Going the extra mile

A few years ago a new restaurant opened in our community. When that happens I usually check it out before taking anyone else there. It turned out to be pretty good food and service. I ate there 3-4 times a month, and the place seemed to be doing well. Reviews online were always good as well. A lot of people enjoyed eating there as the place was often busy when I went. I had commented to some people that it had become one of my favorite places to eat in town, and one Christmas some friends gave me a gift card for the restaurant.

When I tried to use the card their computer system wouldn't accept it. The waitress got another employee to try the card, and it still didn't work. They finally admitted they didn't know how to use a gift card for payment. They called the owner for instructions who told them that she had not set up the new computer system for the cards. I wasn't pleased, but I paid for my lunch.

A couple of weeks later I returned and again tried to use the gift card. The same thing happened again. No one there knew how get the system to accept the card. The waitress called the owner again, did not get the answer she wanted and asked if I wanted to talk to the owner. I sure did!

The owner apologized for the problem and said she hadn't trained anyone on how to use the system to accept gift cards. I explained this was the second time I had tried to use the card and wasn't very happy that it appeared the cards they sold were no good. Finally, frustrated, the owner said if I could wait 15 minutes she would be there and would take the card. Just as frustrated I responded that I had already been there 15 minutes while the employees had tried to get the card to work and I wasn't interested in wasting another 15 minutes because she didn't know how to train her employees properly. I then asked if I could just give them the $25.00 card for my $10.00 meal and call it even. No, she couldn't accept that. I paid for the meal and never went back. Less than a year later the restaurant closed its doors.

The math is really simple. If you have a customer who is spending $40.00-75.00 a month in your business, you don't jerk them around for $10.00. I titled this post "Going the extra mile," but we're not even talking her about doing anything extraordinary. We're talking about just doing the right thing.

The loss of my business isn't what closed the business down. It was the lack of management by the owner that closed down the business. If she treated me like that, I'm certain she treated others the same way. In addition, it was obvious the quality of the food had deteriorated over time as well. When you combine poor quality food with poor customer service you have a recipe for disaster in the restaurant business. When you practice poor customer service in any business, you won't be in business long. People talk about both their good experiences and their bad ones, and bad news travels fast.

To succeed in business, or anything else in life, you have to deliver every day. If something goes wrong, and it will, you do whatever it takes to make it right. You can turn a bad customer experience into a great one with a commitment to do so regardless of what it takes. There might be some temporary discomfort involved in making things right, but that's better than a long-term or permanent loss.

It really is all about choices. Every day you get to choose the kind of experience the people you serve with have. Based on those experiences, they will choose whether to continue to do business with you or not.