Do You Park In Customer Parking...At Your Own Company?!

This should be a no brainer post, really.  I mean, common sense would tell you that people who work at a company don't park in customer parking.  Right?  Especially when customer parking is right up front and is clearly marked.

Would you agree?

You would be correct but you would also be sorely disappointed to find out that a lot of people are not as smart, nor as considerate as you and I are. I don't know what that is a statement of; selfishness, stupidity, out and out rudeness?

But it is not customer service. Wait, it is; it's bad customer service.

I've actually had experience with this one. At another firm I worked we had an agent who consistently everyday obtrusively parked their big old Mercedes front and center in the closest spot to the front door directly under the sign that plainly stated customer parking only. As if that wasn't rude enough, they also had vanity tags with both their name and the Realtor emblem emblazoned on said flashy Mercedes so that when customers did have to park on the other side and walk into the building, they could be sure and know that they reason they were walking past the spot reserved for them was because one of the Realtors wanted to park there.

Absolutely unbelievable and to add insult to injury, this Realtor was offended when I told them to stop parking there.

I scratched my head on this one, not able to fathom why no one there seemed to get this was just plain wrong.

Fast forward.....I had the privilege this week to attend a seminar on "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership". We were talking about characteristics of good leaders and qualities that weren't.  Not just the big things but the little things as well. And guess what circumstance came up that we said leaders, whether individual employees or the company itself, could really step and epitomize to the clients how much customer service means to them without ever saying a word?

Seeing who was parked in the customer parking spots, or more importantly, who was not.

I've witnessed various employees at many companies park in the customer spots and it tells me I am not important to them, their needs are more important than mine.  No customer needs that spot for five or ten minutes to run inside and give them business. The employee needs it for a few hours, all day, whatever.  It's a huge slap in the face and if they don't get it enough to figure out the parking space, where else could the customer service be lacking?

Speaking as a Realtor, if someone at my office parked in the space reserved for clients, one of which may be mine, I would be angry.  I would ask that they not to take those spots and mention that I don't like the message it sends.  Sadly, at the other place, agents were angry that I had said something. They didn't get what the real message was.

What does your parking lot say to your clients or the companies clients?  Customer service begins before you ever walk in the door.

Are people at your office killing customer service before you ever get the chance to show them yours?