When A Customer Contacts You, RESPOND YOU IDIOT! - 8 Things You Should Do.

I am a big outdoor person, and in particular a water guy (water skier) so I have a boat.  My boat is about 13 years old, so it is starting to get a few problems.  I bought the boat when I co-owned a boat dealership at the local lake.  The company we were selling for was a great reliable company that had awesome customer service.  As a lifelong small business owner, this was the only company I found to offer such high concern for the customer.

Fast forward 13 years.  I have a digital display in my boat which is going bad.  We have no dealer in the area, so I contacted a dealer about 100+ miles away.  He responded several weeks later that he checked and the part was basically not available. End of story.

I decided there must be an alternative repair solution (something the first dealer should have offered), so I decided to write the company headquarters.  I thought about calling, but needed to show photos of my display.  I thought about emailing, but didn't want to get lost in an email black hole.

In the end I wrote a nice letter detailing the problems including photos and questions as to how I might solve the problem.  Certainly they could think of something!? To be sure it was noticed, I sent it overnight mail (in the big envelope, with Attention Customer Service written on it), and got a delivery confirmation.

Certainly the customer service department will contact me immediately to let me know they received my package and will be working on it.  I waited, one week, two weeks, three weeks and now more than a month has gone by without the slightest hint of contact, or concern for my problem.

As a small business owner, what should you do if a customer has a problem or question and contacts you?

1. Have systems in place so when a letter, email or phone call comes in, everyone in your organization knows who and how to handle the contact.
2. Have a system in place to log in the contact so there is an automatic internal follow up system so the customer is not forgotten.  Assign a specific person to follow through.
3. CONTACT THE CUSTOMER IMMEDIATELY - and I mean immediately, by phone, email or both.  You have to let the customer know you care and you are working on the problem.
4. Do everything you can to find a solution or answer to the customer's problem.
5. Keep in contact with the customer to be sure they know you are working on their problem.
6. When you determine a solution (or not) let the customer know options, solutions, etc.
7. Follow up with customer a few days later to see if there is anything else they need.
8. Follow up with customer a few weeks later to see if there is anything else they need.

What not to do:  What my boat company did, ignore me.  Result for them, I most likely will not buy a boat from them (even though I use to sell their boats) or recommend them to others.

It is so easy to win over a customer and make them a customer for life by following these 8 steps.  However, it is also just as easy to lose a customer for life.  

Your pick.