My power partner Lisa Twining Taylor (website developer, social media maven) told me I should write about my dedication to customer service and satisfaction after I took several trips to The UPS Store doing my best to honor a single commitment I made to a German fan of DeForest Kelley. It didn’t seem like a big deal to me, but Lisa says it certainly was–and it all worked out eventually–so I guess I’ll tell the tale.
Three years ago a handful of people pre-ordered DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal, A Harvest of Memories from the Fan Who Knew Him Best from a person I thought would end up being its publisher. At that time,we thought a full-color, hardbound edition would be able to be purchased for $49.99 and still return sufficient profit margin to make it all work out.
As those of you know who have been following this blog for the past few months, the $49.99 idea was a pipe dream for a full-color book with as many pages as mine has (350). I have to offer it for $69.99 to make any kind of profit after Amazon and Createspace have taken their percentages. This certainly hasn’t kept many people from buying it or leaving 5-star reviews, so I’m grateful for that!
But I wanted to honor the price to the patient, loyal twelve who prepaid even though I knew I would lose money on the books because these folks wanted the books personally inscribed to them, so I would need to buy copies at my cost, ship them to me, sign them, and then ship them out again to the fans. The $49.95 they had paid to the person who originally was supposed to publish the book would have me just maybe breaking even, but since they had waited three years, I figured I owed them this.
The money being held in escrow was returned so these fans could re-order through me direct, since I became the book’s publisher late last year. I pledged to myself and to these twelve people to keep the price as close to the originally-stated price as I possibly could. And I did.
But one fan, from Germany, had paid me $61 direct to send her a copy. The extra $12 was for shipping costs. (I know some of you are already either gasping or laughing if you have shipped anything internationally recently…)
So I signed a copy to her, took it to the UPS Store today, and was blindsided when the lady there told me that the cheapest shipping rate to Germany for a two-pound book would cost $75.38! I gasped, figured I had made a commitment, and that I’d better honor it! So I paid the fees, went home, and emailed the German fan, letting her know I was shipping the book but that it had cost a lot more than we anticipated back in 2013 and hoping she might be willing to share some of the costs of shipping, but no obligation if not. I also let her know that the book is available in Germany and that she can order it online and have me just send her an inscribed sticker to paste into the book.
She got right back to me and said “Cancel the shipment if you can. I will order it online here.” So I did that. Then I knew I still had $61.00 of her money, so I suggested that, since the book here was signed to her and couldn’t be be re-sold, if she’d be willing to accept an audio version of the book when it comes out in a few months I would send her that. I told her the audio book will run somewhere between $32 and $38 dollars and that I will ship that to her when it’s ready. (Shipping a DVD/MP3 will be a lot less expensive than shipping a two-pound book.) I let her know that the audio book will also have voicemail messages from the Kelley’s and other celebrities. She jumped at this solution.
Had my German friend balked and insisted on the shipment and on not paying some or all of the shipping fees, I would have sent it to her and taken a HUGE loss on the deal. It would have cost me over $110 all told to send her the book. (Which is why I am never again going to even consider signing physical books to send overseas: I learned a valuable lesson here!). But she was completely reasonable and agreeable, so we came to a mutually-satisfying conclusion.
Lisa says the mere fact that I was willing to ship the book to her at exorbitant cost to me for zero financial reward proves my commitment to customer service, and the fact that I sent color editions to a few others at a financial loss is telling. (Some fans agreed to pay the additional $19.00 to get full-color editions, but a few folks on limited social security/disability incomes opted for black and white editions after getting their $49.95 back and then sending me $39.99. I still sent a few folks color editions because I knew that’s what they had preordered and what they really wanted, just because I felt their pain. I, too, am on an anemic limited income as a semi-retired copywriter.)
As far as I’m concerned, customer service is crucial. I know that when I feel well cared for, I tend to return; when I feel taken advantage of or taken for granted, I’m less likely to feel much loyalty to a person or place.
So there you have it. Blame Lisa for this blog post. It isn’t a story I would normally tell myself.
