Modern customer service underwhelms

“The older I get the more I admire and crave competence, just simple competence, in any field from adultery to zoology.”
– H.L. Mencken

I really enjoyed sitting down to talk with Wayne Brown, the subject of this week’s cover story, for three reasons:

1. I’ve always been intrigued by highly successful businesspeople who have skirted media attention out of shyness instead of trying to conceal questionable business practices.

2. He’s a true Bootstrapper (See Scuttlebiz July 23, 2007 for the definition).

3. I enjoyed hearing his perspectives on customer service, given that he has run everything from fast- food restaurants to a luxury travel service.

Customer service was something that he preached to his staff when he was a Taco Bell franchisee, so I was curious to know how he copes with what many consider to be an across-the-board societal decline in customer service.

It turns out he deals with it like everyone else.

“It’s all about managing your expectations,” he said. “If I’m staying at a Holiday Inn, I know I’m going to be carrying my own bags.”

To put it another way, unless he’s paying a premium for something, he almost expects a mediocre experience. That way, if the experience turns out to be better than mediocre, he considers it a pleasant surprise.

You probably feel the same way.

Think about it – you used to get upset when you found no napkins in the bag after leaving the drive-through window. Now you’re happy to get an employee who can enunciate and simply get the order right. It’s no wonder many people would rather use self-serve kiosks than interact with H omo sapiens.

The conversation with Mr. Brown stoked one of my bigger concerns about the future, which is: Service – not just “excellent” customer service, but plain old run-of-the-mill service – will be available only at the high end of the price spectrum.

Sound outlandish? Think of how far we’ve come already. When was the last time you received memorable service? Chances are, it involved you spending what you considered to be a lot of money. The concept of service has changed; what we now consider “memorable” service used to just be, well, “service.”

Are we becoming a less civil society? Are employers failing to train their employees, or are employees becoming increasingly untrainable in the ways of service? Do people believe working in an entry-level service job gives them the “right” to treat the people who help pay their wage with disdain? Or are customers too callous and demanding?

Granted, you shouldn’t expect a Nordstrom experience at the dollar store, but shouldn’t you expect something? What ever happened to a simple, “Hello, how are you today?” What ever happened to “please” and “thank you”? What ever happened to a smile, or any facial expression, for that matter, besides the blank stare that greets us from the other side of the counter?

I think basic civility is still out there, but in the future we might have to pay a little extra to get it.

GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE: Last year, some folks were pretty excited about the expansion and relocation of the Augusta Auto Auction from its Jefferson Davis Highway in North Augusta to a large tract near Augusta Regional Airport.

The Florida-based owners of the wholesale operation, Acacia Automotive Inc., announced last spring that they would acquire more than 50 acres of undeveloped land near the corner of at Doug Barnard Parkway and Dixon Airline Road in a deal that was set to close in June.

Here we are, nearly a year later, and still no deal.

It t urns out that the property’s owners, the Lawrence family of Bobby Jones Ford (which, by the way, also used to own Augusta Auto Auction), put the proposed sale on ice to court another ( read: deeper-pocketed) buyer for the prime real estate.

That deal failed to materialize, and Acacia executives are still in a holding pattern.

Both companies say they are still exploring their options but are hopeful the auction business, which has about reached full capacity at its existing spot, will be able to build a larger operation to house the 100-200 vehicles that are sold each week. No timeline has been given.

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR YOU: Not since Publix’s entry into the Augusta area during the mid-to-late 1990s has a grocery chain made such a splash as Kroger’s multi million-dollar renovation and construction project.*

The biggest piece of that project, the newly rebuilt store at the corner of Washington Road and Alexander Drive, is set to open March 27. The next-biggest piece, the new 77,000-square-foot North Augusta store on Knox Avenue near the Lowe’s home improvement store (which will replace an older and smaller location on Martintown Road) will be open in November.

WHY CAN’T THEY CHANGE THEIR NAME? MedExpress Clinics, the storefront health care clinic launched in Augusta last year, has had to change its name to ExpressHealth Inc. because a health care company in West Virginia already had the trademark on the usage.

Oops.

The old switcheroo, however, doesn’t appear to be a major setback to the retail health clinic. It already has forged a relationship with employment firm Norrell Staffing Services to provide pre-employment health screenings for Norrell clients in the Augusta market.

If the partnership proves fruitful in Augusta, I’d be looking for it to expand to other markets where Norrell operates.

* EarthFare is a really close second.