Good customer
service is essential to the success of any business. It is so important that I devote an entire
chapter to customer service in my book, Business Fits.
There are a
couple rules that guarantee good customer service in most instances. The first is never lie to a customer. This should probably also be number two,
three and four.
The other
rule is to deal with any customer complaint promptly. Return phones calls and e-mails
immediately. Don’t wait or put it off
until you think you have a solution. Ask
the customer what the problem is and what they want or think is a fair
resolution.
A lot of
products are sold on the internet today.
I am currently in community theater production where one of the props is
a stage pistol. I ordered the pistol and
200 blanks from a company called Stage-Props-Blank-Guns. They sounded like a professional organization
for our needs. I placed the order a
month before needed to make sure there were no problems.
The gun and
blanks arrived and we tested a few rounds to make sure it fit our needs. We did not actually fire the blanks during
rehearsal until three days before opening.
We had to conserve ammunition since each performance needed over twenty
rounds.
When we
started to use the blanks, approximately one out of four misfired. I contacted
the supplier. I expected an apology and
reliable blanks to be shipped in time for opening night. What I got was, “There is only a 30 day
warranty.” I could not believe my
ears. This is a company that supplies
pistols and blanks for stage productions.
What good is a stage pistol that does not fire?
After some
discussion, the company did offer to send me new blanks of the same brand and
probably the same quality if I paid for the overnight shipping. This made no sense so we were forced to find
reliable blanks locally.
I will
certainly not do business with the company again or recommend them to any other
community theater. This company will
probably not be in business for long. It
is much cheaper to retain a customer with good customer service than it is to
obtain a new customer.
It is
interesting that we demand honesty and good customer service from the companies
we do business with, yet some people actually
vote for a political candidate who is a proven liar, sells political influence
to the highest bidder, and considers him or her self to be above the law. Shouldn’t we demand a higher standard for our
elected officials?
In November,
this country has an opportunity to reduce the power of the political elite and
give the power back to the people. I
pray people take advantage of this opportunity at the polls.
To learn more
about customer service, Business Fits is available on Amazon as a
paperback and as an eBook.
I own the website discussed here; Business's must put a deadline on a warranty and stick to it. Otherwise everyone will say that they "just now used the item" We offered replacement blanks but did not feel we were responsible for paying for their overnight shipping thinking it was the customers responsibility to be sure everything was in order earlier than the day before the items were needed for a production. I know I would have done so. You simply can not please 100% of the people 100% of the time.
ReplyDeleteThey also mention that we will probably not be in business very long; we have been in business for 14 years and continue to be very successful. A very high percentage of our customers are repeat customers because we do in fact provide quality products and service.
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