# Giving good customer service



## Sven Bjorg (Sep 29, 2014)

Suppose that a customer were to walk into a book store and ask an adviser the location of a particular book; to which the adviser politely asked the customer to follow them to its location, in their stride, only to find that it is missing. At which point the adviser apologizes to the customer for any inconvenience, then asks them would they like to go to the checkout where they will perform a stock check on the book to see if it has been misplaced somewhere else, or is out of stock. The book is out of stock.

At which point, in what order, should I, as the sales adviser, take the customer's contact details telling them that I will notify them personally when the book is in stock, phone local stores to see if any of them have it in stock, suggest that they order online, suggest an alternative book they might like, and suggest any special offers.

Am I right in my thinking that I should if the book is out of stock in my store, in order of priority:

1) Phone local stores to see if any of them have it in stock.
2) take their contact details and notify them personally when the book is in stock
3) Suggest that they order online
4) Suggest an alternative book they might like
5) Suggest any special offers should they make a purchase.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

The book is about Classical music?


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## Sven Bjorg (Sep 29, 2014)

GreenMamba said:


> The book is about Classical music?


It can be whatever you like but a book about classical music is befitting to this forum, so suppose that it is.


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

As someone who works in a bookstore I can answer these questions both from my side of the counter and from what I prefer when I'm the customer.

But first I'd like to know why your'e asking this question on a classical music site.


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## Sven Bjorg (Sep 29, 2014)

SimonNZ said:


> As someone who works in a bookstore I can answer these questions both from my side of the counter and from what I prefer when I'm the customer.
> 
> But first I'd like to know why your'e asking this question on a classical music site.


I'm asking this question because today, I experienced terrible customer service regards a book I had ordered. I am not sure if the adviser was improperly trained, or was just having a bad day. The book was a simple ABRSM: Grade 5 violin exam pieces but caused an hour long argument between me, the adviser, and the store manager. Do I need to expound further? It is 1AM where I am right now...


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

No, thats fine - but I suspect this thread will be moved to the Community Forum. The details of your bad interaction would also be helpful. However:

2) take their contact details and notify them personally when the book is in stock

That one would be standard. Offered every time we dont have what the customer wants. Price and delivery time quoted.

4) Suggest an alternative book they might like

Ideally, if I'm knowledgeable in that area, but with a wide stock range in a large number of sections often likely to pass the enquiry to another staff member more familiar with the subject. I'd probably comment on whats had good word of mouth or whats selling well if I couldn't personally recommend.

1) Phone local stores to see if any of them have it in stock.

Only if there was one obvious specialist in this subject. And only if they were another indie bookseller like us. 

3) Suggest that they order online

We pride ourselves on our special order service, so we'd only suggest this if the book was downright out of print and they'd need to find it secondhand, or if it was a self-published book that the author was choosing to sell only through their own site (though frustratingly these will often be offered to Amazon, giving them the illusion of being widely available, and having us seem inefficient)

5) Suggest any special offers should they make a purchase.

I'm not really sure what this means. I suspect its more of a chain-store thing.

Apart from that I'd need to hear your story to say where the staff let you down.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

There are two sides to every story.

Professionals in business aren't there to **** customers off. That would be self-destructive.

So, I would need to get the testimony of the store manager to have a more complete view of the situation.


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Sven Bjorg said:


> I'm asking this question because today, I experienced terrible customer service regards a book I had ordered. I am not sure if the adviser was improperly trained, or was just having a bad day. The book was a simple ABRSM: Grade 5 violin exam pieces but *caused an hour long argument between me, the adviser, and the store manager*. Do I need to expound further? It is 1AM where I am right now...


Yeah, I've got to say I can't imagine having an hour long argument over anything - or indeed "arguing back" rather than trying to resolve or explain/apologise for the problem. Problems do arise, of course, with all the double checking we can do there are factors that can still occasionally stop a book from coming when we said it would.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Whenever I used to ask for books in our local shop, the assistant would snap, 'It's out of print!' without even bothering to look- like she had personally committed to memory the title of every single book currently in print! The other thing was that if you were buying some well known book which had been the subject of a York Notes study guide, they would always order you the study guide and not the original book even if you specified the title of the book and said 'not the York Notes'. In the tiny proportion of cases where the right book was ordered,there was usually some sarcastic observation the gist of which was that I didn't look old/clever enough to read something as highbrow as Plato's dialogues or whatever it was. Thank God for the Internet when that finally came along. I often think of that late unlamented shop when people complain about Amazon putting independent book shops out of business, and wonder how many of them that person actually frequented! The strange thing is that really truculent and purposely unhelpful customer service is actually a rarity, outside of those mostly defunct small book shops and antique shops in upscale areas. To answer the question: the OP's bookseller should have offered to telephone/email the OP when the book was back in stock. Though by then he would probably have got it cheaper and faster on Abebooks or Amazon.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

If the customer is not the sharpest tack in the toolbox, by all means suggest anything but ordering online.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

I'll rephrase the question as being about a hotel room, since I work at a hotel. The order of operations for me is usually:

1) Suggest other room types (i.e. other books they might like)
2) Phone other hotels to check for rooms
3) Add guest to waiting list (i.e. call if rooms become available due to cancellations)

We would never suggest they book a room online if we're already sold out (since we manually shut off 3rd-party booking sites when we're low on inventory), so that doesn't apply, though it may apply to a bookstore. As far as "offers should a [room] become available" go, we typically offer half off after we cancel any no-show reservations at 3am, provided the guest will still check out at the usual checkout time of 11am that morning.

As a bookstore customer, I would prefer:

1) Phone local stores
2) Suggest special offers
3) Take my contact details
4) Suggest I order online (if it's unlikely you'll have it back in stock soon)
5) Only suggest another book as a last resort; personally, I always know what I'm looking for


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

When the request is for something as specific as an anthology of music, there is _no suggesting anything else._ The pieces, their editing, fingering, especially for an institutionalized system such as ABRSM, leave no room for 'another volume of similar material.' You may as well suggest a different textbook to a college student who is looking for the one their professor requires for the course.

(Imagine a pianist needing the score for Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 and being told "we do not have that, will the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 do? -- risible. _If_ neither the store owner or clerks don't have any idea why that is risible, they should not carry music scores

For textbooks of any sort, the customer request is usually timely, and the need both specific and immediate.

However, if I were the customer and was getting no joy, I would immediately contact the institution requiring the text or simply ask the teacher where I could readily purchase what was needed.

I would actually recommend, if the book store were an 'ordinary' bookstore, that unless there is a special arrangement with the publishers / distributors of anything remotely like such textbooks (and a music anthology specifically required for a regulated study program _is a textbook,_) that the shop have nothing to do with carrying such texts, or in trying to obtain them.

ABRSM is a major industry, including the specific collections of music in the various graded volumes. Any industry like that should have an in place and well-oiled mechanism to help its clients readily obtain the required study materials.

Specialized music stores known to stock ABRSM repertoire books is where that client should be looking in the first place.

Direct the customer back to ABRSM, who should be able to provide them with a list of people who carry the ABRSM books. It is the kindest and most hassle-free thing you can do for all involved.


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