The Daily Fix has served as an outlet for many bad customer service stories. And every once in a while, we toast the companies who are doing things right. (Basic psychology - reinforce positively to maintain desired behavior.) Here's a sample of one CEO who's making the grade - and it's not for a big corporation either.
Like many of you, I've had my share of lousy customer service. In the smaller B2B world however, poor service can mean a lost customer and the spread of negative word-of-mouth. Especially in a local market, that's not a good thing.
Enter the CEO of a local printing company I approached when looking for a quote on an upcoming print run. Here's what CEO Craig Hauer wrote:
I want to thank you for allowing United Printing & Mailing the opportunity to bid on your upcoming direct mail campaign. It is our belief you will find direct mail the most cost effective advertising medium to reach your target audience, we are hopeful it yields you the success you are looking for.
It is important to me that your questions were handled knowledgeably, professionally and efficiently. Were the estimates you received from us easy to understand? Were they prepared for you in a timely fashion? If you have concerns on any of the above please don't hesitate to share them with me.
That's the first time a CEO followed up this way after the account exec sent over the quotation. Very good first impression.
So, I took him to task and told Craig that the quote was presented in a timely fashion but that pricing was higher than my previous suppliers. In his next e-mail he thanked me for letting him know. Last year, he had upgraded a piece of equipment to be more competitive on smaller print runs and "would watch pricing over the next months to come and make modifications as we felt were necessary."
Now, get a hold of this: "You have brought to the surface and confirmed a weak spot on my pricing."
How many companies or CEO's use this kind of language? Honesty. It's refreshing isn't it?
Then, here's the big close: "I will be reconfiguring the pricing model upon my return in September. Maybe you can give us another try come October?"
I was so impressed with this attention to detail and level of communication, that of course, I said yes. I value business owners or CEO's who take the time to earn every customer. One never knows... the small-volume customer today may turn into the larger-volume one of tomorrow. Way to go United. I'm waiting for October.
Anyone else have similar experiences lately? Let's share.
