David vs. Goliath – Dave Carroll with his band Sons of Maxwell take on the Mighty United Airlines

Ahhhhhh, if you like David vs. Goliath tales, you will love this…

In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didnt deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise.

It’s a great story of how a little guy took on the indifferent corporate giant, but the numbers behind the story are just as interesting.

Check this out…..

Video #1: 8,191,077 views
Video #2: 946,871 views
Video #3: don’t know how many views, it was launched on his website. My bet it was more than 500 views!!

In case you didn’t see Video #1, here it is….

THIS VIDEO GOT OVER 8 MILLION VIEWS!!!!!

The big points here are:

• How much business, how many dollars did this cost United???
• What if they had excellent customer service and  really focused on their customers, how much would they have avoided losing?
• How much business was transferred to their competitors?

There’s no way to know exactly how much we’re talking about here. What is important is to focus on taking care of your customers.

Just this week my family was at two different restaurants where we were given gift certificates to. Both restaurants consider themselves as high-end restaurants catering to higher income individuals. Here’s what happened…

… Restaurant #1 – a high end Italian restaurant – the owner came out and angrily threw the gift certificates back at me saying he refuses to honour them. This happened while I was holding the food AND TOOK PLACE IN FRONT OF MY KIDS!!! My kids looked at me and asked what was going on, why he was so mad at me and if we were going to be able to eat. Yes, I was highly irritated. If we were on the ice (playing hockey) the gloves would have come off. I questioned his reasoning for a few minutes and he refused to accept them. And to his defense, after he very angrily threw them back, he did calm down and looked at my kids and said he would “take the loss” on these and pay for our dinner for the kids. I’m sure his intent was pure.

… Restaurant #2 – a Teppan & Sushi restaurant – my wife was coming back from a long day with the kids. Kids were tired, my 2 year old was loooooong over due for her nap and was fussy on the verge of a meltdown. I had suggested to my wife that she pick up some food from this restaurant. I have eaten there many times, spent a lot of money and referred numerous people there. I even paid for meals for many friends and clients there. So my wife ordered and when it was time to pay, she gave the gift certificates to the cashier and was instantly denied.

My wife being VERY driven and hungry, did not want to get the run around. C’mon, she had a long day with the kids, anyone that has kids understands what that’s like. She asked for the manager – no manager there. No solution offered. Not one to settle and being quick on her feet, she asked to phone the manager. She got the manager on the phone and after several minutes of reasoning with the manager, got the ok to accept the gift certificates. The manager said she would have to eat in the restaurant – NO WAY! Not with a 2 year old on the verge of a major meltdown!!!

3rd round of reasoning with the manager and the manager finally conceded saying they would do this as an act of goodwill since they were under new management and wanted to “be nice”

Can you believe this garbage?!!!!

What are the chances I will ever go to either one of those restaurants? Or ever refer anybody there? … being Italian, the food at the Italian restaurant was tasteless and just plain bad. Kraft dinner tastes better than most of their high end pasta dishes.

Here’s the takeaway – how are your customers being treated? How are your competitors customers being treated? How can you use this to create an “unfair advantage” in your business and win and keep more happy clients?

… or …

Maybe you are a song writer and want to help me write a song.

Maybe you have had similar things happen to you….

Love to hear your comments or stories below.

Be great eh!
Chris.

P.S. Dave Carroll is Canadian too!! :)