Don’t Shrug Over Spilled Milkshakes

According to my handy-dandy holiday calendar, today is National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day.

Strange holiday. Good adivice.

More good advice:

Don’t Shrug Over Spilled Milkshakes

The backstory…

A few years back, my daughter Maddie and I ordered for delivery cheeseburgers and milkshakes from Shake Shack.

I ❤️ Shake Shack’s strawberry shake. So when the delivery app told me the driver had arrived, I ran to the door and waited breathlessly to grab that sweet, frosty, strawberry masterpiece and take my first sip.

And then my mouth-watering dreams collapsed.

Or more specifically, the flimsy carton holding our milkshakes collapsed…

…right there on the street in front of my house.

Milkshakes down!

↑ Artist’s rendering of me after milkshake mishap ↑

They landed bottoms up! Spilling that thick, shaky goodness on the street directly behind the delivery driver’s Ford Fusion.

For good measure, the Fusion’s blew hot, toxic exhaust on the crash scene. My shake was melting faster than the Wicked Witch of the West.

The driver delivered the tragic news when I opened the door.

“I don’t have your shakes,” she said.

I’d seen the whole thing, but still I whimpered, “What do you mean?”

(Note: My eyes were a bit misty, but I WASN’T crying!)

She pointed at the wreckage behind her car.

I must have looked confused because she then raised her right hand, holding the remains of that flimsy, cardboard shake holder and said, “This broke. The shakes fell.”

I know “bedside manner” is not a job requirement for Food Deliverer but, still, her indifference stung.

“The shakes fell?” I repeated. “They spilled…(LONG pause)…COMPLETELY?”

“They’re DONE,” she said.

And then she turned her palms to the sky and

…she shrugged her shoulders. 🤷‍♀️

She might as well have said, “Tough luck, sucker. I will do nothing to help you because I don’t care.”

We’ve all met the “Service” Rep Shrugger.

Indifferent. Unhelpful. Callous. Cold.

Infuriating for us customers.

Profit-crushing for the shrugger’s business.

And thus the advice: Don’t Shrug Over Spilled Milkshakes

What does this have to do with marketing your business?

Everything!

Customer care IS marketing.

Customer retention, repeat sales, and referrals don’t just happen.

You have to nurture your relationships with customers (that’s one reason ongoing email marketing is so important).

If you shrug when that milkshake goes “PLOP!…”

…if you’re indifferent, unhelpful, callous, and cold…

…your customers will dump you faster than J-Lo dumped Ben.

Question for you…

Will you share with me a spilled milkshake story?

It can be a good one (outstanding customer care).

It can be a bad one (the shrugger, shrugged).

If you have a good one, please reply and share it.