The Tattered Cover in Denver is one of the largest independent bookstores in America. Founded in 1971, it has hosted live readings by such famous writers as Julie Child, J.K. Rowling, Garrison Keillor, and three U.S. presidents. The bookstore came under attack when owner Joyce Meskis refused to release the book-purchasing records of a customer who was part of a criminal investigation.
Losing her case in the lower courts, Meskis funded an expensive appeal on the grounds of her customers’ First Amendment rights. Not only did she win the state Supreme Court case, she won the admiration of customers around the globe. Even those who disagreed with her position praised her honor and courage in the face of strong opposition and risk of significant financial loss.
Honor and trust are the lifeblood of repeat business. To serve well is to enter into a covenant with a customer promising that worth will be exchanged for worth in a manner satisfactory to both sides, and in a way that keeps customers’ best interests at heart. When customers suspect any hint of disrespect or deceit on the part of service providers — a deficit of honor — the odds of their darkening the organization’s doorstep again fall precipitously.
What does the word “honor” really imply? The dictionary tells us it’s “nobility of soul and a scorn of meanness” and suggests a state of discipline, courage, and honesty. Wedding vows incorporate all of those traits. When soldiers pledge “duty, honor, country” they vow not to defame the name of country or military service. Whatever the virtues that define it, honor is not an easy state to achieve. Even the Book of Proverbs acknowledges the challenge: “Ease and honor are seldom bedfellows.”
Honor is the soul of the service covenant. We rely on it to govern fair and proper practice. Service interactions aren’t regulated by formal contracts that bind the server and the served to virtuous behaviors — customers simply assume they’ll be treated in a respectful, ethical, and civil manner. When they aren’t, cracks begin to form in their repurchase intentions. Should customers experience further disrespectful or dishonest behavior, those fissures grow into fault lines that rupture and send them drifting away to the competition. Those who serve customers with honor act as “trustodians,” constantly guarding the transaction and relationship to protect their trustworthiness.
As the chief customer “trustodian,” people who serve with honor know even one significant slip up can cause customers to question an organization’s motives and unravel a hard-won bond. This trait requires staying vigilant and disciplined to spot weak spots in the organization’s trust-building efforts. Like a mother who uses “any means necessary” to protect a child in danger, those who serve with honor are not respectful of practice or protocol when trust is in jeopardy. When these conscience-centered servers
come across a customer complaint that represents a violation of the covenant, for example, they take immediate action to ensure the situation doesn’t escalate and trust is restored.
John Gutweniger, then an assistant manager in the call center of AIG Insurance in Florida, was nearing the end of a long shift then his supervisor called to say an irate customer was demanding to speak to a manager. No sooner had John greeted the customer than the blistering began. “She was hysterical, her words a combination of screams and sobs,” John says. “She had just purchased an auto insurance policy through our sales department earlier that day. Being that she was on an extremely limited budget, she asked that her down payment be deducted from her account the following day (Friday) when she got paid.”
But this wasn’t exactly what happened, John goes on to recall. “She claimed that this was agreed to. However, she found out otherwise when she tried to purchase groceries later that evening and was told the account was overdrawn.” The customer demanded her money be refunded immediately and her policy cancelled; John knew there was no way for him to refund her money that night and attempted to explain this as gently as possible. “What followed was about 15 minutes of screaming about the fact that she was a single mother with two children living from paycheck to paycheck,” John says. “She informed me she had no
food at home for her children other than moldy bread. I was speechless.”
Not knowing how to respond, John asked the only question that came to mind, “Other than getting your refund back to you tonight, is there anything at all I can do for you?” She paused for a moment and said sarcastically, “Yeah, you can buy us dinner.” “Of course,” John thought. “Why hadn’t I thought of that? I asked her if her children liked pizza. Somewhat confused, she responded that they did. I asked her if she would allow me to have a pizza sent to her house that evening. She initially declined, but I insisted. Finally, she accepted my offer.”
John went online, found a Pizza Hut in her town, and had a large pepperoni pizza along with an order of cinnamon bread sent to her house. Driving home that night, he felt a sense of peace about himself. “Although I knew the customer would certainly be canceling her policy as soon as her refund was processed, it wasn’t about her business anymore; it was about her welfare as a human being.”
Once the refund was processed, John contacted the woman one more time to apologize for everything that had happened. He said he was sorry to lose her as a customer and informed her if she ever decided to come back to contact him directly. “She informed me that she would not be coming back. I wished her the best and prepared to close the call.”
“One other thing,” she stated, “Yes?” I replied. “Thank you for the pizza.” The magic of trust is that it quickly compounds — show trust to customers and they’ll trust you right back. And customers who trust you, and feel trusted in return, typically buy more, are more patient with hiccups and more forgiving of mistakes, return more frequently, and sing your praises to others.
Honor is the fundamental expression of civility and consideration — that is, people behaving as they always should toward other people. Shakespeare has Anthony tell Octavia before the battle with Augustus, “If I lose my honor, I lose myself.” So it is with the person who serves with honor. If he or she fails the customer, it represents a failure to everything his or her organization should stand for.
Chip R. Bell is a customer loyalty consultant and the author of several best-selling books. His newest book (with John R. Patterson) is Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to do about it. He can be reached at www.chipbell.com.