If you’re spending money on advertising, make sure your staff is up to the task of customer service. Here’s a story that illustrates this perfectly, from the weekly Small Business Brief newsletter:

I had an experience this past week that tied in to the “Ads Don’t Sell, People Do” article found below. A local store advertised three dollars off the Incredibles movie which came out last week. Well, I went into the store early one morning and walked all over the place looking for the dvd on sale (with the ad in my hands, I might add). The clerk and the manager saw me walking all over the place and didn’t bother to ask me if I needed help.

Finally, I went up to the co unter and asked the clerk if they had the dvd they had advertised. She said “I don’t know, let me ask the manager” who was yapping (it sounded like a friend he was talking to). She mentioned something to him real quick and he just kept talking and she walked away. I had the “hey dude, I know you are going to help me” look on my face when he glanced my way. I put my ad in front of him on the counter and walked out.

Spending money on adverting is wasting money if you are not going to follow it up with good customer service to secure the sale. Also, making sure your advertised items are out on display and easily accessible for your customers to retrieve is important. I went to another store (my kids would die if I didn’t get the movie) and paid full price but the customer service from the clerk in the store was excellent and I left a satisfied customer and I might add, a returning customer.