evening bag. Phil promptly bent over to pick it up. Riiiiiiip! Right down the
midle seam.
Most of the diners facing Phils derriere mercifully looked away. A few
tittered. Phil, tugging the torn seams together to blaket his buns, backed his
way into the booth. The cool upholstery on his bottom the rest of the
evening reminded him of his humiliation.
When I heard of Phils tribulations, I was furious at L.L. Bean. I
immediately called one of their customer service agents. She sypathized as I
told her of Phils ordeal, but I was still simmering. She patiently listened and
even asked me details of the disaster. When I finished the long sad story, the
agent said, Oh thats terible. I understand, your friend must have felt awful.
Yes, he did, I agreed. He must have been mortified! she said. He
definitely was, I said, surprised at her excellent grasp of
the situation. And you, when you heard about it. You must have felt
terrible, too, especially after youd recommended our products so highly.
Well, your products usually are excellent, I said, calming down a bit.
Im so sorry we caused you this pain and aggravation, she said.
Oh, I interrupted. Its not your fault. Now I was copletely appeased. It
must have just been a fluke that this one pair of pantswas...
Technique #87
Echo the Emo
Facts speak. Emotions shout. Whenever you need facts from people
about an emotional situation, let them emote. Hear their facts but empathize
like mad with their emotions. Smearing on the emo is often the only way to
calm their emotional storm.
Theres more to this story, but let me pause here to interject the Echo the
Emo technique.
The clever customer service rep not only emptied my tanks and softened
me up with Echo the Emo. She completely dissolved me with the next
technique.
How to Make Em Like You (Even When Youve Messed Up)
The next day, UPS delivered not only the replacement slacks, but tucked
into the package was a handwritten apology and a hefty gift certificate.
Would I order from that company again? You bet I would. Would I
recommend their clothes to someone else? You bet I would. Top customer
service folks welcome mistakes because they know it gives their firm a
chance to shine. Whenever you mess up and someone suffers because of it,
ooja
(Ooja)
#1