Policies Employees & Customers Hate
author: Lee Buttolph
How many of you have policies and procedures that your employees and customers hate?
WHY DO YOU HAVE THEM IF EVERYONE HATES THEM?
I once had a competitor that had an UNWRITTEN sales policy that returns of bad product from a customer would not be tolerated by management. The sales people hated it because they spent a lot of time begging and pleading with customers to keep the bad material. They would have to offer to “make it up to them next time.”
This is bad policy. You are putting something in place that hurts employee morale, reduces sales efficiency and end up with your customers hating your guts.
My WRITTEN policy was easy. My tractor trailer drivers were authorized to do returns (no call in to sales necessary). If a customer complained to the drivers about material we had delivered, the driver was pre-authorized to put it back on the truck and handwrite a note about what was returned on the delivery ticket. The credit note would show up on the customer's fax machine the next morning. It was such a marketing hit with our customers we even tried to return bad material that a competitor delivered.
Customers loved it. My sales people rarely dealt with customer problems and infact we picked up business from our competitor. And my delivery drivers felt empowered leading to an increase in their job satisfaction.
What policies and procedures does your company have that your employees and customer hate?