Customer Perceptions Before Buying: Little Things Add Up

Two similar things happened today that have led me to write this post. This morning, about 9:40 am, I found a car I wanted to inquire about at the Carmax site. They have a handy, giant, green button that says “Send Us an Email”, so I did. I got a response back that said “Carmax is closed, but we will contact you on our next business day. Our business hours are 9-9 Mon-Sat, and 11-7 Sun. During these hours, we will respond within 60 minutes.”

Hmm… that’s a head-scratcher. It’s after 9:00 am, yet I got this message. About 30 minutes later, a salesperson called. Since the email said they opened at 9:00, I had decided to test drive a car after attending the Social Media Club KC breakfast Friday morning, so the timing was just perfect. However, the salesman said they don’t open till 11:00, that they only open at 9:00 on Saturday. Huh? Essentially, the auto-response email couldn’t be more wrong! Fortunately for Carmax, I’m already a fan. I have purchased several cars there over the years, and have faith that I’m getting both a good deal and a good car there, so this little snafu didn’t exactly turn me off, but what if I were a first-time customer??? Quite a different story, and not a good one, because now Carmax looks totally inept, when I know them to be quite solid as a business (at least in my dealings so far.) They just need to fix the message in this email and eliminate any inconsistency.

Then I discovered this most excellent web video program, called “Help! My Business Sucks!” In Episode #24, Andrew Lock describes a similar problem with 24-Hour Fitness. He wanted to become a member at a strange hour, and assumed their company name stood for round-the-clock service and access. Listen to his tale…

Isn’t that a fun program? I intend to tune in again, because I learned stuff beyond the customer experience story that will come in handy. I can’t wait to watch some more episodes.

Bottom line, these tiny infractions, errors, inconsistencies or whatever can add up to one big cold shoulder in a prospective customer. Don’t take the risk. Make sure your promises, marketing materials, company tagline, business name, motto, slogan, posted hours, etc. are 100% accurate and complete, and that you stand by them rain or shine. Err on the side of truth in advertising and customer service, and you will stand apart from your competitors and other businesses. Ultimately this will result in more buyers and profits, and more happy fans spreading the word about you and your awesome business!

5 Responses to “Customer Perceptions Before Buying: Little Things Add Up”

1. Andrew Lock says:

   October 1, 2008 at 10:57 pm

   Hi Kristi,

   Glad you liked the show

   Interesting reading your experience about CarMax, they are fools to treat customers like that.

   btw, you can view past episodes of Help! My Business Sucks! on the blog at http://www.helpmybusiness.com

   Regards

   Andrew
2. Kristi Colvin says:

   October 2, 2008 at 4:37 am

   Andrew, the show is awesome! Thanks for taking the effort with it you do. I like your cheeky humor. The Carmax experience with the email is one I should try to tell them about to correct, because they are a stellar company to deal with from my experience buying multiple cars there. In fact, I bought one last night! ))
3. Ari Herzog says:

   October 4, 2008 at 2:54 pm

   You can’t write about buying a car and not tell us the world what you bought. What fancy new thing are you sporting?
4. RYErnest says:

   November 29, 2008 at 5:02 am

   Nice post u have here Added to my RSS reader
5. David Rich says:

   January 26, 2009 at 9:22 am

   Awesome post! Customer experience is the heart of every organization. Treat your customer’s well, develop and implement a strong customer experience program is the key to building loyal customers. Of course, retailers and brands have to measure the success of the program – and adjust as necessary. Metrics is very important, otherwise, how are you suppose to know WHAT your customer’s need?