Gain the benefit of the doubt
When you are a small company, you have a lot of things stacked against you. Your competition has a lot more money, more connections, and a long reputation to ride on.
Their marketing department gets to take potential clients out to fabulous restaurants followed by single-malt scotches, or take them golfing, or whatever it is they do. Your marketing budget allows you some business cards and some phone calls.
That’s why it’s common sense that small businesses must provide outstanding customer service to survive; they have to turn clients into repeat business.
Yes, it’s common sense. When you experience it first hand, however, it just feels special.
I recently ordered an athletic supplement that a friend recommended, called Vespa. Like any athletic supplement I kind of suspected it was…more useful as a business model than an aid in athletic feats. But I figured it was worth a try, and I was preparing for a race.
About ten minutes later, my cell phone rang. It was one of the founders of the company, calling me directly to find out how I’d heard about them and to discuss how to maximize the effects through nutrition choices. He was genuine. He is an athlete himself, and developed the product with friends for their actual use.
He was knowledgeable and sincere, but funny and refreshingly non-professional. He commiserated with me about how hard it is to give up the pasta and bread. ”Oh girl, you know that’s totally physiological. The cravings go away after a while, I promise.”
As soon as a company grows to the size where the founders aren’t performing the customer service, the magic is lost. Getting a call from customer service departments becomes more of a nuisance at that point.
As for the product, I’ve only used it twice so far. Both times were for runs lasting about two hours, and I was far less sore the next day than I’ve ever been before.
- Could it be that I’m just getting better at running and that’s why I’m less sore after long runs? Perhaps.
- Could it be that Vespa really works? Perhaps.
- Could it be that I was so impressed by the personal customer service I received that I gave Vespa the benefit of the doubt? Absolutely.
This is what you need if you’re a small business. There will be times when there is a grey area, and you want your clients to give you the benefit of the doubt. They only do that if they like you.
After all, will your construction documents be perfect? Of course not! But you want your client to know that you worked hard to get them as good as possible, that the remaining errors are well within the standard of care, and that you are absolutely committed to correcting any issues immediately.
So be genuine, talk to your client all the time, and preempt any judgement by getting them on your side before issues happen.
