Pre-Meal, The Newsletter by Will Guidara

Happy Wednesday!

My friends know I love it when they send me examples of great customer service in the wild. This one comes from Carey Nieuwhof.

Instagram served Carey an ad for an electric grill brush from a company he’d never heard of called Vahrelo. With summer on the way, he took the plunge and placed an order.

A week or two went by with no shipment notification; uh-oh. Maybe he’d fallen for a scam? Then he got an email directly from Michael, the company’s founder. Conflict in the Middle East had disrupted global supply chains; the brush wasn’t late yet, but it was going to be.

Michael gave Carey a firm new delivery date and added that the next production run featured a brush with a stronger motor. The price would be going up for new customers, but Carey would get the upgraded version at the original price.

Carey wrote back to say how much he appreciated the heads-up, and Michael replied with this great line: “I figured the best thing to do was tell people directly what was happening before silence created the wrong story.”

The brush arrived, and Carey loves it. I’m not sure how many electric grill brushes one person needs, but Michael’s got himself a customer for life.

We want to keep the promises we make, but that’s not always possible. What defines us isn’t whether we fall short but what we do when we do, and Michael’s template is a strong one: Communicate clearly. Name the problem before your customer does. Apologize. Then do what you can to make it right.

Have a good service,

Will