|
 Gremlin
Attacks - Keep this in mind when selecting a vendor:
fulfillment and ecommerce typically have a high rate of misfires. Instead
of a standard 4%-5% error incidence, we have learned how to keep our
error rate below 1/4 of 1%. But even with this processing reliability
there are any number of factors that may generate customer service episodes.
An order may be packaged well and shipped promptly - but be lost in
transit. A product may not measure up to customer expectations. A valid
address may not be deliverable because the customer omitted an apartment
number. A UPS or Post Office employee may back a forklift over a bunch
of packages. A credit card company may decline an order. A package may
be stolen.
As
the anecdotes in this section indicate, we have learned to deal effectively
with whatever demands, expectations and misfires come our way. More
importantly, we do so in an intensely personal and responsive manner.
Most commercial fulfillment and ecommerce suppliers are too large and/or
inflexible to operate this way. Serving undifferentiated commercial
markets, they have little incentive to do so - even if they could.
Gremlin
Insurance -
When the customer or client is in an awkward situation or up against
a deadline, we do what is necessary to generate 100% satisfaction, often
going well beyond normal practice in our industry. Following are six
examples of how we sustain and enhance relationships in ways that a
commercial fulfillment house would not likely consider. (There are many
more examples, but these are enough to make the point.) Evaluate them,
not as incidents, but as evidence of an operating style.
 1)
This was going to be an important birthday gift - if she could get it
right. The new mother-in-law knew the bride and groom would be stopping
at her home upon their return from the honeymoon. She knew that he loved
the program. What she didn't know was his shirt size. So our
customer service rep charged her for only one shirt, plus shipping and
handling. PLUS return postage. Then he sent both the large and
the extra large shirt. Enclosed in the package was an addressed return
envelope. A few days later the happy customer sent back the wrong size
with a love note. She had scored with her new son-in-law. We had scored
with her.
2)
Shipment of an item to be mailed on a specific date was stuck at a freight
terminal due to a Teamsters' strike. There it would remain until the
work stoppage was over, derailing our client's mailing schedule. So
we drove from Boulder, Colorado to the terminal in Albuquerque, New
Mexico (7 hours one way), talked our way past the picket lines and into
the warehouse, retrieved the shipment and sent it on its way via another
carrier.
3) CNN Online News reported that a train filled with loaded UPS cars
had just derailed in Nebraska. Part of the load was destroyed by fire.
The rest was left in a jumble of wreckage. We knew that dozens of our
orders were on that eastbound train - primarily ecommerce sales about
to become Christmas presents for members of the public broadcasting
audience. UPS informed us that it would take several days to retrieve,
sort and re-ship surviving packages. During this process it would continually
notify shippers like us of manifested items that had been salvaged.
Within a couple hours by phone and email Peak's staff had informed
every customer about the accident. They were told not to worry -
the original package or a replacement - or both - will arrive
shortly. The next day Peak sent a replacement for every package whose
status UPS could not immediately confirm. We did this knowing that some
people would receive an extra order they had not paid for. But, between
UPS and the grateful customers, in the end every order was accounted
for. All customers were satisfied. Every duplicate order was purchased
or returned. Every relationship was protected. Our clients were grateful.
And Peak did not lose a dime.
4)
The woman from Cleveland said her father loved tapes of Car Talk.
She had been recording broadcasts off the air and sending the cassettes
to him for several years. Now he was dying of cancer. He asked her
to send more - because he "wanted to go out laughing." When
she called to order a "Best of Car Talk" CD, she happened
to mention her father's situation to our customer service rep. Without
telling her or charging her, we included extra Car Talk items
in the package- several CDs, some old program tape dubs, a baseball
cap, and even an old autographed photo of Tom and Ray. Then, because
of her father's dire situation, we upgraded the shipping - so that
her father received his gifts three days later, at his home in Australia.
5)
We notified a fulfillment client that the shipment of merchandise
from its vendor was of inferior quality. That put the client in a
tough spot. The shipment was late. The client was sitting on nearly
two hundred names of people waiting for the overdue product. So we
told the client to email the name/address files and we would send
each of them a Post Card explaining that delivery will be delayed
and why.
Weeks later the client called to point out that we had charged for
postage on this rescue effort, but not for labor or post cards.
We had figured that a couple hours of staff time and a couple hundred
post cards were a valid company expense to help the client avoid a
disaster. The client was right - we hadn't charged. And we didn’t
charge after the call, either.
6) The caller from Texas explained that he had ordered a CD from Borders
as a Christmas present for his father. The store shipped the wrong CD,
one that his father already owned. So he called us hoping we could send
him the right one - overnight, since he was out of time to wrap the
present and get it to his father for Christmas. But we did not then
accept the Discover Card, his only means of immediate payment. We shipped
anyway. A few days later we received his check for the CD plus overnight
delivery.
While there
are many more examples of this operating style, these six should be
enough to make the point. Someday, we may have anecdotes about your
organization to put here. |
