Is customer service a lost art?

     When we walked into the dealer, we couldn't get anyone to acknowledge us or the people that walked in behind us.  The sales people were busy standing in the middle of the room arguing.  Finally, they stopped arguing and one of them asked if he could help.  We told him what we were looking for and he wanted us to set down so he could run our credit.  We told him that we would be paying cash and not financing.  We immediately noticed a change in his demeanor.  He took outside and showed us some $10k and above cars at first.  We told him we looking for much less than that.  He pointed us in the direction of the cheaper cars and said he would be inside.  He left and went back into his office.  After we had looked, we went back in to ask him some details about a couple of the cars.  He huffed, got up from his desk and said that he would have to go out and get the numbers off of the cars.  We said that maybe we should just go because it seemed we were bothering him.  He said, "that will be fine, have a nice day." 

     Here's the point: just because a salesperson may not make a big commission on today's sale, doesn't mean that that same customer will not be looking to spend more money the next time.  If a salesperson would take the time to build a relationship with their customer today, it will pay off in the future.  Every person you meet has worth.  Every person has something to offer.  Even if they are not the biggest spender, that doesn't mean they don't know someone who is.  They have the power to refer business or to take business away.  If a business expects to stay in business they must not forget that they are in business for their customers and that without them, they will fail.  It is inevitable.