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.
This story is actually 100% true and just goes to show you why you
should NEVER lie to a customer...
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...