A bad experience can be the best experience
Just before Christmas my mother-in-law bought a bottle of Croft Sherry and stored it in her cupboard. A few days later she discovered that the bottle had a flaw during the manufacturing process, and had leaked the sherry all over her cupboard through a very small hole.
Croft aren’t looking too good.
However upon calling Croft to complain, something incredible happened. Firstly she got through to a human being upon calling – not a machine – who apologies profusely. A letter of apology arrives the next day. Then the next day, a bottle of their premium sherry is hand delivered to her door.
All of a sudden, Croft are looking very, very good.
Christmas day comes, the family drinks the sherry, and guess what brand my mother-in-law couldn’t stop talking about?
A bad experience can be the best experience
In case you didn’t get it, there it is again. When you have a compliant you have a unique opportunity – to interact directly with a customer.
Marketing guru Seth Godin wrote that “Angry phone calls are your friend. They’re your friend because the alternative is angry tweets and angry blog posts.” I agree partially. I think that angry phone calls are your friend because they can become better advertising than no angry phone call.
Think about it: if my mother-in-law hadn’t had that bad experience, I wouldn’t be telling this story right now, and Croft Sherry wouldn’t be getting the word of mouth that this influential, upper-middle class lady is giving to all her friends.
When your customer wants to return an item, when they complain something didn’t work, when they are bleeting expletives at you, are you doing damage control? Or, are you marketing? Because your next dozen sales could be standing right in front of you.