February 16th, 2006

Hello!

Superb customer service is key to make loyal advocates out of your customers.

In this issue:

1. Crash and Burn or Crash and Shine?
2. Boek review: UP Your Service by Ron Kaufman
3. CustomerServicePoint.com Info

Crash and Burn or Crash and Shine?

You should know, my web host is not like the regular web hosting businesses that are abound a dime a dozen online. They've developed a wealth of proprietary modules that help me to focus on building my site and business, and not worry about the technical stuff. I provide the information, and everything from building the site to sending out a newsletter is managed by my webhost. And their master database controls all that.

So you see, crashing their master database means MAJOR CATASTROPHY. Even though my site remained "up" during the entire episode, I wasn't able to do any work on the site. Couldn't even reach their support. Much things to be unhappy about.

But the thing is, I wasn't unhappy about it. And from what I read on the forums, none of the customers were. In fact, they we're waving kudo's towards the business in the warmest words you could imagine!

Not what you would've expected.

So why no disgruntled customers here?

Simple. We've always known this company to be working hard for our success. They're always looking after their customers. Their CEO is passionate about that. Every day he's involved in the forums, so we kind of know what makes him tick.

And when something bad happens, like now, he owns up to it. He could've blamed his database guy or the database software. But he didn't. He simply said: "I will update you ASAP. My deepest apologies."

We received hourly updates of the progress. And they fixed it. Within 6 hours the master database was up and running again (an excellent time under such circumstances). This couldn't have been done if they had not put great recovery procedures in place, with regular test runs to see that the procedures work. And the knowledge to execute the recovery procedures.

Here's what the CEO, Dr. Evoy, had to say about this disaster in particular and customer care in general:

"Everyone gives lip service to "customer care." Here's our policy...

We do it.

You have our respect.

We have yours.

The relationship is based on honesty.

And that's it.

It's sad that this incredibly complicated policy has to be considered extraordinary. And it's just so darn easy. A quick example of what it means to ANY business...

My Sanyo HD projector broke. 2 months to fix under warranty. 2 months!

My Motorola phone broke. 1 day to REPLACE. ONE day! (Rogers in Canada, congratulations!)

Who has gained me forever as a customer? Rogers! Who's lost me? Sanyo!

Now... here is the TOTALLY WEIRD part...

That projector had to be fixed, anyway. No matter what! Why in the world would you prioritize your customer last?

--

Treating your customer with speed and honesty is, of course, the right and moral thing to do. But it's the fact that it is also the right BUSINESS thing to do that blows my mind. Don't they teach them ANYTHING in business school?" (end quote)

It's an important lesson.

It shows that you really can make your service shine through recovery.

So, if you make a mistake, that could jeopordize the relationship with your customer, do you own up to it and fix it, or do you run and hide? Do you say: "I apoligize?" or are you just sorry ;-). Do you have the procedures in place to make things right again, and do you really know how to execute them perfectly? Because, as Dr. Evoy said: "it is also the right BUSINESS thing to do"!

Book Review: UP Your Service!

Read about UP Your Service! by Ron Kaufman

CustomerServicePoint.com Info

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(C) 2006, Marjan Steneker