New saying

[ADeMartino]

At work, we're all having to attend a special sort of training, sort of a cross between 'sensitivity training' and 'motivational training' with a slightly religious twist to it. No, I'm not knocking it, although I was fairly skeptical of this at first, it seems well thought out and positive. But, on to the point....

During this training, two phrases that I thought were very apropos to this forum were rolled out:

"THE CUSTOMER IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT. BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS THE CUSTOMER."

"THE CUSTOMER IS SECOND. THE EMPLOYEE IS FIRST."

Guess you're starting to see why I feel so positively about the class.

The speaker went on to tell two stories about how to deal with customers that I really, really liked. Would anyone in the forum like to hear them? Not sure if they're appropriate here since I wasn't directly involved, nor did I witness.

[cono1717]

After those two quotes, I want to hear the stories and have those quotes framed and on my wall...

[Tolly]

Please share! This person sounds utterly epic!

[ADeMartino]

Please share! This person sounds utterly epic!

Okay, here goes. Mods, if this is not appropriate to this forum, please move it to the where you feel it IS appropriate, and accept my apologies.

The first story was to demonstrate how to deal with a customer when YOU have made an error.

The organizer of a marathon-type even in LA ordered some hundred of so T-shirts from a company in Texas. Their order was placed well in advance of the event, and they specified delivery no later than a specific date, which was roughly a week before the event was to happen.

All well and fine. The T-shirts were printed and boxed.... BUT

Only 24 hours before the event, the customer discovered they had NOT received their order.

Of course, there was a phone call to the T-shirt company, which naturally initiated a thorough search of the records. Yes, the order shipped, nearly three weeks prior. UPS had a record of it, but....

There had been no delivery. Indeed, there was no tracking information AT ALL. The shipment was in limbo.

Now, the first instinct would be to blame UPS. But, that would not be entirely accurate, for, you see....

The shipment was still sitting on the shipping dock.

Seems the UPS driver had not physically put the boxes on his truck, even though he'd signed for the shipment.

OOops. Now, we all know shit like this happens, right? But the bad news here was this: at that time, there was no possible way to get another expedited service that could deliver the shipment ontime for the event. And we all know that most companies out there would shrug and tell the customer, "Sorry about your luck."

But you know what THIS company did?

They bought two plane tickets for the very next flight to LA. One for the company rep, and one for the boxes of T-shirts that would occupy the seat right next to him. They wanted to take NO chance at all that the boxes would get misrouted by the airline. Yes, friends and neighbors, they HAND-DELIVERED the shipment at considerable expense - more money, I suspect, than it cost to manufacture a hundred or so printed T-shirts.

The customer remained a loyal customer for many, many years.

- - -

The second story demonstrated a fantastic way to deal with a customer when the fault is NOT yours.

Same company. The CEO wandered into the office to find a woman berating the poor sales girl, AT LENGTH, and with considerable verbal abuse. Seems her (somewhat large) T-shirt order was 'all wrong'.

The CEO steps in and asks what's wrong. Now, I won't go into details here, because frankly I'd have to split this post into many segments, but the gist of it was this: there was a tiny (near-microscopic) dot near the waist of the shirt, not even in the area where the silk screening had been done.

The CEO walked the woman out to her car, placed her order in the trunk, and then did this awesome thing.

He handed the woman back her check, and told her that she was getting the T-shirts for free.... BUT

He never wanted to see or hear from her again. EVER.

A couple of months later, the customer was back, wanting to order more. Turns out the shirts were one of her best selling items, but she couldn't get them from any other company for the price of her original quote. The CEO told the woman she was welcome to order more product, provided she....

Ready for this?

"APOLOGIZE TO THE SALES GIRL FOR HER UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR."

Of course, the customer balked at this - at which point, the CEO told her she was welcome, nay, ENCOURAGED to take her business elsewhere.

It took several weeks for this to sink into the customer's head, but eventually she did apologize. She was a model customer after that, and once again, she did considerable business with this company for many years following the incident.

- - -

The CEO of the company in both stories was the guy speaking at our seminar, both having taken place quite some time ago. I seriously, SERIOUSLY wish this guy was my boss.

But, it's okay, because I just met my new boss today, and he's seriously on board with this seminar and what it teaches. And he ISN'T the ogre that more experienced employess say he was only a year ago. How do I know it's not just an act? Let's just say I believe, and leave it at that.

I think I'm gonna like my new job. I've been at it not quite two months now, and I honestly feel more accepted here than I have at jobs I've worked for five and six years.

[cashierbex]

In a near perfect world, there would be bosses like this everywhere. SCs get put into their place.

[Food Lady]

I LOVE that after the SC was called on her behavior, she apologized and changed. She got a second chance and it benefited her and the company. Epic.

[morgana]

What do I have to do to get hired by this company?

[Pixilated]

Was this guy handing out employment applications? And if so, can you send me one??

Seriously, he sounds awesome, and I'll bet his employees would go the extra mile and then some! The sad part, of course, is that bosses like this are so rare.

[rose_metal_nz]

Wow, that is SO COOL! You're very lucky to work with such awesome people.

[LillFilly]

Sigh. I feel like I just got a breath of the sweet winds that blow in Heaven.

Dang it that there can't be more places like that to work!

[paxillated]

The best boss I ever had had a sign in her office wall: "The customer is always... a bigger asshole than you."

She'd throw custys out for harassing her folks. I have tales about her!

[EricKei]

This reminds me of how I discovered Demotivators...A client's office had them on every wall in the place ^_^

[HotelMinion]

interesting, especially the second situation. The CEO handled it exceptionally well. Both his business and the customer and the employee was happy. Sometimes customers were never taught to ever apologize by their parents so they throw temper tantrums like a two year old. However I wouldn't want the screaming woman ever at my business, even after she changed. Once an SC always an SC. But that's just me :P