Always ask why!

This week I had the pleasure of attending a credit union marketing conference. The conference itself was great. Fantastic presenters, timely topics, wonderful food and a very fun group of people. That being said, the location left something to be desired.

The conference was in a small tourist town in the midwest. I am intentionally being cryptic in that I don't have very nice things to say about this historic hotel.

I had some travel troubles on my way to the conference that had me arriving about three hours behind schedule. I was exhausted and hungry but decided to just check into the hotel, hit the vending machine and go to bed.

In the modern travel world, we have been trained to expect a decent bed, clean rooms and a good breakfast all for one price. Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Fairfield Inn are three such examples. The hotel where I was staying had clean rooms. That's it. No free breakfast and it was like sleeping on plywood with a brick for a pillow and sandpaper for sheets. I was MISERABLE.

Then I learned that the Fairfield Inn across the street not only had the free breakfast and comfy beds, but also had a lower rate! So I checked out of the above mentioned carpenter's workshop and checked in across the street. I even volunteered to pay for the night I wasn't going to stay.

I went to the front desk, checked out a day early and offered to pay for the night I wasn't staying. The clerk said, "OK." And that was it. She never asked me if everything was OK or if there was something she could do to help me. She just handed me the receipt and let me walk away without another word.

I glanced at the receipt and noticed that I was only charged for the night I had actually stayed. That's great but then I realized that one of two things had just happened.

Either 1.) I was not the first person to do this and she knew that the accommodations left something to be desired and she didn't want to hear about it again; OR, 2.) She didn't care.

Either way, she had an opportunity to address the situation and make it right with me. Maybe there was an upgrade available, maybe the hotel is looking for feedback to make it better for future guests, or maybe, just maybe they really don't care or haven't trained the staff to pretend to care.

Enough rambling. How does this relate to you? If a customer comes in to close their checking account...don't let them get away before you ask why and make every effort to do right by them. It's a simple point really.

Sometimes you will lose the battle and the customer will still walk away...but if you diffuse the situation and do everything you can to make it right with them, it is possible that they will tell everyone how hard you tried rather than how you didn't care about them.

So, will you ask why? I hope I know the answer to that question!!

Jenna