Great customer service should be the norm, right?

I had a couple of interesting customer experiences this past week that caused me to reflect on the relationship between leadership and customer service, and marketing, too. First with a bank, then with a major retailer.

My bank is US Bank and I'm generally pleased with them. I'm especially pleased they didn't get involved with making bad loans in the sub-prime market. They're ranked as one of the strongest banks in America right now. I used my local branch outside Salt Lake City largely because the tellers were friendly and polite, and Karen, the Customer Service Manager was simply terrific. A new branch manager was brought in with no evidence of leadership skills and promptly micromanaged and browbeat the tellers, all of them, into leaving. Karen requested a transfer to another branch as fast as she could. Branch customers were furious and a number of them left. That included me as new tellers were poorly trained and turnover seemed high. I followed Karen to her new branch because I knew what service would be like wherever she went and I was right. I gladly drive 15 minutes instead of five for that. I visited my old branch last week for a quick deposit and the teller didn't greet me, never smiled, and was generally unpleasant. Leadership shows, one way or the other.

Now for Sears. Here is a retailer that has struggled mightily to stay alive and has made some truly awful business decisions along the way. I still shake my head over the K-Mart merger, and they've done nothing with the acquisition of Land's End except to milk it for cash. But they still make pretty good tools and power equipment, and the Craftsman guarantee is still in effect. I know because I bought a new Craftsman lawnmower a week ago, and it broke not 30 minutes into using it for the first time. After a round of mild cussing, I drove it back to Sears with retribution on my mind. To my surprise, there were no questions, just apologies and a brand new mower in my car. Craftsman equipment has always had an unconditional guarantee and I've known people to take screwdrivers back that broke after having obviously used them as chisels and received a replacement on the spot. I left completely satisfied.

In Sears's case, their leadership team has made some crazy business decisions but were either smart enough or lucky enough to keep their Craftsman guarantee in effect. My defective mower was an anomaly and customer service was great. Why don't they advertise that more? Shout it from the rooftops and get your customers back! OK, it may take more than that, but it would be something. For US Bank, there's a middle management problem which is a senior management problem since they're not paying attention to dumb decisions made by middle management (and around it goes).

In this economy it's imperative to get your business house in order, change and improve what you do and stay (or get) customer-focused. Consumers have so many choices; why should they choose you? Give them, give us, a reason. Please!