For the past couple of years we have heard phrases that begin with “In today’s economy…” followed by something to explain or justify a business decision. For example, “In today’s economy, consumers are exercising care when spending at the grocery store.” Or “In today’s economy, people are doing whatever they have to in order to hold onto their jobs.” Ok, sounds reasonable enough. But what about this one: In today’s economy, businesses have to avoid aggravating their customers in order to avoid losing any more business. Even if you haven’t heard this, it sort of goes without saying, doesn’t it? I mean, if the economy is tough and your business’s gross sales aren’t burning up the annual Power Point presentation, then maybe you should avoid pissing people off.
Naturally, we all know of companies and businesses that do this on a regular basis. The obvious thing to do is to avoid businesses that piss us off, right? But sometimes it’s inconvenient to really make a stand. Cases in point: Great Clips and Best Buy. Two places that are really convenient for me but really aggravate me, and here’s why.
Great Clips is, to me, the same quality as Supercuts or Hair Cuttery. They’re the fast food of hair care. There’s nothing wrong with fast food, for your stomach or your head. But my problem with Great Clips is the way they check you in. You have to give them your phone number whereas other places just ask for your name or have you sign in on a sign-in sheet. Last week I took my young son to get his hair cut and the place was packed. No slow economy for hair! So when I signed in I gave them the phone number I always give them. No problem. But as I sat there and more people came in, the girl cutting hair in the first chair had to stop cutting and go log people in. The guy in the chair sat there with half his head cut while she was working on the computer. To me that’s rude. Why is Great Clips’ time more valuable than his? Why couldn’t they hire someone just to answer the phone and sign people in? Wouldn’t that free up the chair quicker for another customer?
Another issue is that people have too many phone numbers. You have your home phone, your cell, your spouse’s cell, and maybe even you kid has a cell. Which phone number do you use for Great Clips? The home phone’s the obvious answer, but maybe you don’t know it. Many people don’t – the cell has replaced the home phone but many keep the home number for who-knows-what-reason. So if I bring my son and I use my cell, what happens when my wife brings him? Exactly what happened when I sat there watching the stylist try to get people checked in. People went through a litany of phone numbers before getting the one they had in the system. One lady took five minutes (yes, I timed her) before she figured out which phone was needed. All those five minute delays add up for the person in the chair and for those of us waiting. And from a business standpoint, how much is that costing Great Clips? Even five minutes of delays an hour add up to almost an hour a day of lost production for the company. Multiply that by its over 5000 stores and that’s a tidy sum of lost profits. Plus it really aggravates the customer.
So are phone numbers really necessary Great Clips? The reason given for collecting them is so that they can track a person’s preferences. Really? Despite giving my phone number, what’s the first thing the stylist asks me? So, what can I do for you today? Cut my hair please. Ok, what would you like me to do? I’m thinking, “Isn’t it in the computer???” I don’t say it because that would be considered rude and/or mean. So I just say what I want. Kind of defeats the purpose of the whole phone number thing, doesn’t it. Great Clips, it’s time to invest in a clipboard and a couple of sign in sheets. Trust me, it would be better.
Next week, Best Buy.
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