"There's a place in the world for any business that takes care of its customers---after the sale." Harvey MacKay
When I visited Cannon Beach, Oregon last week with my family, I enjoyed a delicious lunch and learned a valuable lesson about how not to deal with an unhappy customer.
Anyone familiar with Cannon Beach has been to the casual seafood cafe where you order at counter, seat yourself, and come back to pick up your food when your number is called. After picking up our order, my father realized that the server had mistakenly given him french fries with his steamer clams instead of the garlic bread that he had ordered. In an effort to score points as the good son, I went to the counter to clear things up. The surly manager insisted that my father had asked for fries not garlic bread, and that he would only give me the bread if I came back with the basket of fries.
For once, I was shocked speechless and returned to my table empty-handed. The restaurant manager might have saved a dollar by not giving my father garlic bread, but he alienated a group of four people (and one very vocal dog) who left the restaurant talking about its poor service instead of its food.
A few years ago, Jeff Bezos, the founder and president of Amazon, said, "If you make customers unhappy in the real world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends." Well, I haven't told my experience at the seafood restaurant to 6,000 friends but this newsletter article is going out to nearly 1,500 people, some of whom will pass along the story.
Nowadays, it's impossible to know how widely a story about poor customer service will spread. For example, in July, Canadian musician Dave Carroll released a hysterical music video in which he sings the blues after United Airlines workers at O'Hare smashed his guitar and the carrier refused to cover the $1,200 cost to repair it. The original video has already been watched more 5.6 million times and Carroll has been featured on major television programs in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Surprisingly, even after Carroll's message become a pop culture phenomenon, United Airlines failed to apologize and compensate Carroll for his broken guitar causing the singer to release a second video in mid-August which has been seen approximately 407,000 times. Furthering the bad buzz for United Airlines, Carroll testified as a witness at the Passenger Rights Stakeholder Hearing before the United States Congress on September 22.
In an age when negative word of mouth can mushroom quickly, savvy companies understand the value of customer service after the sale. Recently, my wife and I ordered a TV credenza from Crate & Barrel. A couple of weeks after ordering, we found a much smaller piece of furniture which would better fit our room. When we called Crate & Barrel to cancel the order, the customer service representative said she would gladly do this. Just two days later we received a nice thank you note and copy of the credit card return in a handsome presentation style envelope. Crate & Barrel's prompt and graceful return process won our loyalty. We will not only return but will also recommend the store to friends.
What process do you have in place that empowers your employees to resolve a post-sale complaint or issue? It's worth reviewing or risk becoming the subject of a newsletter or YouTube video.
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Posted by: Dissertation Help | October 14, 2009 at 03:41 AM