"Let me tell you all the ways I CAN'T serve you"

You probably can't see that my heads about to explode. The title of this blog summarizes some of the recent customer service experiences that I have had lately. As a customer, I still find it amazing that some businesses seem to think that the I(the customer) am the one who should be doing the serving. "I'm sorry sir, it is out of our control", "Yes sir, but our systems require that you do this or that or the other". Bla, bla, bla.

If you watch the news, you hear that our economy is in the crapper. In fact the media loves to tell us this bad news. It may be time for it to go to the crapper if businesses take the attitude that they are the ones being served. However, I know of two friends who had banner years in spite of the "bad economy" and their Christmas selling season broke records. They both do one thing. They serve the customer!!!!!!! with great service!!!!!!! because they know that the customer is the one paying!!!!!!! You won't hear the media talking about this because it doesn't make for good television.

Yes, this is a bit of a tirade and yes, I'm just a bit emotional. At this point, I'm not a danger to myself or others and that's a good thing.

It's my hope that every company with poor customer service and/or poor products go out of business during this economic downturn. When the economy slows down, it's a chance for the creme to rise to the top. Regardless of the economy, great customer service and quality are still worthy of consumption. It's times like these when I start to pick and choose where my dollars are being spent and I only want to spend them on goods and services that are going to give me the greatest value!

Recently, I've been studying the concept of Lean Production. It's all based on generating the highest value product or service for the least amount of cost and working to eliminate waste where ever possible. Now that I've read just a bit, I'm starting to see waste and limited value almost everywhere. It's a bit overwhelming. Every time I turn around, I'm involved in some sort of consumer situation where I'm wasting my time and getting little value. Yet, because there are few options, I am forced to "deal with it". I can tell you that the economy is going to put pressure on these situations and fewer people are going to deal with it and that means fewer dollars being spent.

Gulf Coast Cycle Fit is designed with one thing in mind: To provide the customer the highest quality service so that they receive the greatest possible value and satisfaction from their coaching or bike fitting experience. Sessions are conducted one on one with the goal of addressing specific issues so that customer walks away with solutions. If I ever identify a road block to serving a customer, it is removed even if it is at my expense. In the end, I sleep very well at night.

Unfortunately, now I have to return to the real world of serving the vendor and paying them too! Hopefully, I will get a peck on the cheek.