The Price Isn’t Always Right

On the way back from a baby shower with family members in Las Vegas, my wife Annie and her Mom, my Mother-in-Law, stopped at the state line to get some “Great Prime Rib.”  A big part of the attraction was the price, $9.99.

Well Annie described the meat as inedible, that it wasn’t even the right color.  “It was horrible”.

Several weeks later it was my mother-in-law’s 79th birthday so we decided to take her to Lawry’s the Prime Rib in Beverly Hills for a special dinner.  The atmosphere was beautiful, the staff was uniformly warm and attentive, but it was well into the meal when the “magic” happened.  You see my mother-in-law was very specific that she wanted an “end cut-well done” and as she ate her portion, she kept commenting that it was the best she had ever had!  

Well, as my mother-in-law finished, there was a tiny piece that was slightly pink that she left on her plate when she said, “That was delicious!”  As our waitress walked by, she glanced at my Mother in Law’s plate, said excuse me, picked up the plate and walked away.  She returned a few minutes later with a brand-new plate of food and placed it in front of my Mother in Law.  The new plate had a brand-new small portion of “well done” prime rib, a new portion of potatoes and corn and our waitress said, “Please accept my apology, you said you wanted your Prime Rib ‘well done’ and that was not well done.”

As she turned and walked away, all three of us were just stunned…

The Essential Lesson: Turn defeat into Victory and win a customer for life…

When you have a disappointed customer the easiest way to turn things completely around is to fix it beyond their wildest imagination…remember they are expecting to be haggled with and to have to pull the solution out of you with pliers.  Surprise them with your 100% desire to please them beyond their wildest imagination.