Keeping a Good Reputation is Better Than Fixing a Bad One

I do some work in the home school market writing DVD courses for home school math. This week we’ve really been swamped with calls and emails about parents getting ready for the Fall and needing answers to some key questions.

In getting all of this done, we missed one phone call. The lady had called us and left a message but during the recording her phone clicked out just as she was saying the last digits of her phone number. So we couldn’t tell what her number was to call her back. It was right on the day that we were updating our phones, too, so we didn’t have a record of the missed call and had no way to call her back. It wasn’t really anything we could have avoided, and she took the time to email us later so we talked eventually, but it was an enlightening moment.

Even things we can’t avoid or change will impact our customer service, which impacts how our companies are reflected to the world.  I think too many companies let customer service fall second on their priority list. Returning the phone calls or getting back on that email are not put up there as being important. But they really are just as important–if not more important.

As you are looking at your business, whether you have your own company, or you are in a contract with another company that you serve, you have a customer. And as you are serving this company or your company’s customers, remember that how you treat people matters a whole lot more than whether or not all your i’s are dotted and your t’s are crossed. How people feel they were treated by your company is what they will remember when deciding to do business with you. Keeping up good relations is always better than trying to mend broken ones. Make your service a priority.