Have You Done The Math On Your Customer Service?

Awhile back I was talking to a Customer Service Representative (Rep) for a Canadian Beer maker. These are the people who make sure the bars and pubs promote their beer with lots of marketing signage and free give aways and contest prizes. What they also do is respond to a customer complaint by showing up at your house with a replacement case of beer. No questions asked, they take the problem bottle away and leave you with an equivalent size case to what you originally purchased. When I asked the Rep about this expensive practice I was more surprised to learn how often this is done and it got me thinking about the cost to the beer maker to replace cases of beer Regionally, Nationally and even Globally.

The Rep informed me that the cost of not doing this is even higher. For example; they assume that a loyal beer drinker will go through one 24 case of beer per week. Let's do the math: a case of 24 varies in price but let's look at an average of $29.00 multiplied by 52 weeks per year, that is $1500. per year. The average beer drinker is loyal to a brand unless they are disappointed and one bad beer that is not properly addressed by the brewer can cost a beer maker a customer for life. Assuming that a beer drinker will stay loyal for 40 years at $1500 per year, one customer represents $60,000. Now, if we multiply that by an average of 1 customer per week per city then you can start to see how large this number will be to a beer maker.

When you do the math on customer service one case of beer to keep a customer loyal is a small price to pay.

Have you done the math on your Customer Service?