Now, In today's lesson, we're going to get "hands
on" and discover how to construct the perfect email to solicit those
"diamonds in the rough" that are undoubtedly priceless and instrumental
to your sales and profits.
But first, I want to make one thing perfectly
clear...
By adding fake testimonials to your website,
you're not only breaking the law, but you're also lying to your
customers and that's no way to run a successful business.
That leads me to a funny story that I think you'll
find amusing...
Oh... I almost forgot...
Before you read the story, I just wanted to give
you a quick reminder.
Never
Lie To A Customer... Or You Just Might
End Up Looking Like a Jackass!
Back in the early 80's... my
brother-in-law was working as a ticket agent for a major airline in the
US, and frequently, as part of his job responsibility, he would take
care of a select group of VIP customers who traveled quite often with
the airline. These customers were considered an "elite" class
and were given special attention at all times just to help insure
they'd continue to fly exclusively with the airline.
One such "VIP" was an 86 year
old woman -- an "independently wealthy" socialite from the west coast
who traveled a lot... mostly for enjoyment, vacations, visiting
relatives and attending "non-profit" events where she generously
donated funds to worldly charitable causes, etc.
For the sake of this
story, I'll refer to her as Mrs. Morris. And rest assured...
she was a "sweetheart" of a lady from what my brother-in-law has told
me.
Anyway, on this one particular
day, my brother-in-law was busy registering airline passengers behind
the ticket counter when he noticed a peculiar situation erupting which
seemed to be getting more and more chaotic as time passed...
Mrs. Morris was in - what
seemed to be - a very troubled state, pleading her case vigorously to
several airline officials....
"I want to bring
Juliet on the flight with me!" She was yelling...
"If you don't allow
me to take her aboard... I'll take my business to another Airline!"
"She won't be any
trouble at all!"
Just
so you understand... Juliet was her dog... and not just any
"dog". She was her princess.
Anyone could tell this just from observing Mrs. Morris and Juliet
together in the past...
Juliet's
pet carrier was adorned with gemstones along all four corners and the
front door of the carrier appeared to be made of what looked like 14K
gold.
A
plush red velvet blanket covered the entire four star "pet-house suite"
and a slot was precisely cut in the top of the coverlet that allowed
the ivory embossed handle to slip through conveniently to make it easy
to carry.
In
addition, the words "Juliet The Princess" were hand sewn into the
velvet blanket with golden thread, big and bold, allowing the whole
world to see it.
Mrs. Morris wouldn't let the
carrier out of her site... after all Juliet was her "Baby" and she was
obviously very over-protective of her. She was adamant that
Juliet be allowed to board the flight with her this one time!
"Please... she
begged. You don't understand. I just want to take
her aboard with me just this one time. She's been very sick
and I brought her here to New York to see her Vet. He's one
of the finest Veterinarians in the entire country you know?
And now, we both just want to be together and get home! It's
been a long two days."
Behind the ticket counter,
most of the airline workers were watching and wondering who'd win the
battle...
-- VIP Frequent Flyer vs. Big
Shot Airline?
Everyone realized that the
airline officials didn't EVER want to have to tell someone of her
status - "SUPER VIP" - the word NO!
So there she was... the gentle
ole soul, pleading her case to one manager after another - in what was
obviously a futile effort - each appeal falling upon another set of
"deaf ears".
And as much as the airline
representatives wanted to accommodate her... they simply could not.
The VP of public relations
even got involved and expressed his apologies for the inconvenience,
but stood firmly on their policy...
"I'm sorry Mrs.
Morris." He explained...
"You know I'd do
anything within my power to accommodate you and Juliet... but I simply
cannot allow any pets on board the flight. I'm sure you
understand... We'll be more than happy to assign a special agent to
tend to Juliet and be sure she's treated with nothing but loving,
tender care. In our eyes, Juliet is a VIP too."
The Customer Relations
Supervisor continued to assure the kind, woman that "Juliet" would be
fine with the other pets... and upon arrival in Seattle... someone from
the airline would be waiting with "Juliet" as soon as she got off the
plane.
"I'll call ahead to
Seattle right now... Mrs. Morris. I'll inform our VIP
department of the situation. Everything will be just
fine! Now, you go take care of your boarding and we'll take
GREAT care of Juliet... Okay?"
Mrs. Morris realized she was
defeated so she reluctantly agreed to allow Juliet to fly in the pet
compartment of the plane...
So... away went "Juliet" (in
her plush pet carrier) in the gentle hands of one of the airline
employees, and the ticket agent proceeded to check Mrs. Morris in...
and then continued to help her board the airline.
The flight went
smoothly from coast to coast...
Upon arrival in Seattle, the
impeccably dressed woman exited the tunnel with the rest of the
passengers and proceeded to wait anxiously for the airline personnel to
reunite her and Juliet once again.
V.I.P personnel greeted Mrs.
Morris with a warm welcome and kept her abreast of the situation as the
minutes ticked by...
"Just a few more
minutes Mrs. Morris... and we'll have Juliet here... and then you two
can be on your way."
Would you like us to
call for a cab or do you have a driver waiting?"
"Is there anything we
can get for you while you wait?"
"We're sorry for the
delay but it should only be a few more minutes..."
They continued to pamper Mrs.
Morris while they all waited impatiently for Juliet's arrival...
A Big Problem!
Now... I'm not quite sure of
the exact procedure for "de-boarding" pets from an airline, but at some
point while the airline was taking the pets out of the plane and
inspecting each animal... to their shock and horror they
discovered that Juliet did not survive the flight home!
The panic set in
immediately. Staffers were running around frantic trying to
make some sense of the horrific situation.
How were they going to tell
her? Who would tell her?
Someone had to tell sweet
little ol' Mrs. Morris that "the love of her life" didn't make it.
But who? Who'd break
the news?
- - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - -
Sidebar
Just to reiterate...
this story is 100% true. I can't name the airline by name --
but I can tell you that they were one of the most popular airlines in
the sky back in the 80's.
It just goes to show
you that even some of the largest companies in the world can sometimes
stoop to unscrupulous measures to try and save their own A$$...
- - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - -
Anyway... I guess some "high
ranking" airline official got a "hair-brained" idea.
He was afraid that if they
broke the news to this 86 year old woman in the airport, not only would
they lose her business forever (and a lot of business to boot) but the
news might also kill her as well - right on the spot.
So they opted for a Plan-B...
Stall! Come up with
a plan so we could think the situation through...
The Plot Thickens...
Ironically... upon further
inspection of the dog to try and figure out what happened, they
realized that Juliet was a pure bred, pure white "Poodle".
Hmmm! That
might be a plus...
As unbelievable at it
sounds... some "brain-dead" airline official thought he could out-smart
this woman. He decided to tell her that Juliet was
accidentally placed on the wrong flight.
"I don't know how to
tell you this Mrs. Morris... but Juliet was mistakenly placed on the
wrong flight..."
"I can't begin to
imagine how upset you must be, and you have my word that I'll
personally rectify the situation immediately! Rest assured
Mrs. Morris... someone will be FIRED over this!..."
"You have my word
that I'll assign a representative to locate Juliet immediately and we
will personally deliver her to your home later this evening or early
tomorrow morning."
The poor old woman was
frantic. She nearly passed out from the news. She
was horrified, shocked, dismayed... But what choice did she
have?
Being reassured that Juliet
would be located and returned to her ASAP, she painstakingly agreed to
their proposal and went home to anxiously await Juliet's return.
So What Would The
Airline Do Now?
Back at the ranch, the entire
airline was in a complete panic. They decided to send a few
representatives out into the local town to try and find a white
"Poodle" that looked exactly like Juliet.
YUP! An imposter...
Shame.. Shame... Shame...
They assumed that because the
woman was so old, her eyesight failing miserably, her memory probably
fading fast... that they had a 50/50 chance to pull it off and pass off
a new dog as Juliet.
Was it worth the
risk? Obviously they thought so...
And low and behold... after a
whole day of relentless searching, they felt they'd found the perfect
imposter.
Same size... same age... same
color... same distinctive marking on her left paw... The
perfect twin! How lucky... And how clever!
Brilliant... they
thought!
Now all they needed to do was
place the imposter in the plush pet carrier and deliver the resurrected
"Juliet" to the little old woman's home immediately.
Would The Plan Work?
Two representatives from the
airline drove out to the the small town outside of Seattle to reunite
Juliet with Mrs. Morris.
They nervously stepped up onto
the porch and rang the bell. After a few seconds, Mrs. Morris
answered the door with sheer excitement...
"OH Juliet my love... you're
home at last!"
But to the horror of the two
airline reps, when Mrs. Morris opened the pet carrier door, an
immediate look of horror came upon her face...
"This isn't Juliet!"
Acting as though they hadn't a
clue about what she was talking about, the two airline reps immediately
began petting the imposter and praising the cute little "Doggie"...
"You were such a good
girl... Juliet!" You really missed your mamma... didn't you?
And one of the airline reps
responded...
"What do you mean,
Mrs. Morris"?
Mrs. Morris replied back in a
stern voice...
"This isn't
Juliet! Where's my precious little Juliet?"
"No, no Mrs.
Morris... You must be mistaken... Of course this is Juliet."
Mrs. Morris once again replied
back with even more concern and disbelief in her voice...
"Well then
gentlemen... your airline must fly high up into the heavens... Because
Juliet was put to rest yesterday by her Veterinarian and I was simply
bringing her back home to bury her!"
The moral to the story...
Never Lie To A
Customer -- No Matter How Difficult The Situation May Seem...
Because In The End... Chances Are You'll End Up Looking Like A Jackass
-- and even worse... losing a customer FOREVER!
I sure hope you got a chuckle
out of it...
