Full Time, All the Time
with Britt and Robyn
I'm Britt. I work full time as a mom, wife, blogger and salesperson with a fancy management title. And I'm Robyn. I work as a project manager and between corporate meetings manage to cook a home-made meal every day. This blog is about our experiences of juggling full-time work with family.
Check out our personal blogs:
Miss Britt and Who's the Boss?
I work in sales and marketing. That means I have had the motto “the customer is always right” drilled into my head for the last 10 years of my career.
But sometimes it takes everything I have not to let loose and explain that the customer is not only not right, but is also a complete and total moron, thank you very much.
Of course, I don’t say that. Usually. Instead, I’m bringing my frustrations and pent up agression here, to share with you beautiful people.
4 Things Stupid Customers Do That Make Me Want To Scream:
1. Lie to me.
“Oh, no, I’m sorry. I know that I requested more information about your company 30 seconds ago, but I already have that exact same service you’re offering. And my email was also hijacked and my number posted on bathroom walls so that salespeople would mistakenly solicit me.”
I get that you’re busy. Truly. I get that you might not even want me to try to sell you something. But I am not a moron and we are not children. You don’t need to lie to me to tell me that you’re not interested.
2. Refuse to read
The service I sell is unique and requires a certain amount of customer education. We’ve poured hours of time and research into the most effective way to explain to people what we do. Our web site is concise. Our emails are informative but to the point. So when you call me and say “yeah, I’m not going to read that, just tell me what it says,” I am likely to reach the phone and throttle you.
Although, I suppose I should be grateful you didn’t lie about reading it.
3. Get my name wrong
If we’re on the phone and you mistake “My name is Britt” for “My name is Charlie”, I can let that slide. But when I sign my email “Regards, Britt” and you respond with “Dear Brent,” there is simply no excuse for that.
Screwing up names is a major pet peeve to salespeople, I think. We’re trained to get names right and use first names often. You say “I’m not good with names” and we hear “I am a loser with no people skills.”
4. No show on an appointment
Your time is valuable. I appreciate that. It would be fabulous if you would feel the same level of respect for my time.
If you specifically ask me to call you at a certain time, answer the phone. If you say you’re going to be available, then be available. I may just be a salesperson to you, but it’s still a bad idea to be so careless with your professional reputation. You never know what connections I have that you may need some day!
Whew. I’m getting annoyed just thinking about this stuff! I’m going to head into work in a great mood today!
What about you? Do you run into customers or clients with bad habits that you have to grin and bear? Do you have to ignore - or worse yet, apologize for - the stupid things your customers do in the name of good business?
Photo by demi-brooke
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Apologizing for your customer’s mistake is the absolute worst.
When I worked in advertising I technically wasn’t in sales, but I had to deal as an account executive from time to time because it was a small agency. I remember very clearly biting my tongue many times instead of blurting out, “I’m sorry you didn’t listen to me when I told you [exactly what ended up happening] would happen.” This usually came right after the client ripped EVERYONE in the office a new you-know-what and was then handed to me so I could apologize. What I wanted to do was punch them in throat.
The agency repeatedly tried to get me to move into sales. I opted to stick with my words and letters instead. They don’t do stupid things. Usually.
Finn | March 4th, 2009 at 10:31 am
You mean like when I tell a client their behavior is going to get them sued, and it does? Or when they tell me they want to do a very high risk deal but can I please structure it so there is no risk to them? Oh and by the way, will I TELL them there’s no risk so they can blame me when it falls apart? I keep a jar on my desk that is labeled “Ashes of Bad Clients.”
Elaine at Lipstickdaily | March 4th, 2009 at 11:54 am
The name thing bugs the crap out of me!! My name is Erica, and I work in the construction business as an Admin. Assistant. When I send emails, they very clearly say Erica. I don’t know how many times I get reply emails that say “Hi Eric”
Ugh!
Erica | March 4th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Okay, I hate our customers. Yes, I really do.
The stupidest is when they call about a house and have no clue where it is located. They tell me its somewhere near a major street but have no clue of the cross street. We have over 100 houses all in the same area. If you tell me “I saw a house near Miami Gardens Dr somewhere and I would like to know about it” I have no freakin clue which one it could be!!
Another one that gets me is when they ask a million questions about a house and then I try to follow up with questions such as “Are you working with a realtor?”, “Have you spoekn to a bank?” and they respond with “Oh, no, I’m not calling for myself, I am calling for a friend”. Who calls for a friend?? Does anyone really drive around and call on homes for a friend? Just tell me the truth, that you are dreaming of buying a house but never actually would or don’t qualify and have no intention of doing anything but wasting my time.
If I think of anything else I’ll write more! I have a slew of stuff that bugs me!
Oceans Mom | March 4th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Okay, thought of another one. When one customer monopolizes your time and doesn’t realize that you have other customers. This drives us bananas. I had one lady that returned my initial call and left me a 10 minute voicemail telling me her whole life story. I didn’t call her back because I knew that any phone call with her would be at least 1/2 hour and I don’t have the time for that. Well, she called me a couple more times - at 11:30pm!! I finally decided that if I don’t call her back she will drive me bonkers. I called to tell her that I cannot help her as I don’t work in the areas that she is looking (which is actually the truth and this fact now makes her a non-customer). However, she went on to talk to me FOREVER. About her cell phone plan, some lawsuit she is in, what the area was like 20 years ago, etc. We were gettting numerous phone calls and I asked her if she would please hold that I had to answer the other line and she firmly said “no”, that she did not have time to hold because she is in a hurry. Yet she proceeded to to then ramble on to me about more things. I am very polite and have no idea how to get people like this off of the phone nicely so I simply did paperwork while she rambled until she finally got off the phone with me. We get tons of people like this. Our saying is “If they have nothing to do, they always want to do it with us”.
Oceans Mom | March 5th, 2009 at 9:17 am
I know exactly how you feel, I wrote an article about a bank customer I saw the other day. Obviously it’s satirical but it is meant to point out the stupidity of some people.
please enjoy http://www.whatidiots.com/how-to-be-a-bank-customer.htm
Birdman | March 26th, 2009 at 3:19 pm