Recently, I had an experience that was a perfect example of how NOT to treat your customers. Let's call the company MessedUp Office Supplies for the sake of this story. I have been sending my printing order every month for the past year to MessedUp Office Supplies and up until this point, they had done an average job. This time, my experience would be disastrous - and the last.

I emailed my order to them as I have always done. The email contained instructions and the files for the job. 30 minutes later my phone rings and it is Phil from MessedUp Office Supplies, with some questions about my order. I answered his questions and was left with feelings of doubt about the job being done correctly. The next day I picked up my order and sure enough, the color of the paper and the entire layout were wrong. The clerk's first words to me were, "I wasn't here. The job was done when I came in." I explained the way the job needed to be done and asked when I could pick it up. I was told it would be ready the next morning. Well, I finally got a call at noon saying the job was done. I picked up the order and took a look to make sure it looked right. The end, right? Wrong!

I got back to the office and started to put everything together and found that I was 100 copies short. Upon calling the store back to explain the problem, I was told that I must be wrong. After explaining that I had counted 3 times, and still missing 100 copies, I was told that my initial email was wrong. After discussing that, I asked how they were going to correct the mistake, because this project HAD to be in the mail tonight. I was told all of the things he could NOT do to help me.

How does my experience apply to you? Easy - what is your customer recovery system?

Each and every one of us, at some point in time, will drop the ball and make a customer or client unhappy. This is a critical point in your relationship. You will either correct the problem and regain their business or you will lose them forever. If you don't have a customer recovery system in place, then you are going to lose them.

A customer recovery system is a process to handle any problems that arise when dealing with unsatisfied customers. It may be a simple hand written apology sent in the mail, or as much as a full refund of the purchase price and a verbal apology from the owner. Whatever you decide, make sure it is in place BEFORE a problem arises.

If you wait too long, you may find yourself flipping the OPEN sign on your door to CLOSED - for good.