Don’t forget how important it is to make a positive impression on every person you come in to contact with. Make sure you go the extra mile.
A few days ago I was talking to a friend of mine about his boat. Apparently, the oil pressure in his engine dropped to zero. He had a mechanic at his local yard take a look at it, and after spending some time the mechanic declared the engine dead. Being the beginning of the boating season, and not wanting to have the season come to a screeching halt just a few weeks after the start, my friend immediately looked into his options. For $18,000 he could get a new engine, and for $1,600 he could get a rebuilt one. He started making arrangements to have the deceased engine removed.
While he was pondering the method he would use to extricate the quarter ton behemoth from its tight space, my friend took the opportunity to speak with a dockmate. The dockmate got him on the phone with an expert on the engine brand, who walked him through a process to re-prime the oil, and 30 minutes later his engine was chugging away. With a simple call to someone who was an expert on this particular brand of engine, the original mechanic could have had an incredibly happy customer.
Fast forward to today. I received a call from someone who had found my name and number on an Internet message board I frequent. He was in the process of getting his boat ready to truck from California to the lake where I keep my boat. He was curious about the quality of the work done by the mechanics at my friend’s marina as he was planning to have his boat put back together by them. I discussed the above events to him, and he decided to have his boat put back together elsewhere.
One phone call by the marina mechanic would have made my friend happy. Instead, via word of mouth, they lost a significant amount of business – and they won’t even know it. How can you be successful in recovering an opportunity you never knew you had in the first place?
While your customers may not spread the word about the positive experiences they have with you, they will certainly spread the word about the negative ones.
Chris Labatt-Simon
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