’s still one of the best guides for turning a one-time buyer into a lifetime customer.

About three years after my bathroom caulk ordeal, I read in the newspaper that HQ had announced it was going out of business. Soon afterwards, bargain hunters began stalking the nearest HQ clearance sale in order to pick the store’s carcass clean of extension cords, fan dusters, flower pots—and bathroom caulk.

Is there a connection between my unpleasant shopping experience and the fact that HQ has gone belly up? You decide.

Copyright 1999 © Mark S. Fulton