A Refreshing Lesson

My family and I frequent a local smoothie shop often called 9Fruits.  The business is family-owned and they pride themselves on quality and service.  The product is somewhat pricey, however, the ingredients are fresh, organic, raw, and healthy.  The smoothies are always served with a smile and my wife and I like to take a few minutes sometimes to just sit and relax due to the nice, warm, clean atmosphere.

But everything is not always perfect and we have had a few bad experiences lately.  The smoothies left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.  The quality didn't seem the same.  I thought maybe it was just that we caught them close to closing time the first bad experience that we had, so I went back again and ordered the same kind of smoothie.  This time I threw the smoothie in the garbage when I got home.

I decided I needed to let the owner know what I was experiencing.  I sent him an e-mail telling him what I had experienced, and told him that, unfortunately, I didn't think I would be back.  I felt like the letter was professional and to the point.  I felt like it was the sort of letter that I would like to receive if I owned that business.  But you never know what kind of response, if any, you will receive.

Yesterday, I received a response to the letter that I had sent.  And I was surprised.  Pleasantly.  The owner started his response by stating," I want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to write me and express your displeasure with our product coupled with your explanation of your past family avocation. It is nice to know that a customer cares enough about our company and us to invest their time to share valuable insight."  He offered to provide a smoothie courtesy of his company and ended his e-mail by stating, "Your satisfaction is very important to us and we hope you will give us another try. If you return and are not satisfied for any reason please continue to let me know. I value your feedback greatly!"

Needless to say, I was very pleased with the owner's response.  He was humble, concerned, honest, and showed a tremendous amount of integrity.  A great lesson for all of us and a great example of how we should conduct ourselves.  Dan included an attachment about integrity that he had read just that morning.  It said," 
After surveying thousands of people around the world and performing more than four hundred written case studies, James Kouzes and Barry Posner identified those characteristics most desired in a leader. In virtually every survey, honesty or integrity was identified more frequently than any other trait (Kouzes, James M., and Posner, Barry Z. Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993). That makes sense, doesn't it? If people are going to follow someone, whether into battle or in business or ministry, they want assurance that their leader can be trusted. They want to know that he or she will keep promises and follow through with commitments."

Yes, that is it.  I really enjoy the smoothies at 9Fruits.  As I stated before, they are refreshing, healthy, and served with a smile.  But even more so now more than ever, I want to support 9Fruits.  I want to give my money to someone that I feel will keep his promises and follow through with his commitments.  I want to support someone that is passionate about the "message" that his store provides.  I want to support someone that cares enough to respond to one little customer.

Honestly, the verdict for me is still out.  I want to like the taste of the smoothie again.  Before the owner's response, I was not going to go back.  Now, I will definitely go back this Thursday to try another smoothie on Dan.  And hopefully, I will experience the wonderful taste that I have been accustomed to.

Thank you Dan for your response and thank you for demonstrating perfectly a lesson of humility, honesty, and integrity.