It is said that “the customer is always right.” Well, sometimes the customer – in this case, me – is definitely not right. And the vendor who knows how to handle that situation can be the hero of the day.
Many moons ago, I purchased ink for my printer and attempted to swap out the blank ink cartridge. When I did, I got an annoying message from the printer that something was wrong with the new cartridge. After a few more failed attempts at getting it to work, I got fed up and asked my wife to take the entire package of new ink cartridges back to the store and exchange them.
After a little while, I was very surprised to receive a call from the store owner. He kindly asked me what exactly happened and tried to understand the nature of the issue. In this brief exchange, we did not find any logical reason why the black cartridge was not accepted by the printer.
The store owner paused and then said: “Alright, I'll replace the entire set for you, okay?”
The effort he made to call me and personally clarify the matter is not to be taken for granted, nor is the way he immediately took responsibility for the issue and replaced the product.
And if that was all, it would have been enough. But there is more to the story.
After I received the new set of ink cartridges, I suddenly understood what had happened. Apparently – and you might have guessed already – without realizing it, I tried to replace the black ink cartridge with a cartridge of a different color.
The store owner no doubt listened to the tale of the supposedly problematic cartridge, saw that it had not been opened, and then called me to be sure he understood correctly. When I confidently claimed that I had tried replacing the black ink cartridge, he made a quick decision.
Rather than pointing out my stupid mistake, and the effort and time pointlessly wasted, he agreed to “replace” the “defective” cartridges for me.
Personally, I learned two life lessons from this little encounter:
1. A “defeated” customer – even if you are 100% professionally correct – is not going to be a satisfied customer. Of course, this has a critical caveat: the mistake already occurred. If you are trying to prevent your customer from making a mistake, then by all means voice your professional opinion – the smart customers will appreciate you even more.
2. In the mysterious Case of the Black Ink (sorry, I am in the midst of reading the Sherlock Holmes series), the store owner avoided causing me even the slightest embarrassment. He may have thought of the unpleasant self-consciousness I’d feel if he highlighted my error on the phone or its potential to cause even a moment’s frustration between me and my wife. Whatever the case, he simply made the decision to be kind.
And that thoughtful approach certainly has immense value far beyond our business relationships.
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