It's 7 AM, and I'm not happy at H-E-B's gas station.

Sound a bit silly? Well, I want to share my feelings. Stay with me because there's a big lesson about selling things that can help your store grow a lot.

Here I am at H-E-B's gas station. I haven't had enough coffee yet. I try to pump gas, but I realize... the gas pump isn't working right.

Oh no!

You know the ones I mean.

You hold the pump handle, gas flows for a moment, then it stops by itself. The pumps that are hard to use.

Ugh! I really don't like these pumps.

Whoever made these pumps should get in trouble. (Well, kind of joking.)

Usually, when this happens, I get so frustrated that I leave.

But not today, gas pump!

I have saved 50 cents per gallon on my H-E-B card from all the grilling I've been doing. I decided to stick with it.

Pump... then it stops.

Pump... then it stops.

Pump... then it stops.

This is not good!

The lady across from me giggled because she knows how hard it is to use the pump. "Oh, you have one of those..." She understands.

I managed to get $37.50 worth of gas before I got upset and gave up. I drove away, promising to never come back.

So, what does this have to do with your store?

Where's the lesson about selling, Matthew?

In every business, there are things that make customers mad, and you might not even know it.

Maybe it's a rule you have or how you sell things. Some things bother your customers, and it hurts your sales over time.

Here's the secret: customers often won't tell you what upsets them. They just stop buying from you and go somewhere else.

Your job is to figure it out. You need to find the things in your store that are annoying and fix them. Pretend you're a customer and see what parts of shopping at your store are really bad.

Think about:

- How can you make things easier or faster?

- Where can you fix the things that bother customers?

- How can you make shopping at your store more fun?

The other day, I called a store, and the person who answered the phone sounded really unhappy.

This is the first thing customers hear when they call. It's how the store introduces itself to them. But they get someone who sounds grumpy to answer.

The funny thing is, the store doesn't even know this is happening because they're not their own customers. They haven't checked how they do things. So, every day, customers are turned off, and the store doesn't even know it's because of this.

I see this a lot. Small things like this bother customers and make them not want to shop.

You have to find these things and fix them. I promise it'll help you make more money.

There's a reason why Chick-fil-A is doing so well while other fast food places aren't.

They're making things better. They're giving great service.

They thought about what's annoying in fast food and changed it.

Really, go to Chick-fil-A and then go to McDonald's. Can you see the difference?

It's like day and night.

Keep checking and improving. Be better than everyone else.

Fix the things that bother your customers.

And H-E-B, please fix your gas pumps.

They're really annoying.

I've said what I wanted to say.

This is how I feel.

Matthew