What's Love Got to do With It?

I love dealing with local businesses. I had a good relationship with a copy/print house in town. My local copy store is a young business that is growing fast, and in doing so I think they are planting the seeds of their own destruction.

I walked in this afternoon with a copy and bind job that would have cost me about $400 dollars. It is a good-sized ticket in an operation that does mostly $2 - $5 dollar sales during the day - at least when I have been there.

Normally when I walk in I am greeted properly. I am given prompt and courteous attention. Things are done in such a smooth and professional manner I am usually out of there in ten to fifteen minutes feeling loved. For some, today did not go so smooth or professional and it took me almost an hour and I left empty handed and definitely not feeling loved.

It all started when my color laser printer died this morning while I was trying to print covers for some training manuals. Normally I go to my copy/bind shop and have them print the number of workbooks I need, and I supply the color cover copies. With my printer not working I decided to call and ask if they have the software program to print the workbook covers (something I’ve yet to have them do for me) and was put on hold.

After about five minutes I hung up and called back and before I could say anything I was informed “XYZ Copy & print. Please hold.” After another five minutes waiting, I hung up and called back again, and before I could utter a word was put on hold again.

A person smarter than me would not have driven 20 miles to the shop after that experience. But I am a loyal customer and justified what happened, thinking they were having a peak moment at the time I called. I don’t know why I thought they would be better to me in person than they were on the phone; but I wanted an excuse to go to town and see a movie and this was as good an excuse as any I would have today.

I walked in the door and knew that I had probably made a mistake. I saw only two familiar faces behind the counters with three new ones, and standing room only in front of the counter. The two familiar faces were on the phones obviously trying to straighten out problems. One of the unfamiliar ones was trying to figure out how to locate a job on the computer and not having much luck at it. The other two were trying to handle the crowd at the counter. It was getting uglier and the Owner was nowhere in sight.

I was tempted to leave and go kill some time at Starbucks before going to the movie, but I really needed to get these workbooks in the job queue today so they will have enough time to print, copy and bind them in time to be ready for shipping to a client tomorrow – so I stayed.

Thirty-five minutes I stood there ignored despite many attempts to get someone’s attention. It was the phone scenario all over again, this time in living color. About that time the owner walks in and looks at the chaos and starts walking around trying to get the logjams cleared to no avail.

After waiting for another fifteen minutes I decided that I had waited long enough, and it was getting closer to my movie start time. So I left feeling ignored and went to another copy/print shop. Her employees had driven me into the arms of another store.

In the beginning of this article I said I loved doing business in this shop, but when it comes to business “What’s love got to do with it?” (I’ve been waiting a long time to use that line – Thanks Tina!) Research into consumer behavior has shed some light on the reasons why customers stop patronizing a business:

1% of them have passed away.

3% of then have moved.

5% patronize establishments recommended by peers.

9% of them find cheaper alternatives.

14% of them are dissatisfied with the product.

68% never return due to an attitude of indifference by the staff.

These numbers reveal that 32% of customers never return for reasons beyond the control of storeowners, but 68% never return for reasons that storeowners can control.

What was the problem here today? It looked to me like the owner made a few desperation hires and threw them out on the floor with very little training. If we had been able to talk, I’m sure she would have told me that a few of her people moved to other jobs with very little notice.

On top of the resignations, she had increases in business and had to get the new people on the floor quickly to keep up with the traffic coming in the door and probably didn’t have time to train them. It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances and just bad for her business this happened. Because of today, I was driven into the arms of another copy center. Now I am torn between the two.

Our business relationship took a hit, but because I am a loyal shopper, I will give them another try, but it will be with a critical eye. In the end, I have to do what’s right because its business, not love.