PA Refinishing & Restoration: Volume 6, Issue 28

Credibility and Customer Service

by Paul Smith

The Summer of 2006 has brought us more than our share of credibility gaps in what newsmakers say and do. Tom Cruise, already under fire because of his very public condemnation of anything that is not Scientology, claims that he opted not to renew his contract with Paramount. Sumner Redstone, head of Viacom—which owns Paramount, claims that Cruise was fired because his controversial public persona was costing Paramount millions of dollars. With the obvious bias on both sides, credibility will play a role in how well Paramount, and other studios, will be perceived by the public and how Cruise and other public figures, will be graded for their public behavior. Mel Gibson made a bad situation (drunk driving) worse by spilling out anti-Semitic slurs. His later apology to Jewish leaders lacked credibility because of his history of questionable views of Jews. Israel, in an epic struggle to remain in existence in the volatile Middle East, has suffered in credibility because some of their “defensive” actions appear to many in the region—and some in other parts of the world—as callously offensive. These and the usual partisan political fights underway in the United States this election year would make even Pollyanna skeptical. But there’s more…

John Mark Karr, who confessed to "accidentally" killing Jon Bonet Ramsey in 1996, had a credibility gap from the start because of his previous convictions relating to child porn. Somehow, though, many people, myself included, believed that he was the killer. Channel 9 News in Denver Colorado, http://www.9news.com/ was early in confirming that DNA evidence showed that Karr could not be the killer in question. Channel 9 confirmed two sources before they broke the news. Their cautious approach on this story gives them credibility and trumps the credibility of John Mark Karr's confession.

Of course whether or not someone is credible can be debated and, in the end, not everyone agrees. When Floyd Landis, original winner of this years Tour De France race, tested positive for banned substances twice, his title was stripped by race officials. Christian Prudhomme, who is the Tour De France Race Director, concluded that Floyd Landis was "no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour De France." Family and friends in Landis' home town in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, saw things differently. To many locals, his years of credibility in the community overruled any possibility of doping.

So...what do Cruise, Redstone, Karr, Gibson, Landis, Prudhomme, Israel, and Channel 9 News have to do with customer service? Well, they could be viewed as poster children for how businesses are viewed by their customers and potential customers.

(1) If your reputation is reprehensible, you would have a difficult time selling food to a starving person. Almost nobody would want to do business with someone who has a reputation comparable with John Mark Karr.

(2) If your reputation is stellar, and you make a real or perceived mistake, customers will give you a chance to redeem yourself. As long as you follow through, your reputation is preserved. Floyd Landis is still a source of pride for many in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the United States as a whole. As long as no other similar incidents come to light, he will still be trusted by many locals.

(3) If your reputation is subject to your last known deed, you will be kept very busy keeping customer trust. Some business's are judged for the field they are in rather than how they perform individually. Channel 9 News may be suspect in their coverage of the Jon Bonet Ramsey story because of the public perception that "news hounds" just want the "scoop" no matter how accurate it is. This is one reason that they, and many other news outlets, have to take extra steps to ensure that the news sources are credible and can be verified independently.

(4) If your reputation is derived from being a leader in your field or area of expertise, you will be able to do almost whatever you want (that is legal) as long as you are the undisputed leader in that area. Tour De France officials made their ruling with little concern for public opinion--except maybe the French public. Full disclosure, I’m part French but all American. In the long run, however, public opinion will shape whether or not the said leader is to maintain that position, regardless of whether or not public assumptions are true.

The singular lesson in points 2, 3, and 4 is the importance of earning customer confidence every day. Taking an unpopular stand based on convictions may be admirable but be careful to allow your customer to stand with you. Taking a position based on indifference can be costly to future business. Taking a confrontational position with your "difficult" customer is unforgivable.

Everyone in customer service, me included, has made the mistake of prejudging the customer's objection as being unreasonable or too much trouble to rectify. To paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara, tomorrow is another day. What you do today will determine what kind of day tomorrow will become.