Yes, it’s true. I have a professional crush on Sandra Martini, creator of Escalator Marketing™ and Extreme Client Care™ and business consultant. Her ideas and advice are always relevant, and make me a better, more savvy entrepreneur. A recent blog article of hers called Implementation Fail inspired me to take a step back and look at business implementation with a fresh eye.
In the article, Sandra talks about those businesses that are successful in many ways, and yet, because they have a failure of implementation–the business of doing business–they lost a customer. They lost Sandra’s enthusiasm, loyalty, and cash. They had great products, great business models, or great buzz, but because they failed at transacting business smoothly and well, they lost out. In her examples it was simple implementation errors; a distracted employee, failure to plan ahead for the lunch rush, and poor customer service that left her feeling so negative about those businesses that she’ll never return.
You can have the greatest toy store in the world, but if an employee is rude to my child, I’ll never go back. I’ll tell my friends how disappointed I was, too. When a clothing store I love gives me a terrible time returning an item according to their policies, they lose my trust and loyalty. When an audience buys a ticket to see an exciting speaker and the venue is oversold and some of the ticket holders are unable to attend, they don’t return to that venue…and may even blame the speaker!
Don’t lose your customers or your audience to implementation failures! Systems and processes can help ensure that you and your employees have a great plan for excellent customer care. Even so, take a hard look at your business from your customer’s point of view. Their experience should be all positive…no matter what is happening behind the scenes. You don’t have a business if you don’t have customers. It’s just that simple. Your customers need to be satisfied every time. Never forget, even when mistakes are made, good customer service can smooth over other implementation fails.
Sandra’s fresh take on implementation failures was a great wake-up call for any entrepreneur. The snappiest website, a brilliant business plan, a terrific product or service, none of that matters if your customer or client is disappointed at the end of their experience with your business!
