Reread Rule #1

by | May 26, 2021

Reread Rule #1 was the title of the Sound ADvice newsletter my subscribers received last week in their email inbox and it created a bit of feedback.

Today, I’ll share the contents of the newsletter and then expand on it with some comments from readers and advice.

As a business owner, if you have the feeling that it’s becoming more difficult to keep customers happy, you’re right!

We are all human and regardless of how smooth an operation you run, at some point you and/or your employees will make a mistake.  The question isn’t “When will you make a mistake?”, the important question is, “How will you handle it?”!

Stew Leonard, founder, and creator of the most successful grocery stores in the world, has a 5-foot piece of engraved granite at the entrance of each of his stores. On it reads this: “OUR POLICY Rule 1- The Customer is Always Right.  Rule 2- If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule 1”.

Nearly every study shows that in the post-COVID world consumers are more willing to try new products and companies. This, along with consumers becoming more demanding, makes it harder to keep them satisfied.

In business, next to finding good employees, new customers are the hardest thing to come by. When you get them, do everything in your power to keep them. Stew Leonard learned early on that it was better to have policies in place that rewarded the 99% of honest customers, rather than the 1% of dishonest.

When you take care of the “problem”, you turn an unhappy customer into a happy customer.

The Ford Motor Company revealed that an unhappy customer who is turned into a happy customer is up to twenty times more loyal than a customer who has never been unhappy.

The key is to have policies in place that have flexibility and then train your staff and empower them to turn the unhappy customer into a happy customer that will tell as many people as possible how well they were treated!

After all, word-of-mouth advertising is still the best form of advertising.  But remember, it works both ways!

Click here to view the 13 Rules to Turn Unhappy Customers Into Happy Customers.
 
A couple of notes to add.  First off, we are currently living in a time of unintended consequences. In reality there are always unintended consequences to every action taken, but this is one that we haven’t seen in years.
 
The laws of supply and demand are unbreakable and while our government has attempted to keep the economy alive while simultaneously shutting down businesses, it has disrupted the supply chain of goods and services including employment.
 
For example restaurants in my area have had to shut down or limit their hours, not because of pandemic mandates anymore, but staffing shortages.
 
A local Facebook page that I look at every once in awhile that has over 35,000 members and was created last year to support the local restaurant industry had this post from a server the other day:
I would just like to speak on behalf of probably EVERY restaurant around right now… We are all SEVERELY understaffed. You will be looking at sometimes outrageous wait times, long ticket times for your meals, etc. And while we truly understand your frustration with these restrictions, we are also frustrated as we are the ones who have to deal with every disgruntled customer who walks through our doors. There is only so much we (the staff) can do as everything is up to our managers
 
Earlier this month, I was with a colleague and we stopped for lunch and ended up walking out after an hour long wait.  That hour was after we placed our order.
 
Here’s the tip I urge you to follow:
Communicate.  In my experience this month, if the staff had told us that they were busy and it would be an hour before they would start preparing our lunch, that would have been appreciated.
 
Communicate your situation to your customers often, and as many ways possible.  On your social media, in person, over the phone, in your marketing.  Yes, there are a few people who will be jerks but most will appreciate the communication.  Because no matter what, Rule #1 still applies.
 

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