Several years back, my wife and I used to frequent a small Italian restaurant on a weekly basis (yes, weekly). It was a ritual. During one of our visits there, I decided to order a small side dish of pasta, instead of the large entrée portion, along with my eggplant parmesan.
When I asked the server for a small bowl of pasta on the side, she informed me that it didn’t come in side order portions. “My wife and I aren’t one-time diners,” I explained. “We love this place. We come here every week. Can you please check to see if the chef [who was the owner] can make an exception?”
Moments later she came back to our table apologetically shaking her head. “He said we couldn’t do a side order of pasta. It’s not on the menu.” I could tell she was not pleased, and didn’t understand his decision.
I politely smiled. “That’s a shame. Can you please ask him one more time. The server nodded and left for the kitchen.
While my wife and I were awaiting the verdict, we discussed how much money the restaurant had made off our business and how much we loved the food. We figured we spent around $75 a week ($3900 annually) over the past year, and would probably be regulars for the foreseeable future 15 years ($58,500). We prided ourselves on being loyal customers. Surely the restaurant valued our patronage as well? The server finally returned, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry. We can’t accommodate your request.”
My wife and I were extremely surprised and disappointed. Needless to say, we never visited that little Italian restaurant again.
Viewing this situation from a long-term perspective, our weekly visits amounted to thousands of dollars of revenue each year that this small restaurant subsequently lost. Unfortunately, the owner’s focus was narrow and rigid. He wasn’t taking into account the long-term benefit of pleasing the customer and creating a positive emotional experience.
A year later, I wasn’t terribly surprised to see the restaurant’s windows boarded up and its sign removed from the parking lot. Clearly, the owner had a major problem with his strategic focus. He not only shut off the communication line between his business and his customers, but obviously had other business problems that were not being addressed.
When you treat a customer in a manner that creates a negative emotion, when you don’t really listen, they’re probably not coming back, and they’re almost sure to tell their story to everyone they know. Many business leaders sometimes have difficulty seeing the enormity of loss in such a scenario because they’re only focused on the short-term.
Losing a customer is a more expensive loss when viewed through a long-term lens, especially if they could have continued buying from you for the next fifteen years. Losing tens, or possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue over something relatively insignificant or inconvenient is just not smart. Before you let your emotions get the best of you, and say “NO” to a client’s “ASK”, take a deep breath and seriously consider the Long Term Value of the client.
As always, have a great week!
Henry