Like I said, Vons used to be our grocer of choice. It’s never been the best priced store, but the customer service we received, and the friends we made of the staff made us willing to pay a little more.
Then a new Vons was built closer to home (within blocks) and we started going to it, instead of the one we had to drive farther to reach.
We made many friends on the butcher staff, the produce manager, and many more.
Enter the store manager, Laura.
There is nothing that can be said to excuse her treatment of her staff nor customers. We had the unfortunate opportunity to hear her berating one of our favorite staff members on the sales floor. The others would share their own stories with us. It was appalling.
We had our own encounters with her, the most prominent in our memory is when she was having a conversation with us as she was walking away from us and had her back to us.
So many horror stories could be shared but that’s not the point of the story.
We didn’t understand why the Von’s management kept her on. We still wonder. One of the staff finally shared they keep her because her numbers are so good.
Well, that put Von’s at the bottom of the list of the grocery stores we shop at. We started shopping at Smith’s and Albertson’s, both of which have much better prices than Von’s, anyway. And then we found Glazier’s.
All 3 of these markets have happy, friendly employees. They make us feel like they care we shop with them. They talk to us face to face and don’t walk away while they are talking.
There are still employees at Von’s we like, but will not give them our dollars – if they keep on managers like Laura vs focusing on their customers, it’s just not where we ant to shop.
AND we share our negative stories with anybody who’ll listen. How much business do they lose? Lots. Especially since if we are have this experience, so are other people. And other people are also choosing to shop elsewhere.
How it relates to you and your home business:
The customer is not always right. However, you have to pay attention to your customers and make sure they know you care that they do business with you. Let them know you appreciate them. Make them your friends – maybe not the kind you want to invite over for dinner, but ones you could chit chat with over the back fence.
People do business with people they like. Get to know your customers – your home business start up depends on it!
