The Days of Customer Service Have Not Passed After All
I don’t think it is just myself but the majority of bloggers that use their blogs to call out companies or websites that wrong them. I looked through past posts and so many of mine were to highlight the breakdown in useability and customer service. I have to admit that the trend is still towards the attitutide of Who Cares when it comes to resolving customer conflicts.
I had what I thought might be a similar situation recently with a leading woodworking supplier in the UK called Axminster. I basically had a bad experience and seeing as how the order was less then €30, I expected them to give the polite brush off at best. Instead they went the extra mile and made sure I was MORE than happy at their expense.
The lesson here is not the moral one that you should treat all people with a bit of respect but a business one. Rather then going elsewhere like I would have done had they not responded, I turned around and placed two more orders for €500. So although they may have lost on my first order, they most likely were able to get my lifelong business worth a hundred times any loss.
I know it is a cliche for most but the foundation of business is customer satisfaction. It is far cheaper then advertising (I didn’t mention how many times I have told people they are the place to go to), and the return on investment is higher then any other method.
Comment by Perrow
Posted on February 16, 2008 at 9:53 am
Another cliche (thats also so true) is that it costs ten times more to gain a customer than to keep an old.
Comment by John Pickering: Printer Cartridges
Posted on February 20, 2008 at 7:51 am
I really like the idea behind this.
The problem most small companies have is short sightedness, developed around the idea that they must make profits.. no matter what.
Things go wrong with everything at some time and the real test of a company is when it does.
They see the man complaining about a small 30 euro order as a pain in the backside, not really worth the effort.
The bigger picture is that small test order could develop into a more substantial and profitable business in the future.
Cheers,
John
Comment by George @ Blinksy
Posted on March 26, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Long time no see bro. How come you’re not on DP or posting here anymore?