While driving home from work recently, I listened to an interview with the author of a book about tips for writing an effective complaint letter. A few days later, I read an article in the Times on the same subject. A well-written letter of complaint, reaching the highest levels of management, can succeed as a redress of grievances. This subject is very topical and books are being published and sold advising how to do it. This should be a matter of interest to anyone in business because customer service and satisfaction must be priority #1, right? It’s not only good for business; it’s just the right thing to do. The examples that I’ve heard and read involved major corporations and industries: think cars, airline flights, hotels, and vacations gone awry. The subject caused me to reflect on my little sliver of the economy, musical instrument retail, and the experiences that I’ve had in providing customer service and addressing customer concerns.
One of the takeaways from the experts on effective complaint letter writing was, despite how massive a corporation or business may be, an actual person who can make an executive decision needs to be reachable. The key to reaching that person is the basis of the books that are currently available on the subject. But what about when an industry, as a whole, represents a fraction of a single corporation’s market share? It should be easier, shouldn’t it? There should be fewer levels of middle-management to go through, right? The musical instrument industry is tiny, relatively speaking. The David vs. Goliath tales of success central to this cottage industry got me thinking about the track record for handling customer dissatisfaction by manufacturers in my industry. How good are we at customer service, specifically, handling customer dissatisfaction?
The short answer is, quite well. Obviously, this is just my opinion, but let me lay out a case and some examples to back it up: Even the biggest guitar manufacturers still deal with independently owned and operated businesses for which customer service and satisfaction are absolutely crucial to success. This is a big plus for the consumer because, in this hyper-competitive retail environment, especially MI retail, service is one of the major qualifiers that determine with whom you choose to shop. The manufacturers know this too. A major factor that determines the lines we carry at Moore Music is whether we, as a customer of theirs, feel we’re receiving the quality of service we strive to provide ourselves. Would we personally use this brand? (Most of the time, the answer is “yes,” we do!) Business is business, but if a manufacturer isn’t cool with our required level of service, then we choose not to deal with them or promote them to our customers. It’s not the only reason some lines, big ones at that, have come and gone here at Moore Music, but it definitely is one of them. It’s not just their reputation. It’s ours as well.
To give an example of how a customer has dealt directly with a manufacturer I’ll relate a story one of the guitar instructors from the Evansville Music Academy, based here at Moore Music, told me just last week. His Wampler pedal stopped working and he told me, not only did the manufacturer fix it, they paid for the shipping and gave him a bunch of t-shirts and picks! It really made him feel good and clearly the act of generosity sent the message it was supposed to: We appreciate your business. This sentiment is not exclusive to small pedal manufacturers either. Larger manufacturers appreciate the investment customers have made in their products building a greater sense of pride if what they manufacture
Mesa/Boogie Amplifiers has a transferable warranty, which is rather rare. When I visited the Mesa/Boogie factory, Rich, who is in charge of factory warranty repairs, told me that they don’t want anything with their name on it that isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. When an amplifier comes to the factory for repair, it is first updated to ensure it is up to current specifications. The repair team actually gets a kick out of seeing a discontinued piece come in, fix it and send it back into the world to make music for another 20 years. Mesa/Boogie has gone above and beyond on multiple occasions. And, of course, Moore Music always takes care of Mesa/Boogie customers whether or not we’ve sold them the amp to begin with.
Breedlove Guitars recently corrected an issue on an early Oregon series guitar for a local musician (and long-time customer) who thought the neck wasn’t quite right. Fender was out of replacement tuners for a ¾ size MA-1 that a little kid busted off so they just sent a whole new guitar. I can go on with similar stories for each manufacturer that Moore Music represents, because they’re all cool like that. The people that work in this industry are just like the customers who help support it. In a word, they care. Which brings me to a final anecdote: When, in conversation with Paul Reed Smith about the sensitive subject of dropping another manufacturer’s line and the reasons we had for doing so, Paul actually apologized, on behalf of the manufacturing part of the industry. I was really taken with his sincerity and impressed with the sense of responsibility he was assuming for an entire industry.
At Moore Music, we strive for success and to always be the best that we can be. The truth of the matter is, if we’re at our best all the time, we’re really mediocre. At the end of the day, the sales business is about personal relationships and relationships are always works in progress. Knowing how to write an effective letter of complaint is a good thing to know, and clearly necessary for those of us who must interact with an increasingly homogenized corporate business world. That being said, I think customers of the MI retail industry benefit from the fact that our industry is relatively small which results in more accessibility with the potential to receive a concierge-level of service if you frequent the right business.
Trust, consistency, and relationships; they are cornerstones of customer service and should show in the values of the companies you choose to patron. These are core values at Moore Music. If you are a current customer, please know that you are a friend to us. If we haven’t yet had the pleasure of serving you, I hope that you’ll give us the chance to “wow” you with our old school service. We love talking about guitars and everything that goes along with them. I can assure you that we will take care of you after your purchase with continued service and our exclusive 48-Hour Risk Free Return policy.