Every customer counts. Especially during a recession. So, top-notch customer service is a no-brainer right? Not always, apparently.
Just about everyone has a customer-service horror story where the merchant bent over backwards to prove he doesn't want your business. Many of these events are long, drawn-out affairs that involve talking--sometimes in a loud voice--or writing letters to numerous people, many trips to the store and an exceptional level of frustration. And in the end, still no satisfaction.
Here are two horror stories that involved none of that. In fact, they were both brief encounters but still resulted in lost customers. What made this really unfortunate was that in both cases, they were incredibly easy and inexpensive for the merchant to avoid--if only he'd been able to step back and look at the big picture. Remember that: big picture.
The first involves a broken pair of $300 prescription glasses. The frame had cracked and a piece had come off and was lost.
Incredibly, the customer was told that because she had not brought in the whole product--remember, a piece was missing--the whole warranty couldn't be honoured. The customer would have to pay a small portion of the cost. Although nothing was said, you can imagine the customer was astounded. Not at the amount that had to be paid but at the short-sightedness of this business owner.
You have to understand that this customer's family bought two and three pairs of glasses at a time and, over a period of a few short years, had spent thousands of dollars at this store. In fact, she was on a first-name basis with the owner.
In the end, she simply paid, thanked him for his help and went on her way. The owner doesn't realize it yet, of course, but she'll never be back.
The second incident--one that was relayed to me by a store owner herself--it involved an expired $50 gift certificate.
I understand why gift certificates have due dates on them--you want to encourage them to use them, plus there is the whole bookkeeping thing. But still...
This $50 gift had expired and was suddenly useless. From then on, the customer would associate this store with a feeling of being let down. A simple "don't worry about it--we'll still honour it" might have cost the owner $25 in merchandise but would have resulted in a customer for life.
The lesson here? In every situation like this, there are three questions to ask yourself: First, in real dollars, what would it cost you to fully satisfy this customer? Second, what is the lifetime value of this customer? Third, is a few dollars worth risking losing this customer? Almost invariably--and we stress almost--the answer is no.
Look at the big picture!
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