A customer related challenge can result in two extreme results. The customer relationship can be broken and lost – or the customer relationship can be enhanced and solidified. This is not another iteration of “the customer is always right” because no one is always right. Rather, this is an example of the “more bees with honey customer service initiative”.
What would you do?
Hypothetical: You’re a computer network service company dedicated to keeping customer computer systems purring like so many kittens, guarding against unwanted viruses and keeping spam from clogging their in-boxes. You offer two levels of service contracts. Service Package Gold guarantees an on-site technician within three hours. Service Package Silver (costing much less) guarantees an on-site technician within 24 hours.
Fred Novice, a relatively new customer, has grown his company to the point where your services are needed. He is too small to hire full time in house tech support and too big to wing it. No sooner does the ink dry on Fred’s Service Package Silver than his entire system goes down without explanation. Fred calls you in a tizzy for the support he needs. You very properly inform him that he will get guaranteed service within 24 hours and you hear a simultaneous sigh and cry of pain on the other end of the phone. “But I am completely shut down, out of business, dead in the water until my system is up and running. 24 hours will cost me plenty.”
You dutifully inform him that this is the reason you offer the Service Package Gold and suggest he might consider the upgrade. (As an aside, you have two technicians within ten minutes of Fred’s office and a very light schedule.)
You can solve Fred’s problem by forcing him to upgrade to Gold Level. Will Fred thereafter appreciate your “flexibility”? Will that earn his loyalty?
What solution would YOU offer to serve both the needs of your business and that of Fred’s? How do you turn Fred’s problem into your mutual benefit?
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