Don (my business partner) and I went into CC the other day to possibly purchase a computer. Time to get a new computer with the new Windows Vista.

We were studying the different options of the Gateway desktops, talking, looking, etc. We looked around for some help, and there were a few salespeople that were talking to each other... but didn't even look our way.

It was amazing. We were seriously interested in spending some money! But nobody came over to talk to us. We decided to leave and do more research.

Don went back a couple of days later. In order to actually purchase his computer, he had to interrupt a bunch of salesman, including the manager, and tell them he would like to purchase a computer. He had the same problem as before, trying to get someone to wait on him.

I did not purchase from their store. I get the same (maybe better) service by purchasing online!

I guess I expect just a little bit more when I go into a retail store than when I purchase online. If I do go into a store and don't get any kind of service when I want to purchase something, I'm sure not going to expect anything good to happen if anything goes wrong with my purchase!

Every customer counts!

I guess the folks down at CC and many other big companies have become complacent and just don't care if they get sales. I don't know.

Maybe they're just too big for their britches!

We just changed printer companies. We've been using the same printer for over 15 years. Well, they got big, and they've got these great big accounts now.

Over the last few months we'd been purchasing our books from them, they've been slow, made stupid mistakes, and not very responsive to any issues we've had.

Finally, one day they're manager drove to our office to pay us a visit, apologize for being slow, etc. He was telling us how busy they are now, and how the turn around time is going to be a week instead of the 2 or 3 days we were used to.

Then he proceeded to tell us he couldn't offer the same service like we've had before, and we're going to have to do things differently.

Wow, that was a bit of a shocker!. We have to change because they can't do our little print job the way they used to. Ok, we'll give it a try.

The very next order got messed up. We called to explain what was wrong and the response we got was, "Perhaps you should find another printer!"

I'm not complaining here... I just want to show you what can happen to a company when they get too big for their britches. They may be making plenty of money on their new big clients, but they've all but dropped their smaller clients, the ones that got them there in the first place.

Every customer should count!

Obviously we switched printers. We're actually paying just a little bit more because we're going to get the service we were used to. It is a shame to have to end a relationship with a company you've been doing business with for years, but sometimes, it is better than having terrible service or no service at all.

I would rather pay a little more money and do business with people that actually care about my company and their product, than work with people that just don't give a hoot!

We try and treat all of our customers very well. And we expect to be treated the same when we do business with others.

Every customer counts, because together, they are your business. Just because one over here spends less money than one over there, shouldn't affect your respect for each of your customers as people, and as customers. You may treat the customer that spent more money a little better, give them a few perks, that is natural... but all customers need to be treated well.

And if one customer walks out the door with a bad taste in their mouth, there is a good chance you will lose that customer (and you may have already lost several others, and are about to lose several more!) And that is when you need to rethink your policies.

If you have employees, you may want to have a friend check out what's happening in your store once in a while. I wonder what the district manager of CC would have done to those employees that were standing around while customers were walking out the door?

I know what I would have done!

Do something everyday to gain one more customer.