It's All About Customer Service

Do a good job and your customers will tell 10 friends. Do a bad job and your customers will tell 40.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but it is something we don't really think about. We usually think about it only when we have an angry customer, a bad review or, worse...lose business.

Now I started this blog with a 1:4 ratio. When you look at it that way, the odds are stacked against you.

Or are they?

If you do a good job, chances are great that the customer won't say anything, but will return for the good service they received. You don't go above and beyond, you did your job. You did what was expected. Nothing wrong with that. You probably won't get a Facebook review or a Yelp review, but you have a customer who likes you.

But what happens when you give great service? The customer tells their friends, they review you on Facebook, they Yelp you and sing your accolades. The word spreads, they bring their friends to your business and all of the sudden you are more successful than you imagined.

Sure, you will have bad days. And there are bad customers. You can't please everyone. Not everyone likes what you do. Just as in life, you can't be friends with everyone. You can, however, TRY to please everyone, or as many people as possible.

So they key is to always give great service, right?

Today, I had an experience of bad, good and great customer service...all from the same company. The warranty company said that my car needed some major work under the hood and said that driving it would severely damaged my car, so it had to be towed, which would be covered after the repair was done.

Later, after speaking with the service rep who diagnosed my car, I was told my warranty claim was denied and the bill was going to be astronomical. So, I ended up calling the warranty company 3 separate times.

The first 2 times, I was told that the part wasn't covered, so I was on the hook for towing 75 miles AND the repair costs. (All of which would be covered, if the work was covered.)

I was seething inside, but I was calm (yes, I do my best to be the nice guy on the phone needing help...because I am that person. Getting mad and screaming hurts your case, BTW.). Each of the first 2 calls I got a resounding "No".

Dejected, I hung up the phone and called my wife, who propped me up and told me to call and "go to a supervisor at the warranty company". And with that I called them back a 3rd time. And I am glad I did and it didn't even need a manager.

As soon as the Warranty rep answered the phone, I guess I sounded like I felt, dejected and beaten. He asked how my day was, to which I responded, "Not to be rude, but before we go further, can I give you my contract number?" He agreed and the phone was silent for a while.

He came back and said, "This doesn't look right." So I asked how? He said that he knew about the model of the car, what the part was and why I was told to get it towed. He was baffled as to why my claim was rejected and he asked me to hold. So I did.

He came back and told me he looked at a diagram of my car and called the service department that was diagnosing my car. He asked them if his assumption and the was correct, and it was. It was at this point, he told me that he was going to approve the repair and that he needed to let me go, so he could finalize everything with the service department. I thanked him, wished him well and my day was so much better.

My opinion of the warranty company changed at that moment, as well. It went from:

- Good: "These people care about me, as a customer and want my business. Thankfully they don't want me driving it, because they know how bad it is.

- Bad:"What am I paying for, if they are going to so quickly reject my claim and blow me off when I have questions?"

- Great: "The warranty representative didn't just care about me, as a customer, he cared about me, as a person. He went above and beyond. He surprised me, in a good way. My emotions and my finances mattered to him...and he didn't know anything about me."

I will now be rating them on Facebook and writing a Yelp review, highlighting the last rep with which I spoke.

Now think about this for a moment: How many businesses give good service vs. the number of businesses that go above and beyond give great service?

In radio, we have two customers, the listener and the advertiser. So, you have 2 masters to serve.

Now, ask yourself: How often do you give good service vs. great service?

#customerservice