A Little Something For The Weekend?

It's great to get feedback.  Especially when it's intelligent constructive feedback.  Even better when it's positive feedback from a happy customer.

Let's be honest here, as consumers, how often do any of us bother to let retailers know that we are pleased with their product. Isn't it the case that we are most likely, if not only, to let them know when something's amiss?  Most of us are quick to complain, and quite rightly so, when we think that we haven't quite got what we paid for.  But how often do we go out of our way to say, yep, great, thanks, great product/great service?  It seems to be a bi-product of the modern age, and also possibly the fast pace we now live at, that we take so many things (and people) for granted.

Well over the weekend we got, not just one great complimentary email but, four from separate satisfied customers singing the praises of our products.  Not such a big deal you may say, and sure we have received frequent positive feedback since inception that has guided our organic product range.  But this was different, and not just because it was all from guys! The fact that they had actually gone to the trouble of writing, one of them in some depth, about how the products they had bought as gifts for their loved ones had a significant uptick impact on their home relationships. Well great for them, and us of course and good to hear it. Whilst we know our products are top line in our field, we still felt compelled to respond in each case that it was the fact that these guys had gone to the trouble to seek us out for their respective partners, they had revealed that they were tuned in to their partner's specific tastes and that speaks volumes in itself, so they really were the 'good guys', we just helped them along.  After all, we're not exactly Amazon in either size or in the advertising stakes!  

So what were they so excited about that they felt the need to let us know in writing, you may ask? 

All four compliments were as a result of our recent Valentine's Day promotion.  Apparently the guys (yes, on this occasion they were all guys buying for girls) had made great choices (apparently) and scored major brownie points with their loved ones.  So we must have done something right along the way too!

They were especially grateful for the extra care we had taken to package up and present the items and even more surprised to receive our secret 'extra' organic freebie that we like to put in each order as a matter of course.

To underline the main point of this post, feedback of pretty much any kind is good for a business. The most obvious feedback is subliminal, in that your customers become more than just that, they become loyal satisfied repeat customers.  Feedback of any kind, good or bad, indicates how your business and products are perceived, it offers an immediate opportunity for you to keep on doing what you're doing right or conversely address any issues that are letting you down.   

But when customers go that extra mile, as these guys did in the whole process from their diligence, thoughtfulness and 'after care', it also balances that human touch equation that is so often lost in daily commerce.  We were buoyed up with 'Dr Feelgood' for quite a while after that.  In a nutshell, common decency, thinking about others before themselves, good manners, please and thank you; remember them?  From our perspective, we ensure that politeness and great customer service is a priority, but what we're really talking about here is way outside of our realm of business, we're talking about everyday life in general, wherever you may be and the adding of 'a little oil to smooth the machinery' as you pass through; after all we're all human, aren't we?   

Don't get us wrong, after this good news weekend we've not suddenly come over all complacent.  When you care about your customers as much as we do, you should always be striving to improve products and service on a daily basis as we continue to do but, at the very least, we can congratulate our staff for yet another job well done.

More importantly, we offer many thanks to our customers for taking the time and trouble to let us know their thoughts, for remaining loyal and for coming back for more!

Thank you, 

from The Solid Bar Company Team