Is The Customer ALWAYS Right? - True Tales from the Trenches, #1

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
- Bill Gates -

I've been selling products and ideas since I was a child.

It has been a struggle, and not (yet) what you could call a great success.

Nonetheless, along the way I've learned a bit about customer service.

I've been selling since I was a child.
Image courtesy of Charles Thompson and http://pixabay.com

In my book, there is only one way to treat a customer.

Customers are always right, even when they are wrong.

"How's that working out for you," I can almost hear you ask?

Let me tell you the first in a series of customer service stories.

I wrote programs for the Apple ][.
Image courtesy of Mahender G and http://flickr.com

In the early days of the home computer revolution, I wrote and sold utility software programs for the Apple ][ computer.

While my enterprise was not a great financial success, I had a small but fairly steady flow of orders, and a lot of happy customers.

Then one day I received this letter:

Note: I'm paraphrasing the letters below from memory.

To Whom It May Concern:

I've seen your advertisement for an Apple ][ disk backup utility.

How do I know that you're not some "fly-by-night" operator, waiting to take my money without sending me anything in return?

And even if you do send something, what assurance do I have that your product will work at all?

Signed,

- John Q. Smith

I'll be the first to admit it.

Receiving hostile and antagonistic communications from a customer is no picnic.

Letters like this — and sometimes far worse! — can be emotionally draining.

At times, customer correspondence is no picnic.
Image courtesy of Gerhard Gellinger and http://pixabay.com

After working your heart out to conceive of, create, develop, package, and release a product characterized by excellence, it can be disheartening to deal with difficult customers.

Nevertheless, I can tell you that I have never regretted the conscious decision to always treat my customers with the greatest respect.

By giving customers every benefit of every doubt, I maximize the chances of maintaining and increasing good will.

The old adage "The customer is always right" is an excellent starting place. My experience with customers, although not always pleasant, has reinforced the truth of that saying.

Watch and learn.

Here is the letter I sent back to my "potential" customer.

Dear Mr. Smith,

Thank You very much for contacting us about our Apple ][ disk backup utility.

You've asked how you can know that we're not a "fly-by-night" operator?

This is how you can know:

Enclosed please find a copy of the latest version of our Apple ][ disk backup utility.

As you may know, items sent via the U.S. Postal Service that were not solicited are legally considered to be a gift. Therefore, you can treat this as such, and you need not send us any payment.

As for assurance that our product works as advertised, we hope you will try it and see for yourself. We strive to create software of excellence, and as we hope you can now better see, we have great confidence in all of our products.

Thank you again for your interest in our software.

Signed,

- Hive account@creatr
~Agorist Software Enterprises~

What was the outcome?

This particular customer sent back a gushing letter, expressing his amazement at how we had treated him. Not only did he enclose a check in full payment for the product that we had sent him "on spec," but he ordered a companion product as well.

Furthermore, he told all his friends and neighbors about us, and we received several more orders as a result of our pro-active version of customer service.

And what was our risk?

Our downside risk was very small. As you may know, software can be a very high markup product. Our actual out-of-pocket costs were a mere two or three dollars, if that, at the time.

The outcome for our reputation was priceless.

You can't buy good will like that, not at any price.

Do you have an enterprise?

Let me know if you'd like to hear more "True Tales from the Trenches."

You can find more articles about Agorism on my Library Liberty Shelf.
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