One of my pet peeves is customer service or lack thereof. It bugs me to no end when I have to deal with a rude or indifferent customer service rep. Customer Service is not rocket science. It’s just common sense. Treat people the same way that you’d like to be treated if you were in that situation. It doesn’t sound that hard to me. Granted, there are obnoxious people out there and it can be a true test of your patience to deal with them. In those cases, if they cross the line and become truly belligerent, I would thank them for their past patronage but in a firm manner I would tell them that their business is no longer appreciated nor wanted. And that brings me to my recent encounter.
I recently needed to get a legal document notarized. As I no longer have a local bank account in Michigan, I went to the nearest bank, which happened to be Mercantile Bank on Gezon Blvd. When I went into the bank that morning, it was completely empty. There were no customers at the teller area nor at any of the bank desks. I walked up to one of the ladies in the office area and asked if I could get a document notarized. She asked if I had an account with them and I told her no. She said she couldn’t help me since I had no account with them. I told her I was willing to pay for the service but she still said no. I then told her that I used to have a business account with their bank in the past. This was true. She called a supervisor but the answer was still no. I next went to the Byron Bank branch in Byron Center. I went to the customer reception desk in the main lobby and was greeted by Beth. I told her what I needed and she said she’d be happy to notarize the document for me. We had a pleasant and friendly conversation and she quickly took care of notarizing my document. After returning my document, I thanked her and was on my way in just a matter of minutes. What a difference in customer service. She never even asked me if I banked there. She just asked me what she could do to help me and did it. She was pleasant, friendly and professional. She’s exactly the type of person that you’d want your patrons and potential customers to have first contact with.
Granted, neither bank has my business at this moment so you might say it didn’t hurt Mercantile Bank to refuse me any service. However, I think that’s a shortsighted business view. Should I need to open up a bank account in the future, whom do you think is going to get my business? Also, if someone asks me for a bank recommendation, whom do you think that I’ll recommend? Mercantile Bank could have just notarized my document in almost the same amount of time that it took them to say no and call a supervisor for approval. Instead, they’ve lost a customer for life and they won’t garner any favorable opinions from me in the future. Unfortunately, in today’s business world, more companies seem to be geared towards using the short-term profit business model. They don’t want to look forward very far and invest for the long-term. I think that’s a big mistake and it will take its toll in the long run.
