Cutting It Fine!!!!!

Sept. 18, 2008 - PRLog -- Team members from ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business coaching firm, get to hear some interesting stories from clients they work with. As they build up a rapport with owners of small-to-medium sized businesses, they learn of incidents that could easily have been avoided using just a little courtesy and common sense.

Founder and CEO of ActionCOACH, Brad Sugars, tells of one such incident.

“A busy businesswoman was having difficulties finding a hairdresser that suited her. Although she lived in a large city, and she thought her needs were reasonable, she could never get what she wanted. A couple of salons didn’t listen to how she wanted her hair styled, so they were crossed off the list.”

“On another occasion, when she made her appointment, she asked if they could be finished by a set time. The salon staff agreed but kept her waiting half an hour when she turned up, so she was late for her next appointment. They were crossed off the list.”

“She thought if she went to one of the city’s leading salons and paid top dollars she would be sure to get what she wanted, but when a junior apprentice washed her hair and didn’t secure the towel around her neck correctly, water dripped onto her new silk blouse. She complained, but apart from an indifferent apology, management took no action. They were crossed off the list.”

“A hairdresser from another salon began well by cutting her hair the way she wanted it, but even after half a dozen appointments, the hairdresser couldn’t remember her name, or how she liked her hair done, and never even seemed particularly pleased to see her. She was crossed off the list.”

“Her current hairdresser also cuts her hair well. She charges a reasonable price, is quick and efficient and local, so what is the problem? The hairdresser calls all her clients ‘darls’, chews gum, interrupts herself frequently because she answers the phone and walks around with the world on her shoulders.”

Sugars said the businesswoman is wondering what to do next.

“She wonders if she should put up with the things that annoy her because she DOES get a haircut she likes, or should she try somewhere else?” he said. “It’s a situation so easily solved by some genuine customer service.”

“Business owners and staff can work with an ActionCOACH to refine their customer service to retain and build their customer base,” Sugars said. “If any one of those salons had provided her with some simple service, she would have returned every six weeks. What an opportunity lost!”

It’s no wonder that Business Coaching has turned into the second-fastest growing industry next only to IT, with ActionCOACH securing 20 per cent of the market share.

ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries. To learn more about business coaching and ActionCOACH, go to actioncoach.com