I pay $135 per month for my 10 year old son’s extracurricular activity lessons. This week was “buddy week” and the kids were strongly encouraged to bring a friend to the lessons. The program included slick marketing material that every kid received, and kids were given the opportunity to earn “VIP points” if they complied with the program by bringing friends. The kids only see the lipstick on this pig, but you and I know this is an aggressive sales tactic.
My son somehow got the impression that if he did not bring a buddy this week, he could not attend lessons. I assured him there was no way that could be true and called the place to both communicate what my son had told me and to ensure we could indeed receive the lessons we’ve paid for. One of my main points was there is a way a 22 year old can say something to a 10 year old that might not be interpreted as intended; in my opinion that’s exactly what happened and I thought they should know about it so they could take steps to do it better next time.
I was very disappointed with their response. They ended up telling me that there was no way they could have given my son the impression that he was not welcome this week because there was no way any of their instructors could have said that. I was even told that I was twisting something that was “very positive” into something what was “ugly.”
I attended the first “buddy” session with my son this week. The instructor welcomed the buddies, and congratulated the kids that brought them. Here is what he said to those that did not bring buddies:
“Boo.”
I heard it with my own ears. So is there a way that one of the instructors could have said something to the kids last week that gave them the impression they would not be welcome at lessons this week without a buddy? Damn right there is.
Calling me ugly for expressing a concern about my young son and the service I’m paying for was a bad move on their part. I’ve been a loyal customer for four years. I’ve recommended them to others who have also become paying customers.
Not only will I never recommend them again, I am not going to renew my $1620 per year account with them. That’s just too much money to not be treated with anything less than consummate professionalism and courtesy.
As I’ve said before, service providers will fail from time to time. I’m fine with that. But when a paying customer – especially a loyal one – gives you the opportunity to address what they think was a service failure, you better provide impressive service recovery.
If you don’t recover in the eyes of the customer, you earned both the loss of their business and the bad word of mouth marketing they will spread about your business in their increasingly connected social networks. Ugly customer service is very bad for social business.
Related Posts:
ATT Has Twitter’s Number For Impressive Customer Service
Customer Encouragement: The Cycle Of Success Spiral In Action
You should follow me on twitter here.
I couldn’t agree more, Dr. Bret! Social media is magnifying the power of word-of-mouth because our voices now spread beyond our close social circles to anyone and everyone in our social networks who will listen. One bad experience can spread like venom in the social network world.
-Michelle Fox
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Welcome, Michelle! You know, I did not name the business, but I don’t have to. Anyone from Reno that knows me knows or can easily figure out who I am talking about. It was silly of them to miscalculate how I would feel about my son, my money, and my time. Thanks! Bret
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One of our companies has been providing recreational and camp programs to children for thirty years. I was absolutely appalled that this company would use their young clients in such a blatant manner to bring in clients – and then chastise them for not coming through for them. What kind of life lessons are they teaching these children? I am not surprised to hear that their customer service is less than stellar. I think the bigger problem is that there is obviously no integrity in this company from the top down.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 12:31 am
Glad you said this, Laura. When I took issue with the use of the kids to market to their friends, I was told “well, we don’t advertise.” Well, that’s your problem, not mine! I’ve never been comfortable with their aggressive marketing tactics, but this one pushed me over the edge. Thanks! Bret
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Yeah, this is clearly bad. On the other hand, Stephan Pastis (creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine) boos his own son:
http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/parenting-101-supporting-your-childs-interests/
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 12:38 am
Ha! Well, thanks for sharing that, Michael
I’d feel better if the boo was for poor performance in the class, not for failure to deliver potential future clients. Thanks! Bret
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Bret,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Companies must do all they can to take care of the customers, especially there very best ones. As a loyal customer they should’ve treated you like gold. Thanks, Brandon
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 12:40 am
It’s hard to get new customers, but keeping loyal ones is a requisite first step. Lose a loyal customer and you not only lose their revenue but also all the revenue from the good word of mouth marketing they could provide. Thanks, Brandon! Bret
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I have clients and prospects alike ask me if they should use Groupon and I say the same thing every time – yes if you want transactional business but it’s then up to you to turn that traffic into real customers. People who buy you on price, will leave you on price. If you make it about the transaction, they will make it about the transaction.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 9:03 am
Excellent point, Kneale. You want people to buy you as much as your product or service. So don’t hide in or behind your business – get out in front of it. Thanks! Bret
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Unfortunately, my guess is the employee was acting exactly as intended. If the children were being rewarded for bringing in prospects then instructors were probably being rewarded for converting prospects. We all know how peer pressure works – and giving kids a publicly hard time is ramping up peer pressure in a way instructors know creates at least short term success. The buddy concept is a common one. Unless it is designed explicitly to avoid the behavior you mentioned it is easy for managers to foresee that it will occur.
One good side to this lesson – Your son learns how to stand up to such aggressive tactics.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Welcome back, Fred! You are so right. Even thought they wanted to deny it, it was designed to be a high push program to try to recruit new students. It was always framed as an expectation and not an invitation. Thanks! Bret
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Bret
It is not only the service policies that can help an business organization to grow, they need good marketing tactics as well. Thus it is totally fair when they use their own ways to advertise and bring in new customers. But at the same time it is equally important to hold loyal customers. Organizations need to be polite with it’s customers even if they fail to participate in their expansions because they have already contributed by paying for the services they are availing.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Welcome, Shantanu! I agree it is acceptable to market your business via existing customers, but you have to be VERY careful how you do it. It should always be an invitation to, not an expectation of, your existing customers. Thanks! Bret
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Bret,
Great description of the situation, I really like how you gave them an opening to solve your problem. The defensive bug got them “all riled up”, which can mean in many cases that your concern was completely valid…
Too bad that after four years of being loyal, this happened.
I am confident you will find a great place for your son’s additional activities.
Have an awesome day,
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Welcome, Jeremy! Very good point about the defense bug. Too bad they did not see that I was doing them a favor by making them aware of what I thought was a service failure. Shoot, I even coached them through how to respond, but they did not go for it. Thanks! Bret
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Bret, I really enjoyed the post and shared the customer outrage with you. Another great example of the power of social business and the general lack of awareness of it by businesses. In Deming-speak, the value of customer dissatisfaction is unknown and unknowable…but it’s huge. Social Business has a tremendous amplifying effect.
I included the post in my Management Week in Review this week. http://bit.ly/i81y1D
Best, -Art
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 18th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Thanks for including me in your week in review, Art! It’s my deep Deming roots that make me so sensitive to customer and employee satisfaction. It requires continual attention and improvement. Thanks, Bret
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Wow…the service issue encountered not only lost a valued customer but a valuable promoter. In many ways, the best judge of the quality and focus of any organization is How They Treat Customers. The best vote is “no-confidence” by moving away from that type of provider.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
June 29th, 2011 at 11:09 am
I’m moving on as soon as my contract is up. These days moving on can also be a social object, which makes how you treat customers even more critical. Thanks! Bret
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