ther credit card. Once she had the information, she said “goodbye” and hung up the phone.

It obviously wasn’t my day to call vendors.

These two companies – one large and one small – have forgotten to train their employees in the art of common courtesy. There are several ways that both of th

I recently needed to contact a vendor regarding a delivery question. Without naming names, I can tell you that the vendor is a small business and I do a not-insignificant amount of business with them.

The person who answered the phone (not the owner) sounded as if my call were an interruption in her day (ever have this happen to you?). She was not pleasant and wanted to get me off the phone as quickly as possible. She was able to answer my question and off I went – not feeling appreciated and not feeling valued.

So be it. I went about my day and needed to contact another vendor to see if I could use an American Express card for payment as their invoice didn’t state. This should have been a minute-long phone call. It wasn’t.

The accounts payable person – also apparently having a rough day based on her tone – told me that they did indeed accept Amex. “Great – more points!” is what I thought and happily gave her all the information.

About an hour later my phone rang. It was the same woman, clipped tone and no sense of friendliness whatsoever, now telling me that they do not accept American Express and I would need to pay in another manner. Not a big deal and I gave her another credit card. Once she had the information, she said “goodbye” and hung up the phone.

It obviously wasn’t my day to call vendors.

These two companies – one large and one small – have forgotten to train their employees in the art of common courtesy. There are several ways that both of th

er day (ever have this happen to you?). She was not pleasant and wanted to get me off the phone as quickly as possible. She was able to answer my question and off I went – not feeling appreciated and not feeling valued.

So be it. I went about my day and needed to contact another vendor to see if I could use an American Express card for payment as their invoice didn’t state. This should have been a minute-long phone call. It wasn’t.

The accounts payable person – also apparently having a rough day based on her tone – told me that they did indeed accept Amex. “Great – more points!” is what I thought and happily gave her all the information.

About an hour later my phone rang. It was the same woman, clipped tone and no sense of friendliness whatsoever, now telling me that they do not accept American Express and I would need to pay in another manner. Not a big deal and I gave her another credit card. Once she had the information, she said “goodbye” and hung up the phone.

It obviously wasn’t my day to call vendors.

These two companies – one large and one small – have forgotten to train their employees in the art of common courtesy. There are several ways that both of th

I could use an American Express card for payment as their invoice didn’t state. This should have been a minute-long phone call. It wasn’t.

The accounts payable person – also apparently having a rough day based on her tone – told me that they did indeed accept Amex. “Great – more points!” is what I thought and happily gave her all the information.

About an hour later my phone rang. It was the same woman, clipped tone and no sense of friendliness whatsoever, now telling me that they do not accept American Express and I would need to pay in another manner. Not a big deal and I gave her another credit card. Once she had the information, she said “goodbye” and hung up the phone.

It obviously wasn’t my day to call vendors.

These two companies – one large and one small – have forgotten to train their employees in the art of common courtesy. There are several ways that both of th

I thought and happily gave her all the information.

About an hour later my phone rang. It was the same woman, clipped tone and no sense of friendliness whatsoever, now telling me that they do not accept American Express and I would need to pay in another manner. Not a big deal and I gave her another credit card. Once she had the information, she said “goodbye” and hung up the phone.

It obviously wasn’t my day to call vendors.

These two companies – one large and one small – have forgotten to train their employees in the art of common courtesy. There are several ways that both of th

ther credit card. Once she had the information, she said “goodbye” and hung up the phone.

It obviously wasn’t my day to call vendors.

These two companies – one large and one small – have forgotten to train their employees in the art of common courtesy. There are several ways that both of these employees could have made me feel, their customer, feel valued:

• Answer the phone while smiling (people really can tell)

• Be helpful without making me feel that I was an intrusion on their day – I won’t even mention that had their respective ordering and invoicing documents been done correctly, there would have been no need for my calls.

• Say “thank you” for calling

• And, in the case of the confused accounts payable person, apologize for not knowing whether or not the company accepted a certain credit card (whether her fault or not, she should have apologized to me on behalf of the company). This very easily could have turned into an amusing part of the day for both of us.

Companies of all sizes need to understand a very basic concept:

Everyone in the company is involved in marketing. Every customer/client contact is a chance to positively OR negatively affect how the customer feels about the company. Do it correctly and a customer is happy. Screw it up and they may forgive you – screw it up too many times and you lose the customer.

Let me tell you another quick story:

A client of mine recently had several cartons of brochures delivered from