Creating customer loyalty through mistakes, but not by mistake

I talked to a US client recently. This was a new reseller with whom we really wanted to get a good start. We didn't. We started off with an introductory call and he ordered a demo product to get acquainted with it and also to have something to show his customers... That's when things started going sour.

The demo unit delivery should have been a brand new product, fresh from production. Instead, we shipped a first delivery of an older, previously used product. It had scratches, dirt, and other marks of wear and tear. Why we sent this? Human error, a mistake, internal communication, lack of procedures... A mix of reasons.

Client of course complained, and I called him immediately, investigating what was wrong. We checked pictures and could quickly see the client was right. We took a quick decision and sent him a replacement product which arrived within a week. He confirmed the new product looked great on arrival and started using it.

After a few days of using it, a critical part broke during a demo with one of his customers. It broke in two places... Again, I took immediate action, elevated the matter to a product specialist and sent not only 2 new parts, but 6, so client could replace also the ones not broken, just in case.

I then called him again and apologized, a bit worried that he would be disappointed with us and our products and frankly didn't want to represent us anymore. I mean two strikes out of two aint good.

But, to my relief, this client saw us for exactly what we are and want to be - a team of people behind a product. The products may have been broken, but he just said: "Mathias, I don't care about the product. I care about what you are doing for me and how quickly your organization act to fix things for me. This says something about a team and I'm happy to keep working with you guys!"

So, to conclude: this client may even be more happy with us now, that we have shown our standards when it comes to supporting him. A customer satisfaction, which we may not have had possibility to prove if we had provided him with 100% product from start. We are still trying to always deliver top notch from start, but if we fail, we have to counter the loss in confidence in product or delivery with an increased confidence in us as people. As a bonus, this client will always get extra attention from me, as he has shown us confidence and I don't want to lose that.