Customer Service Is Customer Service important to business? Is it important build a market block of loyal customers through attention to their needs? The answer seems obvious at first blush. Management will tout their training in Customer Service in almost every case. The reality at the customer contact level is more suspect. In over forty years of observation, I have detected a change in the past five that is disturbing. On a recent visit to an upscale retailer, a well dressed customer spent over ten minutes in the store without being acknowledged by any of the sales staff. Lest you believe this is an isolated incident, I have had the same treatment in every business from fast food to five-star hotels. Ignore the customer; now that is a way to build customer loyalty. A lunch with my son brought to light another type customer indifference. The young lady behind the counter repeated our order incorrectly. I corrected the order followed by a second incorrect repetition. A second correction finally brought a “meeting of the minds”. A few minutes later another customer became irate with this employee when she seemed oblivious to the items on the menu. He left in a huff and loudly vowed never to return. End of story? Not quite. Her co-workers huddled in the back room and after discussing loudly enough for everyone to hear, began to laugh about and berate the unserved customer as being the problem. Competence at the point of customer contact is essential to good service. Many customers have found themselves waiting at a counter having to endure the recounting of the employees’ escapades from the previous day. When the customer is finally acknowledged, he is frequently viewed without any eye contact. The message to the customer is obvious: “You are not as important as we are, and not worth our immediate attention.” This attitude is pervasive in retail. What is a customer to do? When alerted to these and other customer indifferences, management touted their training. Some took no action with the employee cited. Many said they would “handle it”. Still others said they would repeat their training program with the entire staff. Will these actions keep customers? Population studies indicate approximately thirty-five percent of customers are “reserved and people-oriented”. This group will do almost anything to avoid conflict. Their reaction to the above incidents is simply to spend their dollars elsewhere. Can business prosper and replace a third of their customers on a regular basis? I think not. Employees need to be reminded on a regular basis that customers are the reason for their job’s existence. Maybe this will cause employees’ attentions to be placed back on the customer instead of themselves.