At our weekly meeting earlier this morning, a couple of fellas came over from Lowe's to talk about the Realtor program they offer in partnership with the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  The program is designed to keep agents in touch with their buyers and sellers through a campaign fully funded by Lowe's in which mailings are sent monthly or quarterly – depending on what you choose. In return, Lowe's pulls in more customers from the 10 percent off coupons they send.  I think it's a win-win-win for everyone with the possible exception of competing home stores.

After the gentlemen left, the conversation turned to how fantastic it is when you go into a Lowe's store and the associates walk you all the way to the product you're trying to locate.  This naturally led us to compare other businesses and one agent shared an experience she had with a store that's also a partner with NAR.

As agents, we're supposed to receive 10 percent discounts on certain supplies we might need to run our businesses.  When the agent tried to get the discount, she was told in no uncertain terms that our company had to have a company credit card for the discount to apply (which is untrue – you just have to use the credit card that you've registered for the purchase).

After not receiving the discount, she was told to speak to the guy "over there" and she was pointed in his direction.  She approached him, he spoke, but he wouldn't look at her.  She finally asked, "Excuse me. Are you talking to me?"

This district-manager type person glared at her and she saw he had an earpiece on.

She waited a few moments for him to end the call and then he turned to her, "This is NOT my store. You'll need to talk to her!"  And he pointed to someone else.

She replied, "It's not my store either." She walked out and then told our entire office about the experience. 

That, my friend, is exactly how you do not treat customers.  A little bit of effort certainly goes a long way – whether you're dealing with buyers, sellers, people wanting a pack of gum, a light bulb, a ream of paper, shelves… anything.  Show some courtesy and act like you care.  Find a way to get the job done without causing pain and you'll be one of the best customer service representatives ever.