Devoted to purchasing, purchasing agents, and all things related

Matthew, great post. The sales person and his manager don't deserve your business. Selling and customer service now go hand-in-hand. If the sales happen, and the customer service isn't there, you'll lose the customer.

Great post. Good lessons here for salespeople.

Dan,

Thanks for the comments. Lack of service is also bad for the salespeople's companies. I don't even know how that company mentioned in my post stayed in business. There are only so many new accounts one could get with a reputation like that!

Matthew

Ah, we've all dealt with those types, haven't we?

I am seeing that, as the economy improves, service declines. So we all will be seeing more reps like the one you've described. There are a few reasons why healthy economic times bring on bad service:

1. Owners/managers, who are accountable for profitability, are easily reaching their numbers, making them less desperate for business. They value each customer less.

2. The labor market is tightening up, making it more difficult to find people who know what good service is or care about providing it.

3. The pace of business associated with growth is picking up and causing stress, which is (but shouldn't be) passed on to the customer.

How quickly we forget Fall of 2001, when so many companies in a variety of industries didn't know where their next order was coming from.

Good post, Matthew!

We can all relate to this -- so well stated. Thanks Matthew...

Thanks for weighing in Charles and Ellen.

It's too bad that we can all relate to this - because that proves that service is so bad all around!

Charles, your take on the relationship between the economy and service levels is interesting - a double edged sword indeed.

Matthew