"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
- Bill Gates -
I've been selling products and ideas since I was a child.
It has been a struggle, and not (yet) what you could call a great success.
Nonetheless, along the way I've learned a bit about customer service.
I've been selling since I was a child.
Image courtesy of Charles Thompson and http://pixabay.com
In my book, there is only one way to treat a customer.
Customers are always right, even when they are wrong.
"How's that working out for you," I can almost hear you ask?
Let me tell you the first in a series of customer service stories.
In the early days of the home computer revolution, I wrote and sold utility software programs for the Apple ][ computer.
While my enterprise was not a great financial success, I had a small but fairly steady flow of orders, and a lot of happy customers.
Then one day I received this letter:
Note: I'm paraphrasing the letters below from memory.
To Whom It May Concern:
I've seen your advertisement for an Apple ][ disk backup utility.
How do I know that you're not some "fly-by-night" operator, waiting to take my money without sending me anything in return?
And even if you do send something, what assurance do I have that your product will work at all?
Signed,
- John Q. Smith
I'll be the first to admit it.
Receiving hostile and antagonistic communications from a customer is no picnic.
Letters like this — and sometimes far worse! — can be emotionally draining.
At times, customer correspondence is no picnic.
Image courtesy of Gerhard Gellinger and http://pixabay.com
After working your heart out to conceive of, create, develop, package, and release a product characterized by excellence, it can be disheartening to deal with difficult customers.
Nevertheless, I can tell you that I have never regretted the conscious decision to always treat my customers with the greatest respect.
By giving customers every benefit of every doubt, I maximize the chances of maintaining and increasing good will.
The old adage "The customer is always right" is an excellent starting place. My experience with customers, although not always pleasant, has reinforced the truth of that saying.
Watch and learn.
Here is the letter I sent back to my "potential" customer.
Dear Mr. Smith,
Thank You very much for contacting us about our Apple ][ disk backup utility.
You've asked how you can know that we're not a "fly-by-night" operator?
This is how you can know:
Enclosed please find a copy of the latest version of our Apple ][ disk backup utility.
As you may know, items sent via the U.S. Postal Service that were not solicited are legally considered to be a gift. Therefore, you can treat this as such, and you need not send us any payment.
As for assurance that our product works as advertised, we hope you will try it and see for yourself. We strive to create software of excellence, and as we hope you can now better see, we have great confidence in all of our products.
Thank you again for your interest in our software.
Signed,
- @creatr
~Agorist Software Enterprises~
What was the outcome?
This particular customer sent back a gushing letter, expressing his amazement at how we had treated him. Not only did he enclose a check in full payment for the product that we had sent him "on spec," but he ordered a companion product as well.
Furthermore, he told all his friends and neighbors about us, and we received several more orders as a result of our pro-active version of customer service.
And what was our risk?
Our downside risk was very small. As you may know, software can be a very high markup product. Our actual out-of-pocket costs were a mere two or three dollars, if that, at the time.
The outcome for our reputation was priceless.
You can't buy good will like that, not at any price.
Do you have an enterprise?
Let me know if you'd like to hear more "True Tales from the Trenches."
(CLICK Shelf Below)
~FIN~
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I loved this! We hear the customer is always right, but boy is that difficult to swallow when some customers act wretched. Your example from the trenches is a perfect example for application. You da man! :)
Thanks, Lydon.
If I continue this series, I have one or two real horror stories to share! But I still believe in the principle... ;)
Haha, there are always horror stories - the Lord keeps things interesting for us with those people. ;)
That was indeed a great answer :) It just shows that if you treat people with respect, they are disarmed and (most of the time) respect is returned. Reminds me my time in customer service for a "fruit based logo company" where the bad tempered requests and emails were flowing all day haha
Thank you so much, friend @herverisson, for your encouraging comments. Also for sharing a bit of your experience. ;)
Wonderful anecdote! I think what people really want most is simply to feel cared about and to be treated like human beings. I agree that taking a 'customer is always right' approach is the best. Sure there are a few scammers who try to take advantage of this, but they're easy enough to spot after a while, and it's a small price to pay to keep legitimate customers happy. Remembering that people just want to feel cared about, and then showing that you sincerely care is the key to creating loyal customers who will, likely tell all their friends. Thanks for sharing this experience. I think it's especially important now with so many people entering into freelance or entrepreneurial work.
Thanks for your comprehensive comments.
In my sometimes not so humble opinion, dealing with the very few scammers is a small price to pay for overall excellence in customer service.
just recently I was taking estimates for some concrete work to be done on my house. The estimator who came out told me frankly that the minimum his firm would charge would be twice what the job was worth. He then went on to give me invaluable advice about materials, specifications, what to insist be put in writing and how to structure cash advances so I wouldn't fall victim to an unscrupulous contractor. I asked him why he was so forthright and he said, "I'm a human being too. Maybe you'll remember me if you have a bigger job or will recommend me to a neighbour." Needless to say, I will.
Very cool. We had similar experiences with a termite inspector and an air conditioning guy. Unfortunately, we never had any follow-up business for them, but hey, they are definitely running their operations the right way, and I'm sure that it pays off for them.
Loved that story. Would like to add I worked in corporate sales for a long time which is kind of ironic if you know me. You see, I never wanted to be known as a 'sales rep'. Anyway, I was fairly successful, not because I could follow a sales call script or list three counters to objections, but because I approached every manager or CEO as a potential friend, instead of a potential sale. My call notes were a nightmare, time management was a joke and my presentation just a little eccentric. However, my territory was full of 'buddies' who knew I would stand up for and back them if our services failed (like friends) do and they rewarded me with their time (which is tough to get) and their business. Once you strip away the outside (corner office, personal assistant, etc) we are pretty much all that same kid who used to enjoy skipping stones and telling scary stories around the campfire. And yeah, I made it into management...
Hi, friend @swansed,
I'm glad you enjoyed my story. I enjoyed reading your account of building relationships in your sales career. Thanks for sharing!
This is a great answer and shows that others respect u by ur good will and by ur respect, a great lessontaken.
Thanks! :D
I make my living as a certain type of freelancer and I find myself talking to customers quite extensively and it can indeed be a bit draining. But I try to always be polite and honest.
I never promise things I'm not sure I can deliver and I sometimes deliberately set the customer's expectations lower than what I think I can actually achieve, so they often feel like I have overdelivered by a wide margin.
I notice that one of the things that inspire a lot of confidence and that has helped me close many deals is the fact that I'm very open about my limitations, about risks and caveats connected to using my services and about my own expectations and the role I expect the customer to play in the process.
Great observations... Illustrative of another old saw: "Honesty is the best policy." ;)
Thanks for sharing your insights, Dave!
Upvoted and also resteemed :)
Hello, @flowerlover,
Thank you kindly for re-steeming my article. I appreciate it!
that was quite the story. Yes I too believe that customers are always right and even when they are not they are. As a pianist in the fine dining industry I quickly learned to think of them as guests rather than customers. They are my boss and they pay my bills. They taught us to bend over backwards and go the extra mile for them. One positive is that when you are self-employed or have your own company, if you loose one client, you still have others. It is not like being fired from the company. in that respect you have a bit more job security. Thanks for the great read my friend. - Troy
I'm glad to hear that you "get it," Troy. Yes, they do pay our bills. And there is safety in numbers! :D
Great way to keep the customer happy and increase volume. Lesson learned. 🐓🐓
Greetings, @mother2chicks! Nice to "meet" you here on Steemit.
Thank you for stopping in and for your thoughtful comment. I hope to "see you around."
Appreciate you stopping by as well. Since I am a hard head mistakes are my best learning tool! Have a great Sunday! 🐓🐓
Hahahahahaha! I resemble that remark! :D
I hope your Sunday is going well also, my friend. ;)
Thanks for relating this story. I have a similar outlook though I never really considered it to be a"customer's always right" philosophy.
I opened up a small business last year selling treats at festivals and events. A lot of my business is generated from sampling. Family and friends sometimes help us pass out samples. At the last show, a friend who happened to stop by grabbed a sample tray and started handing out samples. She came up to me and said she didn't want to hand samples to people that looked like they couldn't afford our product. I told her to please offer a sample to everybody.
Later, I was talking to my 9 year old daughter who loves to sample with me, and I told her this:
Even though sampling helps us sell stuff, your job when sampling is not to sell. We offer our sample as a show of good will. I want to offer that good will to everybody. So your job is to smile and offer everyone a taste. Don't be upset if they don't accept it. Don't try to convince them to buy it. I want every interaction with our business to be a positive one.
That positive attitude sounds like precisely the right approach in the realm of "treat selling."
Recasting what you've just said so sweetly, you are treating all of the people at your venue with grace and respect. You reach out to them with a free offer of good will, expecting nothing in return. Any positive responses you receive are completely voluntary.
IMHO, you've described the only way to do business. Thanks so much for sharing your excellent story!
May I suggest that you write this up as an article for your blog? And ask you to please, let me know when you do? ;)
😄😇😄
You know, you're right. I've been trying to figure out some good material to start blogging about my business. This is probably a good place to start.
Love theme of article but on our most gallant day We've written much worse stuff than that guy.
If that's the worst you've received you've been living a picnic life.
Now show us one that REALLY stung.
Thanks for your comments. I'll be trying to dig up some "painful stuff" for a future article. ;)
Nice strategy for business. "Customers are always right" To have a successful business, you need let go of your being correct at all times so as to win potential customers.
I love this
Thanks for sharing @creatr
Thanks, @leobliss!
I'm glad you enjoyed the article, and I appreciate your encouraging comments!
Excellent article and great advice, my friend! That's how we should do it.
Resteemed :-)
That reminds me actually of some discussions I constantly have with by dad (=my boss) about customer service.
It's not that he hates communicating with them, but he quickly feels annoyed - and directly transmits that in his mailings. When I tell him that he should rather try to be supportive no matter his own feelings, then he says:
"That's old school style. People appreciate that. I don't participate in that new world where customers are loved no matter how ignorant and cheeky they are."
Old school style.. Yeah well. That's a way of seeing it, haha! 🙈🙈🙈
Btw, I've just mentioned you in my today's article about surfing: https://steemit.com/surfing/@surfermarly/surfers-on-steemit-where-are-you-building-a-worldwide-surf-community-on-the-blockchain
Hope you like it and join :-)
Have a great day!
Hey, Sweetie,
Thanks a lot for stopping by and sharing your dad's story with us! I hope he doesn't lose too much business with that approach? :O
Thanks for the shout out today... And THANK you very much for the re-steem!
Hugs! :D
This is gold! You set an example for everyone out there! I'm reading a book called "How to win friends and influence people" , and it is mentionned exactly what you wrote in this post. Acting with the greatest respect and kindness, will only do great. Keep this up, I wanna hear more of those. 👌🏻💗
Hey, Sabrina,
I really appreciate your stopping in and supporting me with this kind comment!
That book you're reading is no doubt a classic in the field. Keep reading, and thanks again for visiting my blog!
Awwww you're too sweet! I didn't know it was a classic that's awesome to know'! 💗 Thank you very much😘
i once had a similar situation, i was fresh out of school and my first job was in a computer shop, it was around the time of the zx spectrum,commodore 64 and bbc model B as well as an atari and oric 1 during my time there i remember going on a course where they had an apple computer with a mouse, it was the first time i had seen a mouse and i was amazed by the innovation, anyway to get back to the story a local firm came in the shop when i was on my own, (the owners were out) and they wanted to invest in a system for their business, so as i was alone and there were other customers i suggested they come back the following morning and i could show them the systems and software that i thought would suit their business, i told them i could spend time with them then and gave them some brochures and an approximate quote for the system,printer floppy disk drive and software as well as support and they went away saying they would come back the next day, when one of the owners returned he asked how the day had gone and i told him about the potential customer that would return tomorrow and i was told that i was stupid and didnt know the first thing about sales and i should have asked them for a deposit and they said they would never return and i was made to feel so bad,when the other owner returned i got more of a sympathetic ear as i was convinced i had done the right thing by not being too pushy and offering to spend time with them to make sure they got the right system, the next day one of them returned with an envelope full of money and paid in full for everything that i had recommended and the reason he gave was that they didn't feel pressured as they had in other shops and even though i offered again to demonstrate the systems to them he declined and just said they would pick the equipment up the following week, it really made my day as i knew that i had done the right thing by treating the customer the way i would have expected to be treated myself and it bore fruit, the quiet well done from the sympathetic boss was reward enough but the silence from his business partner who had made me feel so small the day before was almost as satisfying, proof indeed that the customer is king.
Thanks, @coindevil, for stopping by and for taking the time to share your story. You've added to the conversation here!
I think it would be great if you were to write up your story as a Steemit article. That would help reach out and educate others on the "good customer service" front, and hopefully earn you some Steem.
If you do, please stop back here and let me know?
Thanks again for your visit and very relevant comment!
Hey @creatr , would love to offer to come onto my podcast sometime.
It is about people doing remarkable things, whether entrepreneurs or not.
Where we talk about what you are doing, believe in and what difference you are making in the world.
It is part youtube channel where the mission is to help 1,000,000 entrepreneurs become remarkable, and the podcast acts as a way to share stories and connect with people.
Here is the playlist of the existing episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5CpCNPna6p95oJfKPew0N3ZT0k-khdgg
It is audio only over skype. Would love you to come on the show and talk about yourself. Does this sound of interest to you?
Greetings, Adrian,
Nice to "meet" you here on Steemit. Thank you for the kind offer.
Yes, this is interesting. I will have a look at your work when I can, and will keep this in mind. I am certainly very positive about entrepreneurship.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Nice to "meet" you too.
Looking forward to reading about your decision.
Great info thanks for sharing! I'm now following if you'd like to follow back.