Why are people so afraid of Banning Customers from Big Name stores?

[angelkirie]

My store often quotes a "proven statistic" (I have not seen said statistic) that a customer who has a bad experience on average tells ten friends. A customer with a good experience on average tells three. And thus why we try to bend over backwards for asshats.

[Ringtail Z28]

I never really believed that statistic. Because if pissing off one crappy customer got rid of ten then we run out of sucky customers real quick, and all CS'ers would rejoice.

[chainedbarista]

Which begs the question: If he hates Asians so much and doesn't want them touching his meds, then why does he keep visiting your pharmacy?

but ip, we're talking sc logic here, which knows no bounds when it comes to illogical actions.

*sigh*

ah, but if that sc tells those ten friends, is it a group of ten sc's we've lost or ten good ones? corporate won't distinguish between the two, just the potential profit lost. (that's why we can't refuse the return 'free water' people that NEVER buy anything...they might, repeat, JUST MIGHT, become customers )

[DGoddessChardonnay]

My store often quotes a "proven statistic" (I have not seen said statistic) that a customer who has a bad experience on average tells ten friends. A customer with a good experience on average tells three. And thus why we try to bend over backwards for asshats.

I've heard managers preach that rhetoric for years . . . quite frankly, I don't believe it.

Sure you can tell 10 people about your "bad" experience at Store A, however if those 10 people know you are a person who has a tendency to be nitpicky or otherwise a asshole, you won't be taken seriously.

So using that logic, I find that corporate "statistic" to be a bunch of crap.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Well, it's true that 97.3% of all statistics are made up. XD

[Boozy]

Sure you can tell 10 people about your "bad" experience at Store A, however if those 10 people know you are a person who has a tendency to be nitpicky or otherwise a asshole, you won't be taken seriously.

Exactly. If my grandfather says he got bad service at a store or restaurant, I ignore his advice to stay clear. I know what he's like.

Re: Statistics...."There are three kinds of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics."

[ruffledbirdy]

I work at Books & Neat stuff, and I've heard this kind of statement from management many times: "We can't do that! The poooooor customer, if they have a bad experience ten people won't show up."

I'm like "YAY! Statistics! I LOOOOVE Statistics!" <---- has a MA in Poli Sci, which requires a lot of statistical classes.

1) If correct this is the power of mass movement, an idea first put forth by Aristotle. Essentially it is a numerical representation of the word of mouth.

2) The actual statistic reads that a good experience will GUARANTEE three new customers, while a bad experience will only result in 6 people being told about the bad experience... not ten. And of those six, only 1 or 2 will actually heed the words of the person with the bad experience. The other 4 will actually just hear the words "Books & Neatstuff" which means free advertisement (I love analysis of numbers and sample results, rather then just numbers without understanding).

3) If a good customers has a sucky experience because of a sucky customer, and this was the interesting part, those three guaranteed customers will no longer come back as well. They will be warned off.

4) Conclusion: It is better, then, to remove evil customers as soon as possible, in order to maximize profit and customers.

What really made it fun was I used my SPSS program to print out some graphs and charts I had made based on cafe customers the previous night. My store manager was like "uhhh I'll make sure our District Manager sees this..." Since I did that I have noticed that really bad and loudly abusive customers are removed from the store immediately.

~ Ruffledbirdy

[Thrifty]

Quite a few pedophiles have conditions attached to their release, the most common of which is not to come within a certain distance of places children

As someone who has studied the law (at least for Michigan) because she is marrying someone on the sex offender list (not a pedophile but someone on the list) I think that it is okay for him to go into the store because he is not loitering around the school, he's physically in the store.

And as a general statement, please remember not everyone on the list is a pedophile.

[Tria]

And as a general statement, please remember not everyone on the list is a pedophile.

Point made. Hell, having sex with a prostitute is a sexual offence.

[meghann]

I wish there were more people like her out there. I mean what if for every asshat person who threatened to never come back, another customer, or two or three, went ahead and threatened they'd do the same if the asshat got their way. Isn't it better to lose one person's business rather than three or four?

Comments?

I can't tell you the number of times I've wanted to do that, but I get so flustered at the thought of confrontation that I never manage to work up the intestinal fortitude.

Having read this, and seen the results, I think I'm going to have to try a little harder to find my nerve next time.

(Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. Love this site...)

[Jester]

In many places if you are a 17 year old boy and have sex with a 17 year old girl, you (the boy) can be charged with statutory rape, making you legally a pedophile. Stupid? Unquestionably so. Reality? Far too often.

[Boozy]

2) The actual statistic reads that a good experience will GUARANTEE three new customers, while a bad experience will only result in 6 people being told about the bad experience... not ten.

Wait a minute....this makes no sense to me. Surely you mean "theory" as opposed to "statistic." How in the world would someone possibly be able to gather this data? What the heck kind of controls would they use in such a study?
After all, corporate only THINKS they are omniscient.

[Becks]

Radix malorum est cupiditas.

And for those of us who don't know Latin, this would translate to...?

[TonyDonuts]

... tell their friends how good X store is. In reality, unfortunately CS policy makers have never met a SC in their home environment.

I've heard managers talk about "good word of mouth" and "bad word of mouth" and always wondered what planet they lived on.

Here on Earth, unless you work in, say, a convenience store, how likely is it that you are going to sit around with your friends talking about the pros and cons of this c-store or that gas station? How likely is it that you're going to tell people about the "transformative" experience you had picking up a styrofoam cup of coffee and donut at your local Grab'n'Go?

Not bloody likely at all, I'm thinking.

And as for the "One customer with a complaint telling ten people and those ten people telling ten people about that complaint and therefore killing your store's business" crap I hear sometimes..well..when somebody you know who complains bitterly about everything tells you about the horrible service at the 7-11, or Holiday or Speedway or Wherethehellever do you listen and think, "My goodness, how awful for you, I'm certainly never going there again," or do you roll your eyes and think,"Oh, sweet suffering Jesus, not THIS again. Is there NO PLEASING YOU?"

[BookstoreEscapee]

And for those of us who don't know Latin, this would translate to...?

Radix malorum est Cupiditas (Latin): Greed is the root of all evil

(thank you Google cuz I don't speak Latinese either)