Make Sure You Never Have to Take Richard’s Test
A friend of mine, Richard, recently hired a painter. The painter came, did the job, was paid, and left.
Later Richard noticed some spots that were poorly done or not done at all. He hates confrontation, but at last called the painter and left a message. He received no response.
"I'll give him a few days." A few days later he left another message. Still no response.
"He might be on vacation", he told me.
Another few days went by with still no callback. My friend started to wonder if maybe the contractor was simply no longer interested now that he had been paid.
So Richard devised a little test.
He called the painter and left a message (again) saying that some of his friends were looking for a good painter and were asking him for advice. He said he wanted to recommend him but needed to know first why he had not answered any of his phone calls.
Within hours, the phone rang. "Oh, I was having problems with my telephone and my machine was on the fritz and I just got it fixed this morning! How can I help?"
Very nice, but Richard had his answer. It was obvious that his contractor had only his own interests, not his clients', at heart. Rather than recommend him, Richard told his friends that this man was not trustworthy.
Take some advice from Richard: treat customers with respect, and they are sure to stick by you. Treat them shabbily and you will not only lose their business but are guaranteed to lose many other prospective clients as well.
Here are some books on good customer service.
The purpose of business is to create and keep the customer – Peter Drucker
Comments