Have you ever gotten a great device that’s just been nothing but convenient and, simply put, just “remarkable”? How about being disappointed not because of the device but because of the service that you received from the company? In today’s episode, host John Laurito shares his recent experience with a company that didn’t put more effort into customer service and what leaders can do to avoid making this mistake. Remember that a company’s overall success doesn’t only depend on the product but also on the service provided.
Special shoutout to my friend from Lincoln Investment, Tamara Indianer, who gave me the idea for this topic.
[0:00] Intro
[0:44] John should be getting a commission for this…
[4:09] When things went south
[5:01] The level of service should grow as the years go by — not stagnant
[6:36] Product and after-sales service should both be great
[7:29] As leaders, take time to inspect the level of service that your team provides
[10:50] Outro
John Over the last two decades, I’ve been on an insatiable quest to learn everything I can about leadership, and what makes the best leaders so good after running companies small and large over the last 20 years. Today, I speak on stages all across the world to audiences who are interested in that same question. My name’s John Laurito. I’m your host, and I invite you to join me on this journey as we explore this very topic and what makes the best leader so good. Welcome to tomorrow’s leader!
John All right. Welcome to today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader, where we dove deep into all things leader-related, related to leaving yourself and leaving others, I’m John Laurito, your host today. So I was talking recently to a friend of mine, Tamara Indianer, who is a great leader in financial services at Lincoln Investment. And I told her I would give her props and a shout-out for this topic because I was talking to her about this. I said she and I were going back and forth talking about this topic, which we’re going to talk about today. And I said, you know, I’m going to make a podcast out of this.
John So I think I have single-handedly, indirectly, maybe directly sold 50 of these remarkable two tablets. Now, I don’t know if you know what this is and when I say directly or indirectly, I got one of these things. I think it was January of last year, so I’ve had one for about a year, a little over a year. These things are awesome, actually. For those of you watching a video, this is it. If you can see it here, but it’s this, it’s this tablet that is just kind of really cool like you can write on. It’s like paper. Very, very cool thing. Anyway, see, there you go. Maybe I sold another one right there. I should be on commission with remarkable too. They should literally. I think I’m responsible for a good. I must be some kind of asterisk or something in their annual report. I don’t know. I just want some kind of credit. Doesn’t even have to be money. I don’t know. Maybe, maybe you sponsored the show remarkable to people anyways. In reality, I was talking to Tamara and I said, You know, I love mine so much.
John Tamara has got one. A bunch of people at Lincoln has them. A bunch of leaders all over the place have them because I’ve been talking about it. I love the thing. It’s easy. It’s replaced my piles. I don’t even have it in here and it’s in one of my cabinets, piles of notebooks like literally, I used to have this old outdated system and blah blah blah and, you know, notebook after notebook. And I’d have to go back and flip through pages trying to see where I wrote notes about some conversation that I had with somebody. Now it’s all in this little pad, so I’m really, really happy with it. So happy that I talked to my son, who’s at Loyola and his freshman year in college, and I said I was telling him about it. He said, You know, that’d be really cool. Actually, I said, I said, Would that be helpful for classes and stuff like that? He’s like, Yeah, definitely.
John So I got him one in probably a week or two after he started using these, like, have these things running out of batteries like crazy? And I’m like, Oh, that shouldn’t be the case. Mine holds a battery for like two weeks. So I said, you know, keep working with the plane with it, whatever, plug it in anyways. A couple of months went by and even nowadays like that, I’m not even using it anymore. It’s not. It’s not working. I’m like, Wow, really? So I said, Why don’t you give it to me? I’ll send it back and we’ll get a new one. That’s obviously something wrong with it. So I reached out to the company. I explained the situation and I said, You know, I’ve gotten one in multiple.
John Obviously, a bunch of people has gotten them. I love the tablet. I said I got my son one, and here’s the deal. It doesn’t hold its chargers to problems so it doesn’t hold this charge. And it’s that the button, the power button is not functioning. I can tell it’s just it’s one of these things that you depressed and you can feel it. And there’s no up and down movement. It’s just stuck in one position. So that’s probably part of it. It’s something wrong with it. Mechanically, it’s not just a software thing. Maybe both. So anyway, I explain this it’s under warranty. No problems like, OK, just tell me how to ship it back and this and that and I’ll get a new one.
John And these are not cheap. They’re like 600 bucks. I mean, that’s not a cheap investment. So, you know, that’s 50 bucks or 100 bucks. That’s one thing. It was 600 bucks. So I get a response back that says, sorry, this doesn’t qualify, we’re not going to replace it. Instead, you know, here’s our customer service number or whatnot now. I got to tell you, I’m like, really disappointed with that because it’s what’s happened is somebody made the decision. It’s clearly an issue that is not just software-based, but it’s a mechanical defect on it, explained it pretty clear to them. And now I’ve got to go through the whole process of speaking of somebody going through it, trying multiple attempts at getting it fixed. They’re going to come up with the same conclusion. Hopefully at that point, at some point, I’m going to be able to send it back.
John Here’s my point, my conversation with Tamar was all about the fact that the service level nowadays and her comment actually was, You know what? I’ve heard that same thing. I’ve heard that remarkable too, is not good with service. In fact, I’ve heard they’re terrible at service and it got me to thinking and we were commenting on this together that the whole expectation with service is that the old definition and description or level of service was acceptable and in some cases was looked at as being premier and over the top. Years ago, even a few years ago, is totally irrelevant now. I mean, in this day and age, you have to provide a level of service that is absolutely exemplary. Other otherwise you risk your company just going under, honestly. Now, in this case, their product is phenomenal, and that’s what’s caused everybody to get these things.
John The product is very good. But think about how easy it is for your organization to get labeled for better, for worse. Now, this is a small sample and I had one bad. It’s I was oh for one, I had one bad experience with them. And now I’m. My opinion is, is negative. Now, Tamra said, I heard that too now. Maybe she heard it from one person, another person, maybe shorter from 10, from 50. I don’t know. But my point is that the sampling size only has to be very small, very small to all of a sudden have this reputation that grows. Now here I am on a podcast that’s listened to in sixty-six different countries talking about this now, in all fairness to remarkable too. I will go through that process and my experience personally with the product is great.
John Experience so far with the service is not great and I will be fair because I will go through that process. And if they fix it and rectify great, I will make sure I come back on and give a full report. But my point is that in this day and age, you have to be so good at not just the product, but the service because that’s the way you are going to lose existing clients. That’s the way we’re going to lose future clients, and that’s the way you’re going to gain future and existing future clients. The service is now embedded in people’s minds that the level of normal service is where it was for exemplary service two-three years ago. And again, this is not anything crazy. I mean, but you’re making a big investment.
John You now take it back. I mean, just give me a new one. I mean, because it’s clearly better now. Be different. If it was just the software, possibly, maybe there’s a glitch or something I can reset or something like that. I get it. But there are two different problems with it, and I was pretty clear on that. And anyway, just disappointed. So my messages as leaders, you have to inspect this. I mean, if I had 50 people in an organization that is all responsible for giving some level of service, I could have 49 of them. They’re giving great service that one person that is not. Is now interacting with people that could be spreading that experience to many other people, could be doing a podcast on it, could be doing all kinds of stuff.
John And the bottom line is it’s a gap. It’s a major crack in your armor, in your foundation that could ultimately lead to a really bad spiral effect. You have to, as a leader, inspect every aspect of your business, and incredibly critical is the service level. And if that means you going through as a secret shopper, so to speak or other people or whatnot, whatever way you need to get a really clear and accurate pulse on that you have to find leaders sometimes are kind of turning a blind eye to it in some cases, which is horrific, or they’re just in the dark about it. They’ve got their head in the sand and they just don’t know. They’re not aware of this until it’s too late because you see how quickly a reputation can be developed. So Netivot, my message, my quick message to your leaders out there today on the importance of service in this day and age.
John You cannot go too far to provide great service because your competitor is probably going above and beyond. You have to assume that if your competitor exceeds you and provides it providing better service, the product could be actually less. They could actually be less effective or worse quality than yours, and clients will still go to them because people want to be taken care of. They want to feel important. If you have a thousand clients who want to know or feel like you, they are your most important client. That’s what we’ve kind of grown now as a society to expect from the best companies. And we know we have a choice. We know we can go to other places that will provide that service. So long gone are the days when there’s just one provider of something.
John I’m sure there are going to be other many, many, many other companies and there already are that is mimicking or trying to mimic the remarkable two again, great product, lackluster service right now. I hope they fix it will find out and I’ll report on that. But any of that want to give you some food for thought? Well, it’s on my mind. Tamara, thanks again. Again. Shout out to you and to all of you who have things that you want to explore or talk about. Sure. Maybe it’s something I’ll even bring you on this show and we’ll have a little back and forth, whatever. Reach out to me. I’ve got a couple of people this week that did, and I will be bringing those topics into our episodes as well because they’re great ideas. Reach out to me. Feel free to shoot me a text.
John I’ll have to tell you my cell phone number. I don’t even. People are like you’re crazy. Share, your cell phone number? I don’t know. I mean, I’m a trusting person. And I’ve got a great fan base and they’re nice people and you’re going to reach out to me for good reason. So eight six zero five seven three seven two three Oh, shoot me a text. Let me know what’s on your mind. We’ll set up a call. Whatever I’d love to hear from you beyond that.
John Share, subscribe, like, all that kind of good stuff and go down below, give a five-star review and we’ll see you next time. Thanks, everybody. Bye. Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader for suggestions or inquiries about having me, for your next event or personal coaching, reach me at John@johnlaurito.com.
John Thanks, lead on!
