Personal Development Training and Motivational Humor from the Motivational Smart Ass!

Why does it seem that the simplest and most obvious things are the ones that most often get missed?

I recently had the unfortunate need to get my car towed from one garage to another. I headed over to the garage that had my car and called a towing company. They quoted me a price and said it would be about an hour before they could get there.

Ah, tow truck woes. And no, that is not actually my car - maybe someday!
(Picture by Robert S. Donovan)

I pass the time playing with my iPhone (no, that’s not a euphemism), eagerly looking out into the parking lot every time I hear a car pull in.

An hour passes. No tow truck.

Ten more minutes pass. Still no truck.

Ten more minutes pass. Still no truck.

I decide that I will give it ten more minutes to make it an even 90 (and an even 30 minutes late) before I call.

Ten more minutes pass. Still no truck.

I call the company back, and the woman who answers says, “oh, they got called out to an emergency on the Parkway. Let me call and find out where they are.”

What.

The.

Heck?!

She calls back a minute later and says that they are dropping the car off now and will reach me in 30 minutes. This will put them at a full hour late. Again I say:

What.

The.

Heck?!

I say, “And you are still going to charge me full price for this?”

“Yes.”

I have to tell you, I was sorely tempted to tell her to “shove it” and that I would find a reliable towing company. But doing the math, I knew that would only be punishing myself since waiting for a tow from another company would have taken even longer than 30 minutes. So I said, “fine,” and started to stew.

(keep reading though, as their uppance would come…)

I understand that emergencies happen and that things go wrong. (Ding happens!). What boggles my mind is that at no point did anyone think to call to say, “hey, we are going to be an hour late.” Shouldn’t that just be common sense? Isn’t that just common courtesy? 10 minutes, sure no problem. 30 minutes is really pushing it, but I can be a little forgiving. But an hour? And you don’t let the customer know??

The worst part is the feeling of powerlessness that accompanies being jerked around by bad customer service. I was so frustrated by the bad service, but didn’t want to take action because it would hurt me worse.

It is quite possible that some companies give bad service because they know the customer won’t seek an alternative. This towing company could leave me hanging, go make more money by dealing with the parkway emergency, and then come get me when they had time. Unfortunately, this is a short term solution that hurts in the long term.

If you ever make a customer feel powerless, they will certainly never come back (unless you are a government agency, in which case you have no choice). They will never refer you. And they will bad mouth you to as many people as possible.

For example, I might tell my friends, “If you ever need a tow in central Jersey, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever use All Car Towing and Recovery.”

You may be thinking, “but Avish, if they had called to tell you they would be late, you might have called another company.” YES! That is the point. If they are unable to deliver as promised, they should give me the choice to find an alternative. That way I won’t hate them and bad mouth to everyone. I may have even used them in the future if needed. In fact, on an earlier occasion, a company called “Mandy’s Towing Service” did call me to let me know they would be an 60-90 minutes late and that they would understand if I got someone else. I did, but I would absolutely recommend and use Mandy’s in the future.

The Comeuppance

REVENGE!!!

Hmm, this is interesting.

Once the car was off the truck, I walk outside and ask the guy if he is interested and able to tow my car. He calls it in, says “yes,” and quotes me a price.

The price was $5 more than the first place, and I jumps at the chance to say, “yes!” I think I would have paid $20 more just to be able to not use the first company.

I don’t consider myself a petty man, but I have to tell you, making the call to cancel the first company filled me with more glee than I have ever felt on even the best Christmas morning. I honestly believe in forgiveness and being positive, but the annoyance and slight dejection. I heard in the woman’s voice when I called to say, “never mind,” absolutely made my week.

Hey, you have to appreciate the little things in life, right?

Great customer service shouldn’t be all that hard. Be courteous. Be attentive. Have a good attitude. And above all else, use common sense. If you don’t, you may just drive your customers into the arms of your competitors.

Mmmm, garlic mashed potatoes...
(Photo by 177)

At the tables, the settings had cards that described what would be served for dinner, along with the entree options. The steak option (which I always take – consider yourself “RSVP’ed” if you invite me to your wedding…) said it was accompanied by “garlic mashed potatoes.”

Mmmmmmm, garlic mashed potatoes.

Yes, I do love me some garlic mashed potatoes. I have even been known to choose my entrees at restaurants based on the fact that one came with the garlic mash while others did not. On this menu, it was paired with the steak, so it seemed I was the big winner this night. Or so it seemed…

When my entree came out, there were no garlic mashed potatoes on my plate! No, there were in fact roasted potatoes. I am no high falutin’ culinarian, but I know the difference between mashed potatoes and roasted potatoes. And my roasted potatoes were not garlicky either.

I’m no culinarian, but these are clearly roasted potatoes, not garlic mashed potatoes...
(Photo by skampy)

Ok, I did no such thing. But I will say, I found myself craving garlic mashed potatoes all night (sad, I know, but I was looking forward to those!) . And I spoke to a few others in passing about, and they also noticed the “surreptitious swap” of the roasted potatoes for the mashed.

Will I refuse to ever step foot in that establishment again? No. Did this ruin the wedding or reception? No, of course not, the reception was fantastic. Did it ruin my night, or did I complain? No, because I am a fully functioning adult with a modicum of intelligence and perspective.

However, it did get me thinking about the concept of the expectations we set in our products and services. If the menu had said “roasted potatoes,” I would never have gotten a craving for garlic mash. If the menu had not mentioned potatoes at all, I would barely have noticed what kind of spuds came with my meal. But because the menu stated there would be garlic mashed potatoes, my expectations rose, which made me disappointed when they didn’t show up.

Not a big deal that night (You might say it was, “small potatoes.” But then you would have to turn in your humor card for making a terrible pun). But if you are in business and you create an expectation with a customer or prospect, you now must make sure to deliver on that expectation.

Lesson: Deliver on What You Promise

Some people like to suggest that you, “under-promise and over-deliver.” I don’t agree with that, because “under-promising” is a pretty terrible marketing strategy. But “realistically promising and over-delivering” is definitely a winning strategy. Whatever you choose to promise, the one thing you must never do is “under-deliver.” That’s a sure fire fast-track to failure.

Sometimes in our over eagerness to get a sale, please an irate customer, or impress a colleague or boss, we sometimes over-promise or promise things we don’t know we can deliver. No problem setting the bar high for yourself, but if you do, you better make darned sure you clear it. If not, you will look much worse than if you had never promised in the first place.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go mash up some potatoes and garlic (damned cravings…)