I remember my dad always saying, “If you’re honest, nothing else
matters. If you’re not honest, nothing else matters.” Good advice, even
today. The same could be said for customer service. If you have
outstanding customer service, nothing else matters. If you have poor
customer service, nothing else matters. Of course when it’s easy,
everyone has great customer service. But what about when you get into
that gray area?

I had a situation just this week regarding one of those customer
service dilemmas. A customer we had been trying to get for a long time
had given us an order. We were ecstatic. This is one those rare
customers who is easy to deal with, pays their bills on time (or early)
and are just a joy to deal with. Every supplier in the western states
wants to do business with these guys and we finally had our chance.

But then “the call” came. A very expensive part we’d supplied wasn’t
working the way it was designed to (supposedly) and it might need to be
replaced. They wanted us to come look and tell them what we were going
to do about it. Now, this is a very expensive part. If we have to
replace it, we’re going to lose our shirt on our first job with this
company. The way they described the problem, it’s one of those deals
where it’s very subjective as to whether it’s a defect or not. We would
easily be justified in telling them to take a hike.

So the question is, do I fix this problem and take a huge loss on
the project, or do I tell them there’s nothing I can do for them, take
my meager profit and go lick my wounds? What would you do? For me, it’s
a no-brainer. I’ll take care of them every time.

How much do you spend to get a new customer? In this industry, it’s
substantial. Companies don’t change suppliers unless they’re unhappy
with the one they have. It could be years before you get another
chance. You spend thousands on advertising campaigns and on marketing
and sales forces. For what? To bring in new business.

This is easy for me. I just got in bed with the best customer
around. He still likes me, in spite of the problems with the
(supposedly) defective part. We’ll do who knows how much business in
the coming years (could be millions.) Even though I’m going to take the
proverbial bath on this job, I any loss I’ll take as more of an
investment in my future.

Not only that, what is the value of your reputation? If I tell this
guy to forget it, what’s he going to say to every other business owner
he comes into contact with about my company? Is he going to be
charitable when he speaks of me? NO! He’s going to diss on everything
we have done, are doing, will ever do.

How much will it cost to repair the bad PR? Certainly more than I’m
going to lose on this one project. The old saw says the customer is
always right. In today’s competitive environment, that’s more true than
ever. Why? Because if you have outstanding customer service, nothing
else matters. If you have poor customer service, nothing else matters.