If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It. If It’s Broke, Fix It Now.
Nicky came to us in January from United Animal Friends. He was eating a premium brand of dog kibble and seemed to do fine on it. Then the kibble manufacturer sent me a request to sign up for their newsletter. The hook was a coupon for $5.00.
OK, I thought, I’ll take the five bucks and maybe learn a few tips on dog nutrition.
A month went by. Lots of promotional emails, but little useful nutritional information, and no five bucks. I didn’t give it much thought until I got an email apologizing for the delay in sending the coupon. I’d forgotten about it at this stage. The email said it would be in the mail in a few days.
Another month passes. Still no coupon, so I googled the company. I must have been having a slow day, or I was avoiding something. Anyway, I got an email address and fired off a polite inquiry. Meanwhile I read a ton of bad press on them … all sorts of accusations about mislabeling, etc. They were even convicted and paid a huge fine.
No response to my email, so I unsubscribed from their newsletter and switched dog food. Nicky didn’t seem to care. About a month later the coupon arrived in the mail. I trashed it.
OK. The moral of the story. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Leave it alone. They had nothing to gain by sending me one lousy $5.00 coupon toward a product that I was spending about $40.00 a month on. Their newsletter was like getting a bunch of spam several times a week … loads of ads, little or no useful content.
Accidently, they drew attention to the price of their product, which was way overpriced, and to their unethical reputation. Then they reinforced this impression by not following through on their promise
There are several lessons here for those of us in sales:
· If you already have a customer, hold on to them. Don’t piss them off by promising something and not delivering.
· It takes a team to keep your customers happy. It only takes one person to screw up the relationship.
· If something happens to undermine the relationship, act quickly and decisively to fix it. People are incredibly forgiving, but they will not tolerate being ignored.
· Don’t be afraid to try something new to increase sales. Just be careful to get your ducks in a row first. Don’t:
“Open mouth and insert foot. Open mouth wider and insert second foot.”
Look, I understand my example is about a very small purchase. One lost customer is not going to have much impact on that company’s sales. But what if a hundred people, or a thousand or more switched brands?
Most B2B salespeople deal with about 100 or 150 customers. Some customers generate more volume than others. Regardless, we can’t afford to lose any of them. It would be nice to think we’re perfect, nice to think we never make mistakes. That’s not realistic. We’re human. We screw up once in a while.
Look, I understand mistakes. Stuff happens. As Robert Burns said:
“The best laid plans o’ mice an’ men gang aft a gley.”
The above quote is from Burn’s poem, To a Mouse, On Turning Up Her Nest with a Plough. Written in Scots in 1785, it literally translated means, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go sideways.” Regardless of how carefully you plan things, expect the unexpected. When you screw up, or a team member screws up, fix it as quickly as possible and move forward.
I’m Oliver Connolly and I help owners and sales managers create a sales force that makes the numbers. Contact me to explore ways of working together oliver@streetsmartsalesmanagement.com
Check out my website https://www.streetsmartsalesmanagement.com for some FREE STUFF on sales and sales management.
