LP Gas, August 2010

Promises Listen to your customers and follow through on your good intentions R ecently I took a telephone call from a propane customer complaining about her propane supplier When I informed her that we do not deal with pricing issues in our offi ce she was very unhappy She demanded that someone listen to her complaints and she was given GUEST COLUMNIST our offi ce as a possible solution GREG NOLL After several minutes of listening to her it was obvious that her problems were not only about price concerns Her unhappiness went back several years She was promised that her tank would be painted three years ago and it was not She was promised the same thing last year but the tank remains unpainted She was promised that the delivery truck would not back into her yard when making a delivery but it did She was promised that the delivery invoice would be brought to her so she could pay for the delivery or the invoice could be left in a specifi c place so she could send a check in the following day Again these two simple requests were not done Throughout my 28 years in retail I learned that perhaps the best way to deal with an unhappy customer is to listen I did nothing more than listen to her and take notes When she was done informing me of her complaints and concerns I read them back to her and assured her that I would call her back after I visited with her propane supplier However her last comment and my reply quickly ended our visit When she stated that she thought our industry needed to be regulated so these things did not keep happening to her or anyone else my reply was very simple and very much to the point When I told her that the customer regulates our industry there was a long period of silence and her reply was I never looked at it that way If you have a customer who voices concerns you need to listen If you make a promise you need to follow through with that promise If you have recently lost a longtime customer and you are not sure why stop and think about it The ultimate decision is on the customer to decide their propane supplier If you dont listen you may never know why your customer took their business elsewhere I promised this caller that I would visit with her supplier about these issues and I kept my promise to her Have you delivered on all of the promises youve made If youve kept your promises and have met your customer needs good for you If not lets hope its not too late Everything should be done with the customer in mind My former boss once said Good intentions and promises should be treated like a crying baby in church they should all be carried out immediately At the time his statement did not make much sense to me Now its perfectly clear Dont make promises you dont intend to keep LPG Greg Noll is executive vice president of the Propane Marketers Association of Kansas LetsTalk 38 LPGas August 2010 www LPGasmagazine com