A miserable experience

A few weeks ago, I went with my girlfriend while she picked out a new couch at a high end furniture store. It was a miserable experience that only keeps getting worse. The experience has been so dreadful, that I am going to rank furniture shopping up there with painting and moving in the top things that I loathe. Let’s break it down and see what we can learn from this situation.

The day my girlfriend purchased the couch, we encountered amazingly horrible customer service. The person that “helped” us (I use that term loosely), was pushy, rude, and did an exceedingly awful job of explaining the options available to us. I left with the opinion that since we were not purchasing a whole house of furniture, the salesperson wanted to go out of her way to make the experience as miserable as possible.

During the process I learned that you could get the couch with any fabric you desired but if you wanted something beyond a neutral cream, it would take 8 weeks since that is a custom order. 8 weeks to get something that we wanted in a day or two. It made me wonder what kind of production process they are using, because it is not a very customer friendly one.

The long delay

Let us fast forward 6 weeks. The couch is supposed to be delivered in 2 weeks. My girlfriend gets a phone call from the “helpful” sales person telling us that the fabric she picked out is back ordered and they won’t have it in stock until maybe sometime in January. My girlfriend can either accept the delay or pick out another fabric and wait an additional 8 weeks for the couch to arrive.

Why IKEA works

This wouldn’t have happened if we went to IKEA. At IKEA, you find what you are looking for, go to the warehouse, put it on a flatbed, and then load it into a truck. You can even check the website before you go to the store to make sure that they have what you want in stock. If they don’t, then you can easily arrange for them to ship it from another store to your house. It is a very effective and customer focused process and is the reason why more IKEA stores are being built while “high end” stores are going bankrupt.

So how does the “high end” store compete with IKEA?

1. Improve the customer experience in the store

The sales staff needed to be trained on how to treat customers with respect. From the moment we were approached by the salesperson to when we left, we felt that we were an annoyance and not someone whose purchase helped make sure the salesperson got paid that week. Your staff needs to realize that without customers, they don’t get paid.

2. Teach your sales staff to focus on building long term relationships with clients

Since my girlfriend just wanted a couch and not a new house full of furniture, we felt that were given a lower level of service. The service we have been given since the purchase has also not encouraged us to make any more purchases from this company. You have to make every sales experience stellar, so that customers feel that you have provided more value then they have paid for in their purchase.

3. Bend over backwards to get the product to them quickly

This will be the key reason that IKEA will put many stores out of business. We live in a fast paced world. If you cannot get the product to your customer in a timely manner, then they will go someplace where they can get the product quickly. In my girlfriend’s situation, they should offer to send her the color they have in stock (which is very neutral) until the fabric she ordered is in and they can have a slipcover made and shipped to her at no additional charge. Wouldn’t that endear her to their store in the future? Companies need to realize that their customers appreciate getting products faster . . . not slower.

4. Improve the customization process

If you offer customized products, then you have to get them to the customer in a timely manner. It shouldn’t take you 8 weeks to have a slipcover made and shipped to the factory. Putting hurdles in front of your customer will cause them to go somewhere else where they can load the color they want onto a flatbed and have it home to enjoy before dinner. If you are going to offer customization, then make it a fast, efficient, and customer focused process.

Right product, right place, right time

If you are not focusing on getting the right product to your customers at the right time, then you will soon not have any customers. The market will move to where the product is available and many of the high end stores will soon find their doors closed and IKEA will rule the world.

If you liked this post, then you should also check out:

1. How to Lose Customers
2. That is Not How This Business Works
3. Is This How a Business Helps Their Community?
4. The Reason for Success
5. You Will Fail if You Are Not Passionate About Your Business