Mistakes, we all make them and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. At Lead Engage Agency we made a mistake during our launch. Those of you who tried to reply to our first communication received an “Unable to Deliver” message. This happened because the reply email address was incorrect.
Rather than ignoring this or just working to reply to those of you who noticed the issue, we chose to own it. “Oops, We Made a Mistake” was the subject line for the resend of the original communication.
What is the right way to handle this? How have companies handled this in the past and what can we learn?
There are a lot of examples of companies turning a potential fiasco into a customer relations win. There are even more cases of customer relations fiasco’s that intensified further after the company responded.
When Saturn launched its first vehicle in 1989 it had 1,100 cars with an incorrect antifreeze mixture which caused corrosion and leaks. The traditional solution would have been to have the customers return their vehicles to the dealer, the dealer would complete repairs, and return the vehicle to the owners. That is not what Saturn decided to do. They were a different kind of car company. They decided to replace the owner’s vehicle with a new identical vehicle. As a result, they turned a potential nightmare into a public relations boon that solidified a segment of customers for life.
One of the most talked about cases was Jim Burke, CEO of Johnson and Johnson in the 1980’s. He made a decision to recall 31 million bottles of Tylenol capsules. He did this after 7 people died from taking Tylenol that had been tampered with and tainted with Cyanide. This action cost the company an immediate $100M. His team led an effort to develop and implement tamper proof caps. They relaunched Tylenol after implementing the tamper proof caps and ultimately regained the market share, they lost.
More recently we all remember the case of United Airlines dragging a passenger off the plane. They did this in order to allow a pilot to take his seat. We then watched as the company made the public relations nightmare even worse with their response and the leaked internal emails.
There are plenty of cases of customer service fiasco’s going viral on the internet and the companies having to do damage control in order to try to restore their reputations.
What makes the difference? Why are some companies able to thrive when facing these issues and yet others cannot seem to “catch a break”?
I believe it starts with how you live your values as a company, what you expect, and how you treat your employees.
In United’s case, it was about following the rules. The rules say that, in these cases, we need to pick a passenger at random and they must give up their seat. The employees were most concerned about what will happen to them if they break the rules. If they follow the rules and something bad happens it is not their fault. So, they followed the rules rather than considering the impact this would have on the customer.
Saturn and Johnson and Johnson did not follow conventional wisdom. They looked at what was the right thing to do based on company values and what they stood for and this guided their actions.
Following the rules is not number one for those who spend time clearly defining company purpose and values and then living that every day. Teaching, mentoring, and coaching their employees takes priority. They encourage and reward employees who take action and make decisions based on purpose and values. As a result, they almost always avoid these fiascos. They often have Raving Fan customers, suppliers, and employees.
If you are looking to become this kind of company, call us. We thrive in partnering with leaders to create companies that achieve great results and are awesome places to work. We can be reached at ray@leadengageagency.com or (586) 747-6803.
