Guaranteed. For Life.

The early Spring here in the East gave me a chance to head for the yard and tool shed to see what projects were ready for the weekend.  As I was looking over the garden tools, I came across the two pieces of a shovel I had broken last summer.  This shovel had been in my family for over thirty years – a strong wooden handle, a great blade still without a spot of rust.  But it was sadly now in two pieces, at long last a victim of attacking roots of one last stubborn and old shrub in the yard.  I had forgotten about it over the winter, and was now remembering how hard it was to throw the pieces away last year.

My girlfriend asked, “that shovel is a Craftsman?  I think it has a lifetime guarantee. You should check it out.”  Indeed, my dad had bought a lot of tools from Sears over the years, but while I remember wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers from their Craftsman brand having the guarantee, it hadn’t dawned on me it would apply to garden tools too.

We drove to  the local Sears store and headed it, shovel parts in hand.  I had NO expectations or even any real hopes that they would replace the shovel.  In fact, after owning the product for thirty something years, I was probably more concerned the sales person would either have a laugh or think I was nuts to even ask.  I found the tools department, and approached the sales desk.  “Can I help you?” asked a twenty-something.  I was going to answer something to the effect that I had a shovel that was older than her that I had broken and would like to replace, but instead explained I had broken the shovel and wanted to see if they would honor the guarantee.  “Sure, we’ll replace it.  Let’s go pick out a new one.”, she replied.  To my amazement, we went and found a new shovel, proudly displaying the Craftsman brand and with some great features I didn’t know shovels even had – guess thirty years will evolve even a shovel!

As for my twenty-something Sears advocate, there was nary a “hmm, I’ll have to check”, nor a “how did YOU break it?”, nor “I’ll need to file a claim – you’ll need to fill out these forms”.  The answer was, is and always will be: “yes, we stand by our product, and we’re happy to have you be a satisfied customer.”

What was great about this experience:

• The PRODUCT guarantee was GENUINE – not just a punch line
• The BRAND guarantee was GENUINE – delivered with a smile by the front line
• The promise and the policy were rooted in a brand’s tradition – and forged to be unequivocal

Nordstrom has always been famous for its customer service, and there’s always been a potentially mythical but always powerful story about a store associate accepting a tire a customer returned to Nordstrom. And while Sears itself has had lots of ups and downs over the years, this Craftsman brand remains as steadfast as always.  The POWER of the brand experience is to be surprising by honoring the brand promise – and in the process, create a memorable experience and a powerful brand story to tell many others about.  I know where I will continue to buy tools for the trade and the yard.  Good work Sears!

 

More to the Story – A Word from Asurion’s Top Office

Soon after my last Asurion entry, I wrote a letter to the CEO Bret Comolli and Colleen Mullens, the head of customer care.   I complemented them on their team’s responsiveness and service .  I chose to contact them through their “Send Us Your Feedback and Ideas” link on the website.

Not knowing whether the email from the “Write Us!” links actually get read, I was pleasantly surprised to get a letter back from Bret’s office later that evening!

Letter as follows:

Good Evening Bryan,

My name is Jabriel.  I am with Asurion’s Office of the CEO.  I’d like to thank you for sending your highly complimentary feedback.

It is always a delight to hear about a great customer experience; as we strive to make sure that each interaction is a positive one.

I will make sure that your kind words are passed on to Bret, Chuck, and Colleen; as they will absolutely be delighted that you took out the time to send this feedback.

Please feel free to contact me directly, should you have any questions or concerns in the future.  For your convenience, I can be reached via email or phone.  My direct contact info is listed below.

Thanks again.

Jabriel Allah

Office of the CEO

************************************************************************************************

My thought for the day:  With many firms monitoring tweets as well as more formal feedback, I encourage you to set up and use ALL the listening posts you can – and encourage more customer contact by responding when they take the time to write.  It’ll make for more Word of Mouth stories to tell!

 

Un-tethered! Asurion to the Rescue!

In today’s uber-connected times, losing your phone is like using your last lifeline on “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire”!  You panic, wondering how to even let others in your work or personal space even know you are cut off.  Your electronic tether is cut, and you are headed for open waters.  A couple of weeks back, I was grocery shopping and for some reason musing about how reliable my LG ENV2 phone had been the past year.   How brazen to even be thinking about why I bothered to sign up for the phone insurance plan, in this case supplied by Asurion.  Sure enough, after loading my groceries into the car, I closed the driver side car door, but it “bounced” back open.  I pulled my coat in further ad re-closed it without much of a thought.  A bit later I went to make a call and realized the display was an interesting piece of new modern art – an array of black and white pixels that no longer resembled anything in english I could read! I must have closed the door on my coat with the phone in it!

Wow!  How would I even let people know I was “un-tethered”! Panicked, I tore through my files looking for my Asurion contract.  Finding it, I went to the site, and found the Claims page (it’s actually their first page – you know what business they are in!)  Picking my carrier, I followed the site’s claim process through. While Asurion tells you you can receive your replacement phone the next day, I was concerned, since it was just going on 5pm.  I also had appointments out of the house and a trip looming, so I had to have it the next day or risk being on the road with no phone.  I completed the claim process in five minutes, and anxiously awaited the confirmation. It arrived in minutes to my email, letting me know I had a claim and tracking number for the phone’s delivery.  The next day, I checked on my shipment before heading out for the morning.  Arriving back home in the afternoon, I was delighted to find a small box from Asurion sitting on my porch (they delivered it with no signature required as I had requested).  Using Verizon’s great BackupAssistant app, I reloaded my contacts and was up and running.

I was delighted – for the time being!  Over the couple days of my trip I realized the battery on the new phone kept dying after about eight hours. I called Asurion this time, spoke with a tech representative, who helped me with some problem determination.  She determined they should again replace the phone for me, so we set up for another delivery.  While this new problem gave me an opportunity to be upset with Asurion, they actually turned it into another opportunity to delight by again demonstrating professional, quick response, making sure my new phone arrived the next day.

Fast. Easy. Professional.  That, apparently, is Asurion’s way.  If you haven’t signed up for this, give it a thought!  Find them at http://www.asurion.com

Lessons for our businesses:

1. When customers are in crisis, emotions are high.
2. Handling customers situations well in crisis is not easy to do.
3. If you go beyond the basics of expectations, you can delight.
4. If you delight in THIS situation, your customers WILL advocate for you and the Word of Mouth will be very, very powerful!
5. Pay attention to the processes and customer interactions where crisis can occur and emotions will be high – if you get it wrong, beware!  If you get it right, you will distinguish yourself from the field!