Ambiance?

It is important to remember that your customers judge your business by more than just the service that they see, they also will judge on how it makes them feel.  They will get feelings from a variety of things, the way the business looks, the way it feels, and even the way it sounds.  All of these things combine to create an ambiance, a feeling, for your customers.

There are a variety of services that will use scientific studies on which color combinations will evoke certain emotions.  There are even studies that show that certain scents also promote feelings.  For example, we owned a video store that used to use the scent of buttered popcorn and we found that add-on popcorn sales increased after starting this program.  Of all of these factors, the easiest to control and yet the most misunderstood, is the background music.

Background music is supposed to be exactly that, BACKGROUND.  It is supposed to set a tone to add to customer satisfaction.  In a quiet, elegant boutique, it should be something along the lines of classical or perhaps New Age music.  It should be barely audible and not at all interfere with conversation.  In more casual settings, big box stores, it could be more popular music.  Again, however, the key is the volume level.  In NO case should music overwhelm customers.  It should be appropriate to the average age of the customer and it should never be so loud that the customer has to raise their voice to converse.  This is especially true in restaurants where conversation is frequently the point of patronizing your business.

Make sure that your associates understand that the background music is supposed to be for the customer and not to entertain them.  It should be appropriate to the customer and not the staff and it should be set at a level that is conducive to conversation between your customers and your staff.  It should not interfere by being too loud.  This is a common problem in many business establishments.  It makes your customers uneasy and wanting to leave quickly and many times they don't even know why.  They just know your business makes them feel uneasy.

The disgruntled customer

We were in the doctor's office today and overheard an elderly woman complaining about a new deli that she had recently gone to.  She was predicting that it would "go down the tubes" and soon.  She was telling this to anyone and everyone who would listen.  The reason.....the potato salad.  Apparently she purchased some potato salad and according to this woman, the potatoes were raw.  When she brought this to the attention of the staff at the deli, they were unimpressed and did nothing.  Her response during her story-telling was...."and that's bad business."

Whether the potatoes were raw or not is really not the question here.  The point is that the customer thought they were raw and perceived that the business made no attempt to correct her problem.  There was apparently no offer to replace it with different potato salad or anything else that was comparable.  This is a critical error on the part of the deli because this woman is telling and retelling her story of dissatisfaction everywhere.  I can assure you, if she had actually mentioned the name of the deli that we would be less likely to try it out.  All of this negative press can destroy a business as quickly as positive word-of-mouth can build a business.

It is essential for a business to not only empower, but expect, all associates to make customers happy.  This includes replacing products that are not satisfactory or offering some sort of compensation for their dissatisfaction.  Failing to do this, businesses will suffer from "bad press" such as the type offered by this woman in a crowded waiting room.