Good news about bad 'customer service'

One quote in a story by Jeff Benjamin in our RIA Rundown special report (InvestmentNews, May 31) caught my eye. “This business is about service, and that's why you lose more clients for bad service than you do for bad performance.” Those words came from John Krambeer, who left the commission-based brokerage industry to start his own fee-based firm, Camden Capital Management LLC, a few years ago. In a short space of time, he has built one of the fastest growing fee-based advisory firms in the country, with assets under management doubling to $500 million in just the last 18 months. Mr. Krambeer obviously knows a thing or two about customer service, which most financial services firms make every attempt to deliver. But sometimes stuff happens, despite the best of intentions. When such glitches arise in an organization that strives to deliver — and usually provides — superior service, all is not lost. In fact, a properly handled “bad” service experience actually can cement a client relationship. Let me give you an example.

CAR TROUBLE

Returning from an industry event, I recently landed at Newark Airport at around 11 p.m. after a flight of several hours. I'm sure you know how I felt: exhausted, tired and hungry at the end of a very long day. All I wanted to do was get home and go to sleep. I had called ahead and booked a car service that my company uses. It's a reliable service with friendly, attentive drivers. That night, however, something went wrong. After waiting more than 20 minutes past the allotted pickup time, I called the dispatcher, who said the driver couldn't get to me because of a traffic delay. The dispatcher asked that I walk to a different location to find the car. I agreed and lugged my suitcase over to the other location. Again, no car. I called one more time. Another dispatcher gave me a different set of instructions. This went on for 10 minutes. At that point, after almost an hour of hanging around Newark Airport, I lost it. I yelled at the dispatcher, reminding him that I was the customer, and that I wouldn't walk another foot: I wanted that car to come to me, not vice versa. A few minutes later, the car arrived. The young driver apologized for the mix-up. He never blamed the dispatcher but said there had been a miscommunication and that he was sent to a different pickup area. The driver was actually waiting for me while I was waiting for him. I told him I wasn't upset with him, but I informed him that my company would not be paying for the ride. The driver responded by saying, “I am sorry all of this happened. And I know you're not mad at me, but right now, I represent the entire car service. I want your ride home to be enjoyable, so don't let what happened spoil the rest of your evening.” This driver understood customer service (and how to handle an irate customer). I told him how impressed I was by what he said, and he told me that all the firm's employees take classes in customer service. Since his management demands that the staff provide excellent customer service, the driver suggested that I contact a manager about what transpired, promising that my complaints wouldn't be ignored. The following day, I phoned the car service and spoke with a manager. She immediately waived the cost of the ride. She also asked that I send her a letter explaining precisely what happened, because she uses both positive and negative customer letters when training new employees. The manager followed up with a phone call a day later and told me that the dispatchers had been disciplined for their poor customer service and for the mix-up. She thanked me and said she welcomed customer complaints. “It's the only way you get better,” she said.

TEACHING MOMENT

Those in the financial services industry can learn a lesson from all this. My incident with the car service is no different than what could take place in your business. The manager at the car service didn't just find a way to meet my needs, she actually was able to exceed my expectations. What's more, she recognized that a complaint was an opportunity, not a confrontation.