Long-time subscriber and longer-time best friend Evan Hughes shared the following anecdote with me yesterday:
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Hey dude, I just had a great customer service experience, wanted to share it with you.
I’m big on a company called Burlebo out of Austin. They are outdoor lifestyle brand, cool designs, great feeling fabrics. Cool vibe.
I recently ordered a handful of items from their website, including a “Mystery Box” that included 3 mystery polos at a reduced price.
Long story short, I got my order, but it was missing 1 of the Mystery Box polos. As I was looking for their contact info, I noticed they had a phone number on the postcard they include in the packaging. So I decided to call it.
This is a local-ish company, but they are in a bunch of massive retailers across the country. So I wasn’t too hopeful that I’d connect with someone on the call. And sure enough, I got a voicemail letting me know they were busy packing orders, but that I could text them.
So I did. I gave them my order number and let them know what happened. (To be clear – I wasn’t angry, just wanted them to know so they could send out the other shirt).
To my surprise, I got a text back within 5 minutes from an actual human named Tiffany. She apologized and told me she was sending me a whole other Mystery Box to make up for the mistake. (Sending you a screenshot so you can see the exchange)
What a solid company! They’re growing fast, but obviously still focused on customer service. Which is a great marketing tactic, because you’re the 3rd person I’ve told about this.
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Here’s the screenshot he mentioned:
I love experiences like this, whether they happen to me directly, or a client / friend shares them with me.
A few takeaways to keep in mind for your practice:
- This story started with a mistake.
It would have been nice if Evan had received his entire order in a timely manner. Obviously that’s what he wanted, and what Burlebo wanted. But he didn’t. The company made a mistake.
But they were able to turn that mistake into awesome word-of-mouth – perhaps even better word-of-mouth than if everything had gone right.
Mistakes are going to happen. But rather than simply trying to fix it, how can you transform a mistake into a win?
When someone has a bad experience, that’s your chance to create a superfan.
In this case, what was the cost of them fixing it? 2 of their polo shirts. If you contrast that cost vs. the word-of-mouth they will receive… paired with the repeat business Evan will clearly be giving them moving forward (i.e. his increased Lifetime Value as a customer)….
Certainly Burlebo comes out in the green.
- Tiffany was empowered to fix it.
The cost of 2 polo shirts is not significant. BUT based on the turnaround time of the reply text, it’s clear Tiffany didn’t have to go track down a manager and ask what to do.
Burlebo’s customer service team has been trained to:
- If we make a mistake or if someone is unhappy, it’s your job to fix it
- You are allowed to spend up to $X to fix any issue, without getting approval from a manager
- Leave the customer feeling cared for, with their problem solved
I did an Instagram Story about a local bakery that empowers their people in the same way.
You want to empower your people in the same way. Not only does it lead to faster fixes and happier patients, it also makes your processes more efficient (which is huge for a busy practice like yours).
- The customer service bar is ridiculously low right now. (So it’s not hard to be awesome)
If you think about what happened, it wasn’t anything extraordinary. He literally called them. And they didn’t even answer.
Then he texted them. And they texted back in a timely manner with a pleasant tone and a fix to his problem.
This isn’t earth-shattering, ninja customer service stuff. It’s basically common courtesy.
But in the current “customer service climate” this feels like a huge thing. Reality is most businesses just don’t take customer service that seriously. So exchanges like this really stand out.
So remember, it doesn’t take much to be awesome. Mindfulness, kindness and a focus on taking care of the patients’ needs.
All of this is rooted in leadership, which is a core concept we teach in our E3 Conversion System Bootcamp. How can we Always Be Leading (ABLe)?
- Humanity comes from actual humans (not robots).
Could Burlebo have an automated SMS response that tells people to “email support@burlebo.com and we will contact you back within 48 hours.” Yes.
In fact, that wouldn’t be the end of the world. It would be fine.
But if that was the case, I never would have heard this story. Because it wouldn’t be a story.
So on one hand, you have a lot of companies doing customer service poorly. And then you have another contingent that is automating a lot of this or using AI to handle it.
I’m an automation fan when it’s appropriate. Example – if a lead comes through your website on Friday night, you don’t want them to wait until Monday to get some kind of response from you. So an automated, conversational message 5 minutes after they submit the form is great.
But humanity is the magic in this exchange. Read the SMS exchange. Tiffany is obviously a human (or the best AI out there?).
Bold Prediction: As AI becomes more common – in messaging, in content, in videos, on social media – the value of a human interaction will continue to increase.
And it’s easy to spend 6 months and tens of thousands of dollars trying to AI your way out of customer support. Or you can get good people, train them up, and have them create “humanity magic” for your patients.
The latter is easier, most cost-effective and certainly creates more spark to light the fire of stories like Evan’s.
If this resonates with you…
If you want to be the truly dominant practice in your market… if you want your word-of-mouth to drive more patients into your practice (because that’s about the best referral source there is)…
Our E3 Conversion System Bootcamp is just what the doctor ordered.
If you want your patients telling stories about you like Evan is about Burlebo, you gotta train your team to wow people daily, even (especially?) when things go wrong.
Reply with “E3 Me!” and I’ll send over our Bootcamp Implementation Guide that goes through all the specifics of how we facilitate this game-changing coaching program with busy practices like yours.
And if you want a great customer service experience and high quality outdoor attire, apparently Burlebo is the place the go. So check em out! (I plan to)
— Troy “Humans are Your Superpower” Cole