"For every unsatisfied customer who complains there are 26 other unhappy customers who say nothing. And of those 26, 24 won't come back."
-U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs
Even the best organizations sometimes stumble and deliver less-than-perfect customer service. Something not to be taken lightly when you consider this: a whopping 65 percent of customers who take theri business elsewhere do so because of poor customer service (only 30 percent leave because they find better or cheaper products).
These statistics apparently hit home for one Canadian company in the home health care industry. Nurse Next Door made pages of Fortune Small Business recently for it's "Humble Pie" program. When this company stumbles, it delivers a fresh-baked pie and a note apologizing for the poor service. Nurse Next Door estimates spending $1,500 on pies that have prevented $100,000 in annual sales from going elsewhere.
According to John Tschol, president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, the humble pie results are typical. His research shows that people who experience good customer service will tell five others, while people who receive bad service well tell ten others. (Online complainers can impact hundreds to thousands more.)
Nurse Next Door also uses continuous feedback to keep its customer service on track. Each month, customers are asked two questions: "On a scale of 0 to 10, would you enthusiastically recommend us to your friends?" and "what's the biggest reason for the score you've given?" The company acts quickly to correct any problems.
Something must be working...Nurse Next Door has grown more than 3,400% since 2001 to become the largest home health care provider in Western Canada.
Nurse Next Door's Core Purpose:
Making Lives Better through Home Health Care
Our Core Purpose is why we do what we do.
It is why we started the company and it is a reminder
of why we come to work every day.
Core Values:
Our Core Value represent the soul of our company.
Because of these core values, our employees feel that Nurse
Next Door is an exciting and special place to work.
Admire Our People
We recognize that people are the cornerstone of our success.
Our team has the important responsibility of helping our clients
live healthier and happier lives. Our people always come
first—happy employees mean happy clients,
and happy clients are what we are all about.
Wow Our Customers
Wowing customers with our compassion and service is our specialty.
The relentless commitment to customer service and friendly staff is
The Nurse Next Door Way. It's not what we do; it's how we do it.
We go extraordinary lengths to delight our customers, creating
WOW! experiences whereever and whenever we can. We take
pride in making our clients happy, striving to make each
personal contact one that is memorable and touching.
Find a Better Way
We will always promote an entrepreneurial culture
where individual initiative and out-of-the-box
thinking is the norm.
Be Passionate About Making a Difference.
We strive to do things for the common good. We work
together as a family, to innovate and grow. Nurse Next Door
is about building something much bigger together than any
one of us could create alone.
Service Lesson Learned:
Admit your mistakes and take responsibility.