The other day I went into a local gardening store, a high end store I might add, for the first time. I had a particular problem I needed help with. There were no other customers I could see, and the emoloyees were standing around chatting with each other. A few seconds after I entered the store, I was greeted by an employee. She didn't know how to solve my problem so she lead me to a more senior employee. They discussed my issue and then lead me to the manager on duty, who should be able to solve my problem, they thought. So far, so good. The initial employee has shepherded me through the process and I haven't had to repeat my problem yet. Each successively higher person in the food chain did ask me some additional questions to clarify my needs, but things were going along quite well. The issue was that all the time, as I went from person to person, I kept seeing all these signs promoting their customer loyalty program. At each stop, there were more and more notices of how I needed to be a member! The last manager took me to a shelf and grabbed my recommended product, and walked me to the register. The problem? I went through every employee in the store and nobody asked me if I was interested. I probably would have said yes. I might even have come back again! As it was, the advice was dead wrong. My trip was wasted, and my confidence in their abilities destroyed.  And I certainly didn't feel "welcomed" as a new customer or invited to return. Plus, I'm out $9 for the worthless sulfur powder I bought! I might add that their price was $3 more than the big box garden center a few of miles away. Be sure to stop by our other web sites for additional information and ideas about building customer loyalty: The Service Quality Department ServiceQuality.US ServiceQuality.CA ServiceQuality.co.UK ServiceQuality.CN High Definition Mystery Shopping