I read an article recently about this, and thought about some of the experiences I have had, especially in restaurants, and wanted to relate two of them to you, about how the restaurants reacted.
Years ago, I was skiing in Vail Colorado. The first night we were there, my wife and I went out for dinner, to a restaurant that was recommended in one of the guides to Vail. I ordered a fish entrée.
When the fish arrived, it was covered in a sauce. The menu made no mention of the sauce. Anyway, I started eating the fish, with the sauce, and after the first bite, I had to dive into my glass of water.
Not only did I not know I was getting a sauce, but the sauce was unbelievably spicy, at least to me. So I called the waitress over to discuss this with her. Well, I was flabbergasted with her response. And you won’t believe it.
She actually said to me – “No one else has complained”. Can you believe that response? So I called for the manager. He told me the same thing. They did nothing at all to solve my problem. And not only that, as you can see, they made my experience even more noteworthy, for the worse.
After the meal, the manager offered me a free cup of coffee, which I do not drink at night. So when the bill came, I paid it and left a 50 cent tip, just to let them know that I hadn’t forgot to leave a tip, and hope they would get the message.
Well, they got the message alright. The waitress actually chased me outside the restaurant, and wanted know why I hadn’t left a bigger tip, because that was how she made her living. I couldn’t believe it. I told her that maybe she should look at another way of making a living, or else start helping the customer. All fell on deaf ears.
I had another experience at the Keg restaurant also a few years ago. Without going into a lot of detail, they gave me and my son our meals for free, which I didn’t want. I’d say I still go the Keg at least 6-8 times a year.
Of course the real question is, how do you treat your clients after they have a problem with your products and services? And I know you have them, because all businesses do.
I’ve found that by treating the problem and the experience, you will probably get more business out of the client. So, what is the best way to handle a problem? Well, it is a twofold answer. First you solve the problem, and then you treat the experience.
First of all you need to recognize the problem; you apologize and then you fix the problem.
Secondly, you then fix the experience.
The first step is really easy. Or at least it should be. You recognize the problem. You fix it. All top notch businesses do this. They don’t waffle, they don’t shuffle. They instantly spring to action by apologizing (often profusely) and then they seek to fix the problem.
The second step is where things can fall apart. And the way to fix the experience is to give your client something that’s not related to the problem at all. It should be something of an add on.
If the course materials get lost in the mail, apologize, and then give the client a free consulting session (at your cost). If your keynote presentation offended some people with an off-colour remark, then apologize and then send them a box of chocolates.
If the fish sauce is too spicy, try to fix the fish at first. If the client doesn’t eat it, offer another entrée, or another fish without the sauce. Then offer a free dessert, or a free appetizer for their next visit. I might have gone back to the restaurant, if they had only fixed the problem and the experience.
So fix the problem, but more importantly, fix the experience, and you will get repeat business from that client, guaranteed.
If you want some help doing this, or with any of your B2B marketing, first have a look at my eBook at http://www.b2bbusinesscoach.com/ebook.html
If you want more intensive help, please contact me through any of the listings below.
Kind regards,
A. Ian Dainty
416.623.9588
www.b2bbusinesscoach.com
ian@b2bbusinesscoach.com
