The Customer Is Always Right... Or Are They?

Don't you just hate it when businesses treat you like trash? You get the distinct impression that you are not welcome, you are just another annoying client, another customer that will make their day even worse. But what about when the business owner treats you like that.

I think these employees and business owners should remember who pays their wages. Now, I know that dealing with the public can be hard and there are some people out there who make it their sole purpose in life to make the business owners life hell. But they are in the minority so don't paint us all with the same brush.

Being a property investor we get targeted by mortgage brokers. Normally we tell them politely to go away because we have an ongoing relationship with a bank. But one persistent lady broker got our attention and after listening to a presentation about why we should use her as a broker and how much money we could save... We decided to give her a go.

She had put a lot of effort into capturing our business, which was impressive. We wrongly assumed that was the benchmark and that we could expect some great service. We spent over 4 hours in total looking at different bank proposals, wading through forms, applications and listening to why this bank had the best deal but we shouldn't deal with them because... She was so detailed it was driving us crazy. We just wanted a recommendation with a few options to choose from... SIMPLE!

Eventually we got to filling out an application form, only to be called the next day, to say that she had found a better deal. She had destroyed the initial application and could we come in and sign the other application.... aaaarghh. Why had we ever entertained this idea!!

But it got worse... The application was rejected by the bank and we got sent a $660 bill for the cost of valuing 2 houses. We had seemingly agreed in writing to paying for these valuations, but our file had been destroyed by the broker within 4 weeks of the application being submitted.

This broker now has a very disgruntled customer. She spent all that money, time and effort to get us in the door only to have us walking out, vowing never to use her services again, potentially $660 out of pocket and telling everyone that asks. Fortunately I walked back into our original bank and received the finance within 24 hours.

What a huge waste of effort. She had hooked us and just needed to close the deal to have clients for life... But she blew it, massively.

The broker could have been earned just over $50,000 in commission, on this loan, over the 30 year period, if we never refinanced. But even if we had refinanced in 6 years she still would have earned $10,000 and probably would have got the commission on the new deal anyway.

We tell our friends, because they ask, and they tell theirs and the loss of business to this broker is huge.

Unfortunately I have heard of 2 other cases where this broker has treated clients the same way and I don't believe she can see what damage she is doing. She is not analyzing why she is not closing and is making matters even worse by going in for the attack by demanding the $660.

Some people just don't get it...

What about your business, how are you and your staff treating clients. Remember it's the small things that count. Always consider, not only what the client will spend with you today, but in their lifetime and, even more importantly, how many other people will they refer to your services.

Add it all up and you will be astounded at the dollar value... It'll make it much easier to smile and do everything you possibly can, to ensure that client has a fantastic experience.

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