Sonia E. Thompson's Blog

Make Them Remember the Good

I wanted banana nut cake.  But as I bit into the cake I quickly realized it was something different.  Carrot cake.  I looked back at the package the cake came in, and there it was - a sticker that said banana nut.  Now I like carrot cake, but I had no desire for it after having gotten my mouth all watered up for banana nut.  As a result, I wasn’t going to be eating any carrot cake any time soon.  So back to the store it went for a refund.  And to my complete surprise, Giant grocery store came through and delighted me.  Because I was unsatisfied with my purchase, not only did I get a refund, I got double the refund.  It’s no problem Giant - I’ll overlook the error in labeling!  Thanks for the delight and caring about me as a customer.

Contrast that with the experience I had with a flower cocktail ring I just bought.  Within a week of buying it, one of the stones in it fell out.  While the missing stone wasn’t visible to others, it was to me.  So I looked on the receipt and noticed that I could return the product within 30 days should something happen to it.  So I decided to send it back to get a new ring.  Unfortunately, I not only had to pay for the shipping costs to return, but I also had to pay a “processing” fee.  Ugh.  I did it reluctantly.  A few weeks later, I received a new ring.  No note from the company.  No, “we’re sorry that a stone fell out of your new ring.”  No nothing.  And no more purchases from me.  Even though the company did replace the ring, it felt like they just honored a policy that they had, rather than actually caring that I was dissatisfied in any way. 

Should you ever not meet your customer’s expectations, when it is brought to your attention make sure that you care.  Make it right with the customer, and do it quickly.  But don’t just stop there.  Make her remember what you did and how you made them feel as a result of the complaint, rather than why they complained.  

With Giant, I’ll long remember that they gave me double the refund and that made me feel good.  That far outweighs the fact that I received the wrong cake.  With the ring company, I’ll remember that I had to pay both shipping and a processing fee to return a defective ring, and I wasn’t happy about it.   

Don’t be like the ring company.  Make sure your customers have a positive memory about your business, even when you mess up.

Why We Do It

Last week, I taught a workshop The Road to Customer Delight at Drexel University as part of their Creating Excellent Organizations program.  The next day, I received an email from one of the attendees thanking me for the session and outlining what his next steps were going to be as a result of what was discussed during the workshop.  His note not only put a smile on my face, but increased my drive to want to be better, to do better, and to make an even bigger impact.  It’s not that I didn’t have the drive to want to make a difference before, but hearing firsthand the impact that my work on another person made me want more of it. 

This is why we go into business:  to make an impact (for the better) for our customers.  To meet their needs.  To solve a specific problem that they have.  To leave them in a better state than they were prior to interacting with us.  To please them.  To delight them.  This is what drives our businesses.  This is why our businesses exist.  This is what (should) drives us.  Remember that.  Strive for that.   Achieve that.  Do more of that.

No Takebacks

When you were a kid did you like it when people took things away from you?  How about now as an adult?  I'm guessing the answer to both of these questions is no.  No one likes to have things taken away from them.  So don't take things away from hour customers.

Unfortunately this seems to be a tend with businesses these days.  Sure, times are tight, but the answer to cutting costs is not to stop giving customers things that you used to.  It will only serve to make them upset.  That is certainly the impact it has on me.

I recently called to place an order for Italian takeout at a place I frequent near my house about once a month. I keep the menu in my glove compartment and I order the same thing every tome - chicken and broccoli penne in a blush sauce (ok- sometimes I switch it up and order whole grain pasta), bread and pasta fagiole for my soup that comes with it.  The last time I called I ordered my usual.  When I wasn't asked if I wanted soup or salad with my order, I mentioned hat I would take pasta fragile.  That's when my loyalty was lost.  "bread and soup or salad doesn't come with it anymore, but you can order it on the side for an additional $2.00 (I think that was the price she quoted - I was so surprised at what I was hearing that I didn't hear her clearly).  I immediately canceled my order and haven't been back since.

As a customer, it is hard to justify paying the same price for less product than what you have come accustomed to getting.  Your new customers won't notice the difference, but your old customers certainly will (and probably won't like it!).

So don't take things away from your customers.  Doing so will surely diminish their loyalty to you (and that can't be good for your bottom line).

A Little Plumbing Delight!

I’ve been preparing to getting my master bathroom remodeled for the past few weeks.  I have spent a good amount of time and energy getting quotes from contractors and going to various showrooms looking for materials.  After visiting multiple showrooms and getting a increasingly frustrated with the process I decided to go to check out Lowes. 

As I was looking through the available options Howard, the salesperson, spent a good amount of time walking me through the information he had available, and patiently answering all my questions (I had a lot of questions!).  A week later, he gave me a call to follow-up to see if I had any additional questions, and even stayed a little late a few days later to help me place my order before he went on his vacation.  And to top it all off, because he recognized that I spend a lot of time in Lowe’s, he gave me an additional discount for being a valued customer.  How great was that?! 

I think I still paid a little higher price than I might have netted out at one of the showrooms (via contractor discounts), I chose to go with Lowes and work through Howard.  My interaction with Howard was a delight, and has certainly been a bright spot in the process of this remodel. 

I think many businesses underestimate the impact that their people have on their customers.  If they didn’t, more time and energy would be invested ensuring that their people do everything they can to delight every customer every chance they get.  Your people are one of the primary drivers of customer loyalty.  When your people are able to make connections with your customers beyond just the selling transaction it makes a real difference.   

Bravo to Howard for making me feel so valued as a customer, and bravo to Lowe’s for empowering him to be able to delight this customer (and I’m sure many others) as he saw fit.

What You Do Best

Yesterday in a moment of frustration, I considered becoming a do-it-yourselfer at something that is clearly not my thing.  I have been trying hard to find someone who specializes in doing that kind of work for me, without success.  So me being me, I said “I’ll just figure out how to do it and do it myself!”  I was even parked outside the store ready to buy all the tools I needed when I came to my senses.  “What am I doing?  This is not my competency at all.”  So I went home and kept looking for an expert to do the work for me, and I think I may have found one.

The moral of the story is focus on doing what you do best.  Whether it is web design, writing, painting, or cooking, do that.  While it may be tempting to save money by doing work that you are not expert in yourself, often the time and effort you spend figuring out what and how to get it done makes it more trouble than its worth (and most of the time its still not quite the way you want it).  And, while you are spending all that time doing what you are not good at, you are not spending time doing what you are good at.  And that certainly isn’t any good.  

Do what you do best.  Find other people to help you do the other stuff.  Preferably the stuff they do the best.  It will make your world a lot easier, and the quality of what you produce that much better.