Your day started out with an unhappy customer. Joe from Acme Builders called you first thing this morning to tell you a restroom has been neglected for a month and it’s filthy. There’s been a mutiny by his work crew and they want the problems rectified immediately.
You apologize to Joe, one of your most loyal construction customers, and promise that a driver will be right out to clean the unit. Then you pause, hoping Joe will chime in on the other end of the line. “Hey, that’s great. I knew you’d take care of the situation, thanks!’’
But no Joe. There’s only silence for a few moments. “This is not a good sign,’’ you say to yourself as you continue to wait for Joe’s approval. It doesn’t come.
Instead, Joe finally breaks the silence and says your company’s gaffe was upsetting to his workers, it’s the second time this year that your service has stumbled, and that XYZ Portables down the road a few miles has been calling and offering their service at $10 less per month than yours.
THE APOLOGY DISCOUNT
Joe wants to know how sorry you are for the mistake. He’s looking for the “apology’’ discount, an offer from you that will make him forget the displeasure of his workers and tune out the noise coming from your competitors. So, what’s your next move? What can you give to smooth over the rough patch and keep Joe on your side?
Recently, I saw the answer to this dilemma from another PRO. I was editing one of our PROfile stories on a company in which the contractor said he’s given restroom service for free for up to 6 months to keep a customer on board. As I was reading, I was doing the math in my head: six months of free service, labor from the driver, fuel, insurance, wear and tear on the unit. Wow, that seems like a pretty big “apology’’ discount.
Then I got to thinking about what would make the ideal peace offering for a customer service shortfall. It should be something that promotes positive feelings about your company, but at the same time doesn’t cost you a lot of money. It should underscore the importance of local business connections and encourage guys like Joe to forget about the low-price come-ons he gets from other service providers. It should be something you can turn to over and over again to fix problems, encourage loyalty and reinforce your personal interest in customer service.
And it shouldn’t include giving away your product for free. After all, you want customers to assign a high value to your core service. Telling them they can have it for free – even to atone for a screwup – sends the wrong message. So I came up with a list of ways to say you’re sorry to Joe’s construction crew that cost less than $100, or about the cost of a month’s free restroom service.
Upgrade the unit
Don’t just clean the unit Joe called to complain about. Come and get it and replace it with a newer model, maybe the kind of upgraded model you reserve for special events. Construction workers often wear bulky gear and carry tools, so consider dropping off a handicapped-accessible unit so they have plenty of room to move around. Or add a hand sanitizer or hand-wash unit for free for a few months. Construction workers are often given barebones service, and they’ll appreciate a few extra frills at the same cost as a standard unit. The key is bringing up the level of service without giving it away for free.
Pay for lunch
Go to your favorite local quick-serve or fast-food restaurant and purchase a bulk number of coupons good for a $5 lunch. Make a deal with the restaurant to buy 100 or more at a time and ask if they can personalize the coupons with your company logo and a brief message thanking customers for their business. Find out how many guys are on Joe’s work crew and send a stack of the free lunch coupons with an apology. Always keep the coupons on hand to apologize for poor service or thank a customer for their loyalty.
Eat, drink and be merry
Get up early and hit the local donut shop, then head to the worksite and deliver sweet treats with your personal apology to Joe’s crew. Or stop at the grocery store in the afternoon and pick up a few cases of beer or soda to drop off at Joe’s office so the crew can quench their thirst after a long day on the job. Whatever the treat, the package should be plastered with a note of apology or thanks, whichever is appropriate to the occasion. A nice touch would be for you and your crew to personally sign the note from one local company to another.
Let us entertain you
Order a bunch of passes to a local venue and hand them out as needed. You can have a little fun with this idea. For example, send out passes to a mini-golf course with the message, “We hope you’ll give us a mulligan on our service blunder.’’ Or passes to a botanical garden or museum, saying “We’re sorry you had to look at our mess. Please enjoy looking at something beautiful with our compliments.’’ Or how about passes to a comedy club, with the message “We hope you can laugh at our mistake. It won’t happen again.’’
Provide free advertising
Do you think of your restroom units as a vehicle for advertising? Well, maybe you should. Here’s a way to put Joe back in your corner at little or no cost to you. Tell Joe that for your next special event service – say the local county fair – you’ll post an advertisement for his business on an inside wall of your restrooms. Have flyers printed up with a promotional message from Joe’s company and affix them to the back wall of the units when you service them every day during the event. First, make sure your event customer doesn’t have a problem with you posting such an ad. And don’t be surprised if another business owner sees the ad at the event and calls you to pay for a placement like that in the future.
Make a charitable donation
Turn your customer’s ill will into good will in an instant. Tell Joe you think there’s a great way you can make up for your mistake … by making a contribution to a local cause he supports. Let’s say Joe is involved in the baseball Little League in your hometown. Offer to sponsor a few teams or buy some equipment the league needs. Maybe Joe’s in a local service group like the Optimists. If so, offer to help them by providing service at their next pancake breakfast or picnic. You can bet that giving $100 to help out with Joe’s favorite cause is going trigger fonder memories than offering him free service at the work site.
IT’S AN OPPORTUNITY
When a customer calls to complain about your service, don’t look at it only as a problem. Look at it as an opportunity. This is your chance to show how you’ll treat customers at the lowest point in your relationship. It also gives you the chance to cross promote with other local businesses. Handling a complaint with thoughtfulness and style – and resisting the easy answer of extending free service – will keep that customer in the fold and save you money in the long run.
