Blog for Carson Tang

Are you a business owner, executive, or employee dealing with customers? If you ever lost a customer over something that could have been avoided you’ll understand why experience can be a painful learning curve for anyone who thinks they are right merely based on an assumption (I find it interesting the  word “assume” is so similar to the combining of two words: “ass” and “me”).

There is some big things one needs to realize in any business regarding customer relations.. never ever ever speak or take action sooner than you have the facts and have weighed the potential consequences of your actions. Say something  prematurely even when the customer is wrong and you risk an unnecessary confrontation that may escalate into public warfare especially if the customer has sociopathic tendencies; speak or take detrimental action against or counter to your customer prematurely when the customer is right you have a bigger more tangible problem.

Now think of co-workers.. every said something you regretted saying to a coworker or employee? This can come back and bite you in the but or even worse the legal binder. What is deal with so many people rushing to judge, rushing even faster to say something before they decompress and remove themselves from a emotionally charged moment before “sticking their foot in mouth”.

There is no sin nor tax for taking a few hours or even days to respond to a potentially harmful or contested situation. Take the time, collect the necessary information, and then deliberate the consequences of any actions or inactions you decide to take even before you take them. I’ve been guilty of speaking too soon and it was a powerful learning curve for me in creating a unequalled company with very loyal customers.

As far as a business to business relationship here is an example of what may happen if you abuse your customer relationship and don’t offer your customer at least fair treatment one would expect from a relationship that has been in place for several years. I will use a real example from my own experience as a business to business customer so you may better understand the thinking that goes on within a customer in my same situation.

I represent access to and lines of communication with over 14,000 potential new clients for the vendor. Our vendor courted us, then was approved to partner with us where we would promote the vendor/partner to our constituency, and had enjoyed a six relationship with us with seamless results. 

Then comes a day a first time customer, of a customer of the vendor, emails a complaint about us. Suffice to say the complaint was based on the customer’s attempt to wrongfully secure free product through a campaign of libel and slander using their known friends to bear false witness to the complaint (the minutia is unimportant in this example.. just know we were wronged and our name libeled).

Making a long story short the vendor summarily took the side of their customer’s customer without regard for the facts and actual setting while also fabricating their own mis-truths in an attempt to justify their own decision. Why did they do this? It was about who screamed the loudest and creates the most nuisance wins the day. Our philosophy is give a man enough rope and if they are headed in the wrong direction they will hang themselves. 

What does this summarily mean? The vendor wanted us to give the customer product worth about $60 USD to just make the matter go away. My belief about bullys and terrorists is to not reward bad and illegal behavior because it breeds more of the same. Nevertheless the matter was resolved by another third party associated with us just to champion a dumb situation that the vendor should have taken care of when it first arose. 

Now, what do you think a loyal business partner or customer with our 14,000 members would do in this situation?

You guessed correctly, this vendor will never see a single piece of business from me again.  I happily refer my members, customers and contacts to the vendor’s competitors. All because of the vendor’s inability to cure their “foot and mouth” disease. The representive was the Director for the company. I never took this issue to our contact’s superior because service could not be worse elsewhere. Why get caught up in trying to hang onto something you don’t want to deal with again in the future, or be treated in this fashion; “its just business”. This insight is what I share from the customer perspective and was left unsaid.

There are some things that are forgivable for friends and even colleagues, but in the business world always know if you don’t take care of your best customers, and treat them with respect, they will take all their business to your competitor.

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