Build Your Business: Management

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August 27, 2012

I believe the customer is always right — and that’s because, regardless of the reason, if he’s not happy, it means you did not meet his expectations. This usually happens when you didn’t do what he thought you were going to do, or you didn’t ask the right questions. In the end, it all comes down to good communication.

The best course of action when a customer is unhappy is to get that expectation clearly defined and make sure the disconnect doesn’t happen again.

There is a perception among decorators that customers are unreasonable. I disagree, and even though I sometimes grumble after hanging up the phone, I try to keep things positive. Instead of using the term “difficult” to describe some customers, I prefer the label “high-maintenance,” which simply means that it is the nature of some people to require more attention.  

At my shop, we do everything in our power to make customers happy — up to and including what most people may consider unreasonable. We do this because in the instant we have a conversation with a dissatisfied customer, we have effectively lost that business, and we need to earn back the right to continue the relationship.
Even though the reality is that sometimes people shouldn’t work together, that decision should be left up to the customer to make, not the service provider.

A great example of how expectations aren’t always met is the story of a customer who came to our shop. He was an older gentleman in our community, and he was involved with a non-profit organization associated with his church. Right away, this situation raised a red flag because I knew this client was not in our industry, and he didn’t understand the terminology and technology of what we do.

This church group was organizing a fundraiser to benefit the restoration of its parsonage. This gentleman emailed to us a file that he wanted printed on a shirt. We sent back an electronic proof indicating that it would print as a one-color, black left-chest image at 3½” x 4″, which is big for that type of image. When the customer opened his email and looked at the proof, it was about 2″ x 12⁄3″ in size. We stated the true size in the email, but he did not read this. What we should have done was asked this customer if he was comfortable viewing a proof online and verbally stressed that it was not a true-to-size proof. We use this method of approval frequently with our customers and most are knowledgeable about it. We made an assumption that he would read the email. He approved the design and we printed it.

When he came to pick up the shirts, we made another mistake. We did not take a shirt out of the box and have him look at it before he left the building. An hour later, we got a phone call from a very aggravated client asking, “Why is this so big? I just looked at it on my computer again, and it is nowhere near that big on my computer.”

We immediately understood what happened. Even though it wasn’t really our fault, our first response was, “I’m sorry that we didn’t meet your expectations. What would you like us to do to make it right?”

I have found that most of the time, such a response will disarm the customer. By the time an unhappy customer calls, he has had time to build up a head of steam and is ready for an argument. He assumes there will be a confrontation. Often, when asked about how to fix a problem, our customers simply say, “The next time I re-order, I don’t want it to happen again.” In that situation, we have the opportunity to learn from the experience and we end up having no financial adjustments. It’s like throwing dice: Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

In the case of this customer, we ended up replacing the shirts. It was only 25 shirts, so it limited the financial exposure; however, it was something we already had discounted so we gave up all of our profit. The lesson we learned was to always make sure the person is comfortable with email and understands how it works.

Part of our shop’s procedure for ensuring we never make the same mistake twice involves flagging customers in our shop management program. In the case of the church fundraiser customer, when we get a new order, we require a hand-written art approval. Electronic proofing was not a solution for this client, and we learned from it.

EMPOWERING YOUR STAFF
At my shop, my customer service staff is authorized to offer a redo within a certain dollar amount. This helps avoid further aggravating an unhappy customer by having the employee say, “I have to talk to my boss” or “I can’t do anything about that.”

Over the years, our shop has learned that the first fix is nearly always the cheapest. If we try to negotiate or discount, the amount of labor, time and materials almost always exceeds the cost of doing what the customer initially suggested. On top of that, we still have to deal with a dissatisfied customer.

I’d like to stress that we don’t instantly offer to redo an order. We ask the customer what we need to do to make it right. We also don’t automatically offer a discount.
I don’t recommend ever giving away the job at no cost; doing so trains customers to complain. If they ask for a reasonable consideration, like taking 10% off the price, we will do that for the same customer one time — and one time only. I’d estimate that about 25% of the time, we don’t have to make any adjustment other than letting the customer vent. A very small percentage — about 10% of the time — we end up replacing the entire order. If we priced the product correctly, we don’t lose any money because the customer still pays for the product.

When a customer wants a redo that will involve a significant amount of money, my staff has to get approval. If I am not available, my manager has authority to do whatever is necessary and I will back him up — even if I do not agree with his choice. If I don’t support his choices in these situations, he will never be willing to make a decision again.

Beware of a customer who frequently finds something wrong with an order. When you begin to see a pattern, it’s time to flag that customer in the system. We put in a warning that the sales associate sees when the account is pulled up and that customer is put on “preferred pricing.” At this level, rates are higher because we know this customer is going to be high-maintenance.

The other thing we do is ask a lot more questions to customers who fit into this category. In fact, there is a risk we will drive the customer nuts with questions. Sometimes, he will even comment on it, saying, “You never asked me all these questions before.” The reply is, “I’m sorry but we didn’t meet your expectations on the last order, and we want to make sure we meet your expectations this time.”

Usually, when we go into customer service overdrive, this problem goes away. Regardless, we are charging more to cover the extra costs.

We have never had a volatile customer service situation that we couldn’t diffuse. There may be a situation in which he wants more than I’m willing to give. If that happens, we may never do business with him again — either by his choice or our choice. But we never have had a customer miss an event because of an issue with an order, whether it was our fault or his fault.

The most important thing to remember is the ultimate goal of having a happy customer. When you recognize that certain customers require more time, charge them more. This allows you to maintain good relationships with all of your customers, while getting compensated for those that suck up more time.

Greg Kitson is founder of Mind’s Eye Graphics, Decatur, Ind. For more information or to comment on this article, 
email Greg at greg@mindseyeg.com or visit 
mindseyeg.com. Hear Greg speak on apparel decorating topics at the 2012 Imprinted Sportswear Shows (ISS). Reduced workshop and seminar rates are available if you pre-register: issshows.com.