Within the last week, I've had two very interesting and enlightening customer service experiences. After the second, which was very different from the first, I had that "A HA" moment and decided to write about my experiences.
My first experience was with a company who provides a common service to home owners to keep their homes looking great {no, I will not be sharing more than that}. I have been trying to use more locally owned companies for these types of services as it DOES make a difference for each of us small business owners. This was the first time I had gone with a local company for this particular service.
From the first phone call, I knew that communication may be an issue however I pressed on giving the benefit of the doubt. The issue was that I was told they could not give me a price until they came to do the service and saw the house. I insisted on knowing an estimate ahead of time as they must have set prices for certain sized spaces. After communicating clearly what MY expectations were, the owner came out himself and gave me an estimate. This was a check in the plus column. When you are in a service industry, you must be able to give some type of estimate over the phone or make it your policy to come see the space. You can not expect people to blindly hire you and have a "we'll know how much to charge you when we come to provide the service" type attitude. No. That is not good customer service.
Unfortunately, on the day of the service I was unable to be here due to an emergency with my son. My husband was here and oversaw the work. He shared with me that the company showed up without their regular equipment due to a breakdown. {BIG red flag} The day proceeded to get worse when I got home and saw that things were not done to the level of expectation and, in fact, the company had done something that actually had damaged something in my home. In all fairness, my husband pointed this out to the crew prior to them leaving and they tried to remedy it but it did not meet my specifications upon my return home.
The next day, after seeing things in the daylight, I called the owner and expressed my unhappiness with the service and the damage to my home. I asked how we were going to proceed. He didn't have an immediate answer even after I communicated, very clearly, what my expectations were. I told him I was unhappy with the service and felt that he should have cancelled due to his equipment malfunction but now I have paid him for a service and it isn't up to my expectations. He admitted that he did not check over things as he should have but then proceeded to make excuses {do not EVER make excuses-when you are a business owner-another BIG red flag} about why the service was not up to par. We finally got to an agreed upon return to remedy the situation.
Upon arrival on the day they returned, there was no attitude of "I'm sorry let me make this right for you." Instead, it was as if this was a burden to them to return to my home {I'm sure it was but it wasn't because of my negligence}. There was little discussion and no apology {another BIG red flag}. Upon completion, when I asked how we would proceed if the damage was not remedied this visit there was no answer. No eye contact. No plan. {BIG red flag}. I ,instead, had to communicate that I would call them if the damaged area was not remedied {a proactive plan so we each knew what our "job" was}.
Fast forward 6 days later to another business and another interesting customer service experience.
While out running errands I wanted a coffee. I will almost always choose a coffee shop in this order: locally owned, Starbucks or national fast food chain. Well, this day it was the latter. I made my order and proceeded to pull away. I remember thinking that the cup looked bigger than usual but thought maybe they changed their sizes again and I don't frequent them enough to know. I pulled away while taking a drink and immediately noticed this was NOT what I ordered. I pulled around again, spoke into the box and was told to pull around and they would fix it. I did so, I got my drink and while pulling away and taking a sip AGAIN noticed that this was NOT what I ordered.
By now, I'm not only kicking myself for not checking before pulling away but also very frustrated that I have to round the building yet again to get what I ordered. I bypass the box completely and I think I can hear the gals at the first window say something as I speed by...
I get to the window and the manager who has now appeared says exasperatedly {not at me} "Is that STILL not right?!" I answered in the affirmative. He asked me to pull up and shortly after, brought me exactly what I had ordered the first time. Now, here is where this experience turned immediately into a good experience.
*He leaned in and looked directly at me to say "Please take a drink and make sure this is to your liking."
*Then he said "I'm sorry for your inconvenience and trouble."
*He went on and said "I'm refunding your money and I hope that you will come back to see us and allow us to give you a better experience than you had today."
I was so absolutely in LOVE with this that I think I may have passed out for a second...much like when you meet a celebrity and can't find your words.
YES, YES, YES.
I will be back because YOU had a plan. YOU made it right. YOU took on the burden.
So, bringing it home {sorry but you needed all of the details here}...
If you are in business. You MUST be a good communicator. You MUST have a plan when things go wrong. You MUST attempt to make things right with your customer. It's THAT simple. It really is.
Have your plan and communicate it to everyone who works for you. Keep the tone from the top cohesive and KNOWN.
Until then, remember to
Say it with Style...
Jen
No comments:
Post a Comment