“Mr Humphries, are you free?” (if this makes no sense to you Gen Y’ers out there, youtube it or watch it below). Are You Being Served? is a classic comedy about service. But the problem these days is that in most places service has become the joke itself. We’ve talked a little about it before, most of time (and we are talking mostly retail here) you pay for what you get. You can’t walking into a store that employs 15-year-old stick figures and expect service, they are not paid enough (poor things) to do anything more than swipe your credit card through the machine. However, when you walk into a boutique or specialty shop, I think we can expect a little more service, and the price tag will often reflect that too.

Customer service is something that I think is a skill not to be taken lightly, it’s not natural to everyone, it takes a certain kind of person to spend all day talking, let alone to strangers! Customer service is something people crave, but not a lot of people receive.

So where is this coming from? Well the boy decided that he wanted look at hiring a gray suit. (Did I mention we have been invited to SEVEN and a half weddings this year?!?!?!?! by half I mean an engagement party that will be bigger than the wedding) He is sick of wearing his black one and wanted to try something different so we found a place online, he emailed and made an appointment (that should have been my first clue!) and along we went.

I’m always really interested in the shopping experience (maybe that is why i do so much of it. Research, that’s what we’ll call it!) but I’m a pretty self-sufficient shopper. I’ve working in the fashion industry coming up a decade, I know my body shape, my size, what colours suit me and what I will and won’t wear. I don’t go into a store expecting help because I know I don’t need it.

Most people are NOT like me though, they are not sure what they want, what will suit them, and what size or shape they are. This is where customer service is SO important and the lovely lady that we dealt with, Lee at Spurlings was awesome! She knew her product, was super-friendly (asked us our names straight away), gave us heaps of great options for shirt and tie colours to go with the suit (some that we wouldn’t have even thought of but looked really good) and was genuine! Genuine service, rather than just trying to make a sale was actually what got her the sale in the end. We walked in with the intention of hiring a suit, and walked out purchasing a suit, shirt, tie and pocket scarf – job well done Lee – two happy customers.

Poor sales assistants (man I hate that title, I call myself a frock ambassador, much nicer ring to it don’t you think) get such a bad rap, and most of the time, rightly so. We have all been told “that looks soooooooo pretty on you!” by some poor “sales assistant” (said with fingers in the air, visually doing the inverted commas – you know what I mean), knowing full well that it is two sizes too small and not your colour. However, there are people out there that actually care what you look like, are great at their job and have PASSION for what they do! Remember that scene in Pretty Woman where she walking into the fancy boutique on Rodeo Drive and they treat her like crap?!? That makes me SO mad every time I watch it – customer service FAIL.

customer service what NOT to do - Pretty Woman: Big mistake, huge!

So this is a post to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people out there in retail-land who give awesome service, who make us feel good about ourselves and that make us remember what giving ‘good custom’ is all about!

I must put a disclaimer on this post and mention (as most of you know) that I am in the customer service industry. I LOVE what I do, and I’m not ashamed to say that I give exceptional customer service, which is why I always harping on about it. It also makes me super-aware when I DON’T get good service, and makes me want to do my job better so people are always happy when they leave my store. For me, the most important thing about good service is making people feel good about themselves, making them feel like they are special and that they DESERVE to have good service – what do you think?

Have you even been somewhere and been blown away by the GREAT service you got?

PS. I’ll post a picture of the boy in his new suit after the wedding this Saturday!