Thursday, November 04, 2004
The Old New Marketing - Service
Wait, we're paying the money. Presumably, this company wants to make money, do good, and drum roll please. . . . . have us recommend their great product/service to someone else!
Well, apparently not. I recently had my back patio area re-surfaced. It kind of went like this:
- Call several vendors
- They come out and give estimates/quotes
- Together we could not estimate the desired color/texture combination
- So they decided to make a sample - it was great. We said, "Make it so."
- You negotiate price, schedule an appointment, they explain the process
- They strip off the base and start putting the new layers down
- The patio area is fairly large and is a defining feature of the back yard, so we're dripping with anticipation
- We start asking ourselves, "That doesn't quite look like the color, does it"?
- They worked all day. We knew there were two more layers so we thought the color would change
- Meanwhile, the two workers were telling us they really wanted to work in a hospital (this didn't make us feel good). While it might be true, don't tell your customers this while doing work for them.
- After day two and speaking to the workers, we call the owner and tell her that we don't think this is what we agreed upon. The color was off, the pattern was wrong and they ran out of part of the base surface, mixed some new stuff, and it created a different underlying color which was quite noticeable.
Ok, fine. Everyone makes mistakes or gets something wrong. Most people will tolerate minor mistakes, but they want it to be fixed and to be treated special in the process or at least with respect! But now this is where customer service comes in.
- The owner came out. We said please bring the sample (why it was not there so the workers could use it, I don't know)
- It clearly did not match and yes the base layer special batch stood out and looked out of place.
- The discussion went like - didn't the workers ask you if you like it? Well, we said we told them they were doing a good job and thank you and offered drinks, etc. We were immediately put on the defensive.
- After some discussion, the owner agreed to "fix it"
- They came back the next day and continued with a process we agreed to
- Since this process was somewhat different, they left "edging" marks and colors streaks that looked like a wet sponge wiped over a counter.
- After they finished, we left the owner a message that we were not satisfied and did not get a return call for 3 days
- The owner agreed to come out and "fix" some of the problems; she tried and said she could not and wanted to know from us, "what we wanted to do"?
I had even told the owner that I realized this job was causing some extra work. However, our friend was getting their patio done next week and we were going to recommend them. In fact, I was dying to recommend them. I think most people want to show off their new "thing" and tell everyone about it. Our neighbor had seen the truck in front of our house and wanted to see the work after it was finished. Not only this, we have a large group of regular friends that we see through of kid's sport's team. We talk about all of our "war" stories on home repairs and enhancements.
While it may have cost this vendor another $500 or so in labor to correct their own mistakes, they decided to give us 10% off the price and call it quits. We did not want the 10%, we wanted it to be done correctly, the way they had promised. In so doing they probably lost at least two customers they would have got from us and who knows how many from these new customers.
This could have represented over $10,000 of new business. Instead they were willing to give us $350 off the price and leave us unsatisfied. There is no supplement for good service! In fact, look at the ROI and there can be no other business decision. How about going two steps further:
- Ask your newly satisfied customer for qualified leads
- Pay your customer for those leads that convert to a satisfied customer.
