If customers have a negative experience with your organization, they might remember that your organization made a mistake. But if you don’t do something to make the situation better, they will never forget you and not in a good way. Customers do not really have expectations of perfection; they have expectations that your organization cares about them more than their money. Prove to them that you care more about them than their money. Show them, don’t just tell them.

A national business recently had a customer who had a problem with a product. Instead of fighting the customer and creating a bigger problem, the organization did what needed to be done to keep the customer happy. They didn’t let the customer walk all over them, but they did take actions to preserve the relationship. The customer-business relationship is similar to any other relationship – it is multilayered and complex. It isn’t solely transactional. It builds over time, if you let it. But just like any other relationship, it can be destroyed by careless actions.  

Don’t worry about being perfect, worry about maintaining the relationship.