How important is customer service?

Customer satisfaction should be number one task for every single business, only this way business can achieve the great success
 
There is going to have to be a lot of adjustment towards expectations of CS for all purchases pretty soon. No doubt, there will be a lot of chest thumping, gnashing of teeth and huffy proclamations that they are taking their very important business somewhere else.

Sorry guys, it may not the be manufacturer's/distributor's fault. Punsish them as you will.

I am in the service industry as a repair, maintenance and remodeling contractor. Finding people that actually come to work, come to work every day, then actually work, and commit to 40 hours a week at a schedule of my choosing is nearly impossible. (You know, the back breaking schedule of 8-5 M through F). Money isn't the issue; I pay well over the going wage. Managerial nightmares aren't a problem as all jobs and projects are managed by me alone. I have been doing it myself with my own company for 43 years.

I have never seen a job market like this, and it has crushed so many small businesses that just need a few employees to hit their mark it is incredible. So many folks these days don't want to work, don't want to have a less than exciting job that "challenges" them properly, and many just don't want to leave home. While I read articles and OP-ED pieces on Forbes, WSJ online, etc., that attest to that, it is real and up front for all of small to medium business owners. And it is getting worse instead of better.

So complain, bad mouth, undermine and scream about bad treatment, but remember that in some cases whether it is knives, painting equipment or power hand tools, sometimes folks are doing all they can and they still miss the mark. Don't think we don't know it, too. In 43 years, I have advertised exactly two times, and both times got customer leads I didn't want. So in 43 years, I have built my business on fair pricing, quality work and customer service. Now, I am turning away the better remodel jobs I want because I cannot staff them properly. What if a technician I have on board decides he needs a "me" day and doesn't come to work? Remember, especially with social media (and its cousins like BF), people scream like a mashed cat when they don't have their expectations met, and their reach and exposure is literally national. I have business friends that have told me their clients have tried to get free goods and services from them simply because they paid "top dollar" (in their eyes) for services that they will launch a negative campaign against them on all social fronts, or, be just the other way of they get their free expectations met.

I can't afford that hit. So I turn down work. My guys and their families make less money. I make less money. My suppliers sell less goods so they have to make do with small orders. But you know what? I don't get slaughtered on social media for not missing some subjective customer service mark.
 
midnight flyer said:
There is going to have to be a lot of adjustment towards expectations of CS for all purchases pretty soon. No doubt, there will be a lot of chest thumping, gnashing of teeth and huffy proclamations that they are taking their very important business somewhere else.

Sorry guys, it may not the be manufacturer's/distributor's fault. Punsish them as you will.

I am in the service industry as a repair, maintenance and remodeling contractor. Finding people that actually come to work, come to work every day, then actually work, and commit to 40 hours a week at a schedule of my choosing is nearly impossible. (You know, the back breaking schedule of 8-5 M through F). Money isn't the issue; I pay well over the going wage. Managerial nightmares aren't a problem as all jobs and projects are managed by me alone. I have been doing it myself with my own company for 43 years.

I have never seen a job market like this, and it has crushed so many small businesses that just need a few employees to hit their mark it is incredible. So many folks these days don't want to work, don't want to have a less than exciting job that "challenges" them properly, and many just don't want to leave home. While I read articles and OP-ED pieces on Forbes, WSJ online, etc., that attest to that, it is real and up front for all of small to medium business owners. And it is getting worse instead of better.

So complain, bad mouth, undermine and scream about bad treatment, but remember that in some cases whether it is knives, painting equipment or power hand tools, sometimes folks are doing all they can and they still miss the mark. Don't think we don't know it, too. In 43 years, I have advertised exactly two times, and both times got customer leads I didn't want. So in 43 years, I have built my business on fair pricing, quality work and customer service. Now, I am turning away the better remodel jobs I want because I cannot staff them properly. What if a technician I have on board decides he needs a "me" day and doesn't come to work? Remember, especially with social media (and its cousins like BF), people scream like a mashed cat when they don't have their expectations met, and their reach and exposure is literally national. I have business friends that have told me their clients have tried to get free goods and services from them simply because they paid "top dollar" (in their eyes) for services that they will launch a negative campaign against them on all social fronts, or, be just the other way of they get their free expectations met.

I can't afford that hit. So I turn down work. My guys and their families make less money. I make less money. My suppliers sell less goods so they have to make do with small orders. But you know what? I don't get slaughtered on social media for not missing some subjective customer service mark.
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Similar issues here with my business as well.

I have more requests for work than what I can staff.

I pay well over minimum wage, allow wonky schedules even at the detriment of the workflow, and I have to deal with folks who decide when they decide to show up.

Not to mention even trying to secure consumables or equipment.

We are near a tipping point and it does not look good.

Customers are there, and want top shelf service, but it's incredibly difficult to meet high standards.
 
midnight flyer said:
There is going to have to be a lot of adjustment towards expectations of CS for all purchases pretty soon. No doubt, there will be a lot of chest thumping, gnashing of teeth and huffy proclamations that they are taking their very important business somewhere else.

Sorry guys, it may not the be manufacturer's/distributor's fault. Punsish them as you will.

I am in the service industry as a repair, maintenance and remodeling contractor. Finding people that actually come to work, come to work every day, then actually work, and commit to 40 hours a week at a schedule of my choosing is nearly impossible. (You know, the back breaking schedule of 8-5 M through F). Money isn't the issue; I pay well over the going wage. Managerial nightmares aren't a problem as all jobs and projects are managed by me alone. I have been doing it myself with my own company for 43 years.

I have never seen a job market like this, and it has crushed so many small businesses that just need a few employees to hit their mark it is incredible. So many folks these days don't want to work, don't want to have a less than exciting job that "challenges" them properly, and many just don't want to leave home. While I read articles and OP-ED pieces on Forbes, WSJ online, etc., that attest to that, it is real and up front for all of small to medium business owners. And it is getting worse instead of better.

So complain, bad mouth, undermine and scream about bad treatment, but remember that in some cases whether it is knives, painting equipment or power hand tools, sometimes folks are doing all they can and they still miss the mark. Don't think we don't know it, too. In 43 years, I have advertised exactly two times, and both times got customer leads I didn't want. So in 43 years, I have built my business on fair pricing, quality work and customer service. Now, I am turning away the better remodel jobs I want because I cannot staff them properly. What if a technician I have on board decides he needs a "me" day and doesn't come to work? Remember, especially with social media (and its cousins like BF), people scream like a mashed cat when they don't have their expectations met, and their reach and exposure is literally national. I have business friends that have told me their clients have tried to get free goods and services from them simply because they paid "top dollar" (in their eyes) for services that they will launch a negative campaign against them on all social fronts, or, be just the other way of they get their free expectations met.

I can't afford that hit. So I turn down work. My guys and their families make less money. I make less money. My suppliers sell less goods so they have to make do with small orders. But you know what? I don't get slaughtered on social media for not missing some subjective customer service mark.
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Yeah, I've read articles about the Great Quit, etc., where Gen Z or whoever are quitting jobs to either live with parents or make money from Youtube ads and sponsors. And there is another trend, forget the name, where younger people have jobs but do the bare minimum to get a paycheck, even in corporate jobs.

I wonder if the work ethic I grew up with is no longer being taught, or if all these kids on Youtube and IG who claim they make 100K a month through their channels is inspiring other kids to eschew careers to become influencers. FYI, you can make lots of $$$ on social media, but they don't realize only a very few people on Youtube and Insta make that kind of money; most do not.

So, yeah, getting diligent, hard-working employees may only get tougher.
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
Yeah, I've read articles about the Great Quit, etc., where Gen Z or whoever are quitting jobs to either live with parents or make money from Youtube ads and sponsors. And there is another trend, forget the name, where younger people have jobs but do the bare minimum to get a paycheck, even in corporate jobs.

I wonder if the work ethic I grew up with is no longer being taught, or if all these kids on Youtube and IG who claim they make 100K a month through their channels is inspiring other kids to eschew careers to become influencers. FYI, you can make lots of $$$ on social media, but they don't realize only a very few people on Youtube and Insta make that kind of money; most do not.

So, yeah, getting diligent, hard-working employees may only get tougher.
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I had a sort of epiphany a few months ago.

I hired two of my kids to work with my crew on the farm. My youngest daughter made a comment to me one day, as we were all working in a field. It was pretty hot, and we had been working full days pretty consistently.

She said, "Dad...why did you pick this job? It kinda sucks."

I laughed it off, and summed it up to her just being young.

I then soaked on her comment for a few days, and then realized she is totally cut from a different cloth.

Her generation does not equate having to start at the bottom in a job that you may not really like as normal.

These younger folks are just wired differently. When everyone gets a prize for participation, there is no drive for exceptionalism.

Instant gratification is the new normal.
 
And to be clear, it's not really their fault. This was kicked off by previous generations who had many more options.

When I was a kid, you could work an entry level job and still afford to rent a place and own a car.

What kid today is gonna be able to afford a home in this market? Or afford a $50,000 car.

They would rather just plug into Instagram or Tiktock and live vicariously online.

I can't really blame them, as we enabled and created this environment.
 
To tie this all in to the original topic of customer service...

For a knife maker to have a solid customer service base, they have to navigate the shortage of help, the higher cost of getting said help, the new attitude of employees not really interested in performance, and customers that require a higher standard of perfection of products.

Imagine how many CS requests based off a blade being slightly off center, or a grind that is not perfect.

In the past, I would guess that people would just fix the centering themselves, or would just sharpen the knife after a couple of uses and move on.
 
Slice O Life said:
Yeah, but mostly only for higher end stuff. For example:

Had a hinderer half track. Contacted the ranch about getting new screws since a body screw fell out during use and I didnt notice it. I was pretty bummed already that a new half track would have it’s body screw come out after light use. The ranch didnt respond for about 5 days, and when they did they pretty much said it was my fault.

I did end up getting the screw, but ended up also selling the half track.
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I live close to the ranch and called them to see if I had a service issue could I drop a knife off rather than ship it. The answer was "no". It really makes me think hard about supporting Hinderer. I don't want to risk loosing a knife that is not made very often due to USPS or others.

I am close to taking your approach toward them.
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
Yeah, I've read articles about the Great Quit, etc., where Gen Z or whoever are quitting jobs to either live with parents or make money from Youtube ads and sponsors. And there is another trend, forget the name, where younger people have jobs but do the bare minimum to get a paycheck, even in corporate jobs.

I wonder if the work ethic I grew up with is no longer being taught, or if all these kids on Youtube and IG who claim they make 100K a month through their channels is inspiring other kids to eschew careers to become influencers. FYI, you can make lots of $$$ on social media, but they don't realize only a very few people on Youtube and Insta make that kind of money; most do not.

So, yeah, getting diligent, hard-working employees may only get tougher.
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What comes first......the chicken or the egg?


I'm at the opposite extreme. Worked for an Amazing family business. Over 30 years.
Got bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Owners got old, retired, and sold.
Investment companies bought and sold. Bigger and bigger still.
Now we are corporate. Owned.
Everyone is Just a number.
Bonuses stripped. Gone.
Raises ....... Gone.
Nothing is left. Good/great managers forced out.
Only Yes Men needed.
No matter the effort, no matter how much you bring to the company, how hard you work.....you only get a 2% raise..... In near hyperinflationary markets.
I call that a race to the Bottom......

It gets to a point, we are Stupid for working there.

There is plenty of Suck to go around. It's Not just on the employees.
 
Once you have experienced excellent customer service, it is difficult to settle for anything less.

I bought a Case Tony Bose Wharncliffe trapper from an authorized dealer. Expensive, limited edition knife. When I received the knife, the blades were a bit off center and the action was a bit stiff. I emailed Case to see if this was covered under warranty. It took them a few days to respond to my email and I grew impatient. I found a video where Tony Bose described an “easy way” to center your blades. Needless to say, I am no Tony Bose, and actually made the situation worse - including buggering up the pivot. Case answered my email and said “of course it was covered under warranty - send us the knife”. I sent the knife in with a letter saying that I attempted my own repair and that I would not consider knife under warranty, and that I would pay for any and all repairs necessary to fix the knife. I received the knife two weeks later in absolutely perfect condition. They charged me nothing. Not even the cost of shipping the knife back to me .
 
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I opened a Robinhood account maybe 2 1/2 years ago to buy some crypto. CS on an issue I had was so bad, and there was no way to call anyone in corporate. So I sent a tweet (most companies are on Twitter) blasting their CS and I tagged the SEC since Robinhood was trying to go public. Man, did I get action, and apologies.
 
MolokaiRider said:
Similar issues here with my business as well.

I have more requests for work than what I can staff.

I pay well over minimum wage, allow wonky schedules even at the detriment of the workflow, and I have to deal with folks who decide when they decide to show up.

Not to mention even trying to secure consumables or equipment.

We are near a tipping point and it does not look good.

Customers are there, and want top shelf service, but it's incredibly difficult to meet high standards.
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Yessir.... if I could quote that all in caps I would. A tiny, tiny fraction of people are self employed and it is very isolated. I am not talking about the guy that sells pepper mills at the craft shows ( Yeah, Robert.... I gotcha.... you know I have my own business, too ) or repairs bicycles on the weekend. I am talking about an ongoing concern.

Strangely to my friends, I don't hold those who will not work, or will not work hard completely responsible. It IS NOT all young or even younger people. It is all ages somewhere less than about 40 years old in my experience. When folks around me lament that the employees of today don't have the same values they do, or that they were taught, who had that responsibility and dropped the ball? Fathers? Mothers? Probably grandfathers and mothers and beyond that let those values slip.

To get back on track, not much will help me since I am in a service industry. I will continue on as I have rather than to take a chance on poor service and become a topic of idle conversation while clients are drinking beer and solving world problems.

I am encouraged by some of the new automated systems as they are moving in the right direction. Most don't seem to work right, work well, or in some cases even work. But at least someone is still on board trying to keep the ship afloat.

I appreciate the fact that there are more schematics online so I can order parts that I want for my drills, routers, compressors, saws, etc., etc., etc. I never beg a company for help, nor do I expect free goodies. I don't want them pounding freebies into the price of everything I buy. If my tool is out of warranty, then I go to third party vendors to purchase replacement or maintenance parts. I like having all of that at my finger tips so if I have a longer lunch when I tool breaks I can take a few minutes and order parts. I like everything as automated as possible as I find that most folks that answer the phone aren't properly trained, don't care, don't understand what they trying to do. For those working at home, I have often heard dogs barking, babies crying and one time even chickens crowing in the background. It is much more relaxing for me to deal with a machine.

Growing pains will be hard, though. No doubt there will be a lot of pissed off people, ME included until we find the new norm. And seriously, MolokaiRider MolokaiRider , three great posts in a row!
 
As long as you buy cheap disposalable knives then customer service doesn’t really matter. It breaks and you buy a new one. Now, if you are in the habit of buying nice knives then customer service is probably much more important.
 
And if the youth are the future of our country, we are screwed. There's only one way to fix this. Mandatory service for 2 years at age 18. We've got to get the laziness out of them. They walk into a multi-million dollar facility and want to be superintendent. They don't want to start on the bottom and work their way up. Lazy and useless.
 
Customer service is critical. You can have a so-so meal at a restaurant but if the service is good you'll probably go back. Get s#!tty service at a restaurant with fantastic food and you will never return. In general small businesses understand this and have far better customer service than large corporations where the bottom line is the only thing that matters.

It's all about values.
 
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Locutus D'Borg said:
Yeah, I've read articles about the Great Quit, etc., where Gen Z or whoever are quitting jobs to either live with parents or make money from Youtube ads and sponsors. And there is another trend, forget the name, where younger people have jobs but do the bare minimum to get a paycheck, even in corporate jobs.

I wonder if the work ethic I grew up with is no longer being taught, or if all these kids on Youtube and IG who claim they make 100K a month through their channels is inspiring other kids to eschew careers to become influencers. FYI, you can make lots of $$$ on social media, but they don't realize only a very few people on Youtube and Insta make that kind of money; most do not.

So, yeah, getting diligent, hard-working employees may only get tougher.
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Why work hard when the rewards are distributed based on gender and ethnicity rather than performance and merit?

n2s
 
I have many spydercos and like them but their customer service is lackluster. They refuse to offer any internal parts even if you send it in and their excuse is always because of cqi. They almost treat their knives as if they are disposable. No blades, no parts. Zero tolerance/kershaw is the polar opposite, they will send you just about anything at a very minimal cost, and will even reblade your knife for $20/$40 dollars. KAI knows how to conduct business and treat their customers.
 
Quality control>customer service.

If I have to use a company's CS more than twice for a repair that is not my fault, I will not buy from that company again. One such example pissed me off so much, when they raised prices a lot it was the excuse I needed to wash my hands of the brand completely, and I sold everything I owned by them.

I've used Spyderco CS once, my PM2 (2014 CPM-S30V) micro chipped terribly. I sent it in, they said it had an issue from sharpening damaging the edge. They fixed it no problem.

Hogue's CS was great. My Exploit came with a flimsy POS clip that had bent and been bent back into position so many times it was too weak to retain the knife in my pocket. They replaced it no problem, except it was another crappy one. They overnighted it to me! I ended up getting a titanium clip.

Kershaw replaced a torsion bar for me, as I had bought a de-assisted ZT 0350 on the exchange.

After 5 years my Bailey model 2 flipper geek edition developed lock slip, and he repaired it quickly.
 
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