Sometimes it costs to do business. I mean financial cost. You have heard the old adage, "It takes money to make money." This can often be true when it comes to customer service. I have two stories for you. Read each and tell me which one most resembles the way you do business?
Case #1: Quite a few years ago I purchased my first new car - a Saturn SL2. I loved this car. I loved it so much I called it my "Sattalac" because I felt I was in the lap of luxury when driving it. And boy, did I drive it. When I last saw the Sattalac it had over 300 thousand miles on the engine and it was still running strong. I told stories in all of my customer service courses about how great Saturn was and how I would recommend a Saturn to any driver. Then things changed.
I brought my car to the Saturn dealer for a problem- the starter or battery or something mechanical. They fixed it. However, when I picked up the car, there was a quarter-sized stain on the back seat. I did not think much of it until the next day when the quarter-sized stain became a grapefruit-sized hole! It must have been battery acid that was spilled on the seat because it sure ate through the seat - foam and all.
When I called the dealership, they insisted that their mechanics would never have any reason to put a battery in my back seat and it could not have happened at the dealer. Despite numerous phone calls, several face-to-face meetings, and a couple of inflammatory letters, Saturn refused to replace my seat. They tried to sell me a new car - after all, mine had 300K miles on it! However, I was not ready for a new car. I was incensed.
I started using Saturn in my "horrible customer service" stories in all of my customer service courses - touching large audiences. (Did you know that the average upset customer will tell 9 people, whereas an average happy customer will tell only 3?) I was in full Saturn-hate and it wasn't going to change any time soon.
Six months later, I was ready to purchase a new car. I would like to report that I love my Toyota Prius and tell great stories about it to all I know. And. . . how is Saturn doing these days?
Case #2: Recently, I started training for my first triathlon - a half iron man. A great friend lent me a bicycle because good bikes are pretty costly. I was riding a course called the "dump loop" in Boise, Idaho, which consists of four rather steep hills. However, the bike would not shift into the low gear, and boy was I struggling. I took it in to Meridian Cycles and asked the owner, Paul, how much he would charge to fix the bike. He asked to take a look at it, fiddled with it for several moments, and gave it back. "All fixed," he said. "Have a great day." What? That was it? He just fixed it and sent me on my way with a smile? Wow. Now that's some amazing customer service. Can I mention again that it is called Meridian Cycles? It is on Main Street in Meridian, Idaho. It will now become my "great customer service" story in all of my customer service courses from this day forward. And, when I am ready to purchase a new bicycle, guess where I am going to go?
So what is the difference? Simple. Just a customer service philosophy. Yes, it would have cost Saturn several hundred dollars to replace my seat. However, since I absolutely LOVED my car, it would have surely secured my purchase of a brand NEW Saturn six months down the road. Priceless. However, their policies did not allow this flexibility. They also had no foresight. It was all about, "What will it cost us today?" and not "How will this pay off in the future?" MERIDIAN CYCLES, on the other hand, understands that good business is not all about today's bottom line. He could have easily charged me $50 for the "bike repair," but realized that customer service is about relationships. It's about trust. Did I mention that I have already purchased clips, bike shoes, and a new seat from Meridian Cycles? Did I mention the other time when he called a friend at a competitor bike store to get me a new tire when he didn't have any in the shop? I am a fan. A life time customer. That's customer service. That's doing what is right.
Meridian Cycles is also about community. They support local charities and local athletes. They know that business is not always about every single penny spent, it's about customers earned. So in this tough economy, I challenge every single business owner to ask yourself the question: Do your business practices resemble case #1 or case #2?
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