Project 366 / 320 - Slights, customers and doing the right thing

I came across a saying a while ago that read "Become indifferent to slights because time and energy are too valuable to waste on petty matters".

Hmmm, that's an interesting thing to say. I'm guessing that it depends on the context and who is saying what. A slight can be a small inconsideration. It can also be an insult borne out of lack of respect. In any way, anyone trying to drag you down is already beneath you so to becoming indifferent to their opinion is paramount.

Then there are those who believe to be equal or greater than you, in most instances (and in business) that'll be your customers. In my business we have a great selection of customers from all walks of life and all ages. Most are extremely grateful for your free advice, expertise and service. Yet there remains some who batter the customer is always right stick in face of all opposing evidence.

It must be said that the customer isn't always right, that's just a saying that exists because without customers there is not business. It creates an environment where the customer believes that they can do or say anything and, in today's social media world, one has to be careful how to handle.

We had a situation at work recently where someone ordered a piece of furniture from one of our customers. Our customer explained that he'd ship it through us and delivery would be on a particular day. Everything was agreed and went ahead.

We collected the item, packed it to our normal high specification and handed it to our carrier to deliver on the agreed day. When the driver arrived to deliver he found the address was inside a gated compound but managed to gain access only to find the the recipient wasn't in. He telephoned the receiver but got no answer. He then called his office who called us. We tried calling the receiver but got no answer. We then phoned our customer but got no answer. The carrier explained that they could leave the item safe and in the absence of being able to contact anyone and to avoid a £100 redelivery fee which no-one would want to pay we authorised them to do so.

Little did we know but the recipient had gone on holiday for 2 weeks without telling anyone and by the time they had returned the item had suffered some water damage by the rain.

We received a tirade of abuse from both our customer and the receiver, both of whom blamed us for everything. We spoke to our carrier and asked them if they felt that leaving the item outside was technically safe and they hid behind their terms and conditions.

The long and the short of it was we were stuck between a rock and a hard place and, when threatened with a social media backlash, decided to abandon our own terms and conditions and pay an undisclosed amount to make the problem go away.

In business problems can be likened to battles and wars. Sometimes it's better to lose a battle yet win the war - lose some money short term because longer term you'll make it back tenfold. Sometimes turning a negative experience into a positive one for your customer can reap much more positive results. We've received glowing testimonials from jobs that didn't quite go to plan yet we made good yet received no feedback when a complex job was completed below budget and ahead of schedule.

I guess you can never tell. But doing the right thing is always the right thing.