Summary: In today's podcast, I recall a memorable shopping experience which reminded me there is a right and wrong way to do customer service. It provides a clear example of how customer service is killing sales -- especially retail! And five things any business can learn from this experience.<br> <br> <br> I'm Not a Great Shopper<br> This weekend, I went shopping -- which is pretty unusual for me. Occasionally, if I need something, I'll stop in a store and buy it, or just order it online. But from the time I was kid, I've always found shopping boring!<br> <br> But this past weekend, I found myself at the King of Prussia Mall, with my wife and my daughter, shopping for dresses. Now, the first thing I have to tell you is that I missed the bulk of the actual shopping experience. I was busy at the Apple store taking care of a required repair on my wife's iPhone. I'll fill you in on that experience next week.<br> <br> After successfully completing my mission, I met up with my wife and daughter in the dress section of a well-known retail store, which will remain nameless. They had picked out a total of three items and were about to check out when I arrived.<br> Customer Service Done Wrong<br> The first indication of trouble came when the clerk rang up the first dress at full retail. My daughter mentioned that the sign said it was 30% off. The clerk asked her to show her. When we walked back to the display, there was a sign that said 30% off, but the clerk explained that the 30% only applied to a certain section of the rack, and not the entire rack itself.<br> <br> "That's kind of misleading," I muttered. But rather than risk embarrassing my daughter, we walked dutifully back to the cash register to pay full retail.<br> <br> When ringing up the second dress, we ran into a similar situation. It came up as full retail, but was supposed to be 50% off. This time, a manager overheard our conversation, so we got to walk the manager over to the area where the dress was being displayed. This time, it was obviously in the 50% off section, with no possibility of confusion. The manager said that it was in the wrong place, but that she'd honor the price anyway. Okay. Nice of them to honor what their advertising was promoting.<br> Let's Do the Math<br> So now we get back to the cash register. The clerk has to manually adjust the pricing. "Let's see, 50% off of 238, so that's 140."<br> <br> "I'm sorry," I said, "half off of 238 is not 140." "Well, I did take math in school," she said. I didn't rise to the bait. Instead, I merely pointed out that half of 238 is 119, not 140. When she confirmed it herself with a calculator, she made the correction without apology or further comment. It was about that point when my wife decided that the third dress, the one she had picked out for herself, might not be worth the trouble, so we just ended up getting two.<br> <br> Next round of fun. "If you register for our store credit card today you can get an additional 15% off your purchases." "Okay, it's not the 30% off we thought we'd be getting on the first dress, but it's something," I thought. "Sure, sign us up." After what seemed like ten minutes of intense, probing questions, we were approved for the new card. But when the clerk rang up the order, it didn't reflect the 15% savings. "Oh, that will show up on the bill," she said. But nothing we received in the store indicated that would be the case. I guess we'll find out when the bill shows up.<br> When Customer Service Focuses on Discounts<br> Now, here's the interesting part. I didn't go into that store looking for discounts. All I wanted was to buy the dresses my wife and daughter were looking for, for the weddings they're planning to attend. I wouldn't have cared about the 30% off the first dress, or the 15% off if we signed up for the new card. But the way the store personnel approached pricing, made it seem like a really big thing.<br>
