Missed Customer Service Opportunities Cost Money
A new deli-restaurant opened recently in the neighbouring South Shore town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. On their grand-opening weekend, Tracy, Georgia and I got in the car and went for the 15 minute drive down the shore to try it out. The decor was chic (for Lunenburg) and clean and new. We ordered a couple of sandwiches and some side salads to take out. The sandwiches were terrific—near perfect.
Couldn’t Wait to Return
Since our first visit we had looked forward to going back for another great lunch experience. Since they are a bit of a drive (by South Shore standards) I called in our order to take home.
Everything was ready when we arrived and it looked great. But when we got home, got settled and took that first bite of the sandwiches it was a great let-down. This brand new restaurant gave us bread that had the texture of being bagged for three days. They were awful! It was so bad that we were almost confused. I thought, “I have to let them know—I can’t let them do this to someone else.”
My Call to Action
I called the restaurant and asked to speak to the Chef (I couldn’t remember her name). When she came on the phone I introduced myself and explained our experience. I said that we tried the same sandwiches two weeks ago and said that if this was our first experience we likely wouldn’t come again. She then took a direction that didn’t seem to jive with the call. Here I was giving her an opportunity to win me back or offer me some type of legitimate explanation and she instead told me, “We have been trying out different vendors for our bread.”
What? I was baffled, I don’t care where the bread came from. Dry bread is dry bread. That aside, I had gone out of my way to let her know there was a problem and she basically did nothing to convince me to come back or even thank me for bringing a problem to her attention. Most (near all) customers would just say forget it and not bother to call.
Complainers are Often Customers who Care
Do you have customers calling with a complaint and you miss an opportunity like this where you can thank an unsatisfied customer and turn them into a long term patron? All it would have taken would be to offer to replace the bad sandwiches. How much does that cost? Compared to attracting new clients it is nothing. In addition, the opportunity missed made me think that she didn’t care about the food, her customers or business. I don’t imagine this is true but that is tough impression to kill.
Every Complaint is an Opportunity
Repeat: Every complaint is an opportunity. To do better; To keep an interested customer; To improve service; To refocus attention back to the details and the experience;
Those few people who do complain should be rewarded for helping you make your business better. Ignoring them will ensure that they never become evangelists or mavens who spread the word about your business. In fact ignoring the efforts of a complaint will most certainly stop referrals dead in their tracks.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:54 am
Thats the greatest mistake that unfortunately isnt taught in Business School. Unhappy customers when thanked for their patronage will always come back to you no matter your record. But the question is, how many are willing to go that extra mile? None i can say. To some, it seems as if its ceding to much ground to unworthy customers! Since they pay your bills, they need to be pampered at all costs!
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
Maina,
Thanks for your thoughts.
While I can’t say what is or isn’t taught in business school, I can say that people are people and can be caught off guard by unfamiliar experiences. It may be that the chef whom I offered my complaint to has never had anyone go out of their way to complain. It may be that it was confusing or baffling or a criticism. Sure, I was telling her the food and my experience was bad but I was also saying, “Here’s your chance to do better.” She just missed out.
When I was younger and worked in retail for a large chain of camera stores, we were taught to look at the extended value of every customer. A happy customer will tell at most four people about exceptional service but they will tell more than 9 people about bad service.
Unfortunately most professions, in their training, be it a dentist or a chef don’t have any training in customer service or dealing with customers. The problem is that all of these professionals work in a service field but figure if they do their profession right they will be successful.
In my exeperience working at a mangagement training and consulting firm, I saw time and again professionals who were very good at their vocation but terrible when dealing with the people who paid their bills.