How to Lose a Customer - Fast

I went to the local home improvement superstore with my wife to purchase some carpet.

On our first trip, we waited for about 30 minutes for someone to help us. There was only one person working the floor coverings area.

When we finally got someone to help, he was unable to complete our purchase - he was not trained in the new system they were using (he'd been there for eight months).

But he said his colleague would be returning from a break in nine minutes, and he'd undoubtedly be able to help. Then, off he went without a word. Break time? Emergency trip to the crapper? Did our breath or body scent somehow O-fend?

About 15 minutes later, we noticed a guy we assumed was his colleague helping another couple. It seemed like they accosted him on his way to the floor covering area.

We mentioned we'd like some help when he was finished - we were ready to spend money and just needed him to close out the order his colleague had logged so we could pay the bill and hit the road.

He caught a bit of an attitude, causing me to have one of my own. "I'll be with YOU just as soon as I help THEM," he said.

We got up and left. I decided they weren't getting any of my money, but my wife said I might be a little hard on the guy. "Let's just come back tomorrow."

My wife's got the cooler head, and she's usually right (PLEASE. don't tell her I said that), so I agreed to come back the next day.

I was thrilled to find a young guy working in the floor covering department. I'll call him "Dan."

He was attentive and worked hard to answer questions while painfully (but expertly) navigating through some archaic green screen system running on a Windows PC to log and complete our carpet order.

I told him we appreciated his help and professionalism. Was there someone at the store or anywhere else within the corporate ecosystem with whom we could share our positive experience, compared to the one we;d had the day before?

He gave us his card and wrote down a phone number we could call to leave positive feedback. I said that, in addition to the phone number he gave me, I would like to speak with the store manager to let him know - right then and there - that we'd had a great experience and that he needed more "Dan's" on his staff.

He directed us to the customer service desk.

We approached the customer service desk, waited our turn in line, and asked the representative behind the counter to connect us with the store manager.

She immediately tensed and asked us why we wanted to speak with the manager. "Is there some sort of problem?"

I told her we simply wanted to pay the manager a compliment about one of his employees.

She relaxed - but only slightly - and called the manager.

He told her he was busy and could not speak with me. There were trucks to unload, phone calls on hold, and other managerial issues that had to be addressed. Maybe we could come back tomorrow?

My wife and I both laughed. I immediately wanted to cancel the carpet order, but my wife said I should chill. She's got the cooler head, and she's usually right.

This company, like many others with incompetent leadership and a disregard for the customer, is producing results that are below the expectations of its shareholders and Wall Street. 

Don't be like the manager at my local home improvement superstore. Success starts with a customer-first culture. Right leadership, right employees, proper training, and a relentless desire to put the customer at the center of everything you do.

The Center. Of Everything.

You do that and you'll have more customers than you can handle - and revenue won't ever be a problem.