There are times when things just don’t go according to plan. We’ve all been there. Perhaps you’re experiencing it right now. If you are, take this opportunity to do your brand good. When things go well, your brand appears to pretty much take care of itself. But when the “!!!” hits the fan, all hell breaks loose. Damage control takes over. Many companies suddenly have fingers in a frenzy pointing outward. Who’s to blame? – how do we stop the bleeding? – Heads are gonna roll!
Instead of panicking and driving up your blood pressure, perhaps it might be a good idea to make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear. You, I and most people (this includes your customers) are especially impressed by how a company handles a problem. The last time you had an issue with a supplier and they initially didn’t accept blame but tried sloppily to hedge responsibility – how did you feel towards them. With myself, it made me very uncomfortable. I was anticipating a fight.
Your customer may be feeling the same way UNLESS you totally take control and make it right. It doesn’t matter who is to blame – just make it right. Reassure the customer that “!!!” happens, but not to be concerned, because you are putting their concerns first. When this is behind us, then you can address your systems and procedures to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Customer service must live up to it’s name.
Of course when this happens, your brand skyrockets in the conscientiousness of your customer. They are proud doing business with you. In branding, this is what we call creating an advocate. They are money in the bank.
The same goes with something like paying your bills on time, suppliers love you. There is no greater compliment a supplier can give you when they describe your company to someone as, “they are terrific and they pay their bills on time”. Other people are anxious to do business with that kind of brand.
If you run a pizza business and you offer a guaranteed delivery time. It is those moments when you are late and have to give up the pizza for free that your brand takes another shot skyward. Because you addressed the problem with integrity, the customer becomes an advocate for your brand. They will tell everyone they know for the next week how they scored that free pizza from you. I’ve heard tell of companies purposely failing in some small way just so that they can prove the validity of a guarantee and create positive buzz about the brand.
Sometimes bad can be great. Customer service branding can differentiate you and that makes you money. It is all about the experience. If you thought that there is nothing to differentiate you because everyone sells the same commodity items, then you should seriously consider making customer service exceptional within your category, this will breed advocates and YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK!
