As I mentioned in my previous post 'Is your business a Storymaker?' it is important to remember that word of mouth can take the form of a story.
Whilst a short narrative will sometimes accompany a positive tale of service brilliance, you can rest assured that a negative experience of your business will generally be wrapped into a delicious storyline ready to entertain friends and family over the following months if not years!
To illustrate this point a friend came to stay this weekend and she was telling the story of the theft of her handbag. A horrible experience her bag was stolen, late at night and with it her money, wallet, keys, diary and phone. She was fine but obviously shaken at the time.
Here starts the tale, summarised but you can still get a feel for the plot;
Act 1. A good old taxi driver who would not accept money for taking her to her father’s house when he heard what had happened.
Act 2. The police (who are cracking down on theft in the area) apprehend the criminal and recover her money, phone and card that night.
Act 3. A stranger finds her bag and precious personal items and returns it.
Act 4. Here is the moment for the big Customer focussed brand to make it’s entrance. My friend called her mobile phone company to notify them of the theft and to arrange a replacement phone. All went well until she asked them what she should do when she gets her original mobile back from the police (as it was being treated as evidence and wouldn’t be available for some time). At which point they refuse to issue a phone and rudely explain “you know where the phone is, I know where the phone Miss X is so it clearly isn’t missing and we won’t replace it.”
Now companies need to have policies, but sometimes for a moment of truth of this type surely common sense, and not rudeness, should prevail. They made no attempt to deal with her temporary need for a phone, nor resolve her complaint, and because of this her story will continue to have a sting in the tail for this brand on each telling.
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