Make Sure Everyone Knows How To Handle Your Customers’ FAQs…Whether Or Not You Provide Those Services Yourself

I had heard some branches of large pharmacies had drop-off boxes for unused prescriptions, so you can dispose of them in an environmentally responsible way. I brought a couple of bottles to my nearby CVS, and spoke first to the person at the front register. She said she wasn’t aware of anything like what I was describing but, to her credit, she did refer me to the pharmacy department in the rear of the store. The person filling prescriptions told me there was such a box in a CVS store in a town I knew to be about 10 miles away. I asked whether there was anything closer. He said no. At this point, someone from the Minute Clinic in the store who had overheard the conversation chimed in: “If you go to the municipal building in the town where you live, they have a box.” Problem solved.

A couple of things occurred to me:

• Question: Why didn’t the cashier or the pharmacist know about the box at the municipal buildings?
• Answer: This was not a product or service provided by that store, so the store management probably figured it was outside the scope of the employees’ need-to-know.
• BUT: They’re in the business of dispensing medicine, and it’s logical to assume some people will have unused pills when the doctor changes the prescription or dosage. Wouldn’t it be good customer service for them to have disposal info at the ready?

Businesses are missing big opportunities for creating good will by limiting employees’ knowledge to exclusively those products and services they themselves provide.

• “What to do with my old….” If you sell furniture, bedding or appliances, your customers will most likely have questions about how to get rid of the old one to make room for the product you just sold them. Do you have that information ready to give them at the point of sale?
• “Now how do I get the thing to work (or get it cleaned, etc.:?” Car dealerships have service departments and appliance stores have tech support (e.g., Geek Squad, etc.). And most businesses have in-house or contracted services for installation and set up of the products they sell you. But what about other expected customer needs? Shouldn’t stores that sell rugs have information about reliable rug cleaning services? Think about all the needs of customers of hardware stores, paint stores, music stores, furniture stores. (I watched the owner of a nearby Cartridge World franchise answer questions and do quick trouble shooting as one after another customer came into the store. That’s not how he makes money, but he’s betting on the fact that the good will he’s putting out there will be rewarded when these folks run out of ink or toner.)

USE IT NOW: Are you set up to meet — or at least provide info on how to solve — other customer needs that are likely to arise in connection with their use of the products you’ve sold them?