I recently had to get some stuff from the local pharmacy. In Austria, you need a paper from a doctor in order to get the stuff – and the guy needed a copy of the paper for insurance reasons. So, I went there and asked the clerk for a copy of the paper – EEK, SQUEAK, why do you need this? After 15 minutes of explaining that I needed the goddamn copy and will not give her the reason why as I don’t know it myself, the clerk finaly moved its hide and produced the copy, leaving me in an extremely annoyed state.
The problem that we have had here is simple – this clerk has too much power/empowerment. Seth Godin reported about his experiences at McDonalds, where the clerk essentially has no power to say no the the clerk – the company obviously looses a bit of cash in the form of free milk shakes for Seth and his folks , but wins big by avoiding negative blog articles like this one and keeps its customers happy overall.
Some clerks can really empathize with the customer(one guy there can, he’s the reason why I didn’t change pharmacy yet in fact) – but many clerks cannot and leave the client annoyed. So, what do you think about teaching your clerks the following rule:
Do as you are told as long as its no problem for the company, and dont think about it!
Please tell me what you think!
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