This Milkshake Mishap Reveals Mucho About Marketing…

When my daughter suggested last night that we order delivery from Shake Shack… 

…rather than have yet another night of leftover turkey for dinner… 

…I thought, “That’s the greatest idea EVER!”  

Red meat, topped with bacon and orange cheese. Yum.  

But what really had my mouth watering was the thought of that shake… 

…that sweet, thick, strawberry shake.  

Fast-forward 37 minutes and my mouth-watering dreams collapsed.  

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

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

Milkshakes overboard!  

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

For good measure, the Fusion’s exhaust pipe was blowing hot, smoky carbon on the crash scene. The spill was spreading — quickly. 

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

“I don’t have your shakes,” she said.  

“What do you mean?” I whimpered.  

She pointed at the crash scene. 

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 shrugged her shoulders. 

She handed me the food, mumbled something about requesting a refund via the delivery app, walked to her car, and fled the crash scene.  

She left the milkshake remains — cups, lids, straws, all of it — sitting there on the street. No offer to help.  

I collected the wreckage, hosed down the crash scene and returned to the kitchen for my shake-less Shake Shack meal.  

I gave the driver a small tip (she made the journey; she burned the gas). But her indifference cost her.  

It was the difference between a small tip and a large one.  

And episodes like these mean… 

…I’m less likely to use this delivery service again… 

And I’m certainly not going to recommend this service to others (she was not the first indifferent driver I encountered from this service).  

Compare that to the customer service experience I had the SAME day, just a few hours earlier… 

We were having trouble with a form on our website. We contacted customer support for the vendor whose form software we were using. The response was prompt. The troubleshooting suggestions were clear and helpful. The first set of suggestions didn’t work. We notified the vendor who replied again promptly with a second set of suggestions. Again it didn’t work.  

But it was OK because
I was confident
the vendor was in the fight with me.
The vendor had my back.  

I emailed again. And this time, the vendor asked for access to my website administration and server. One hour later, he reported the issue was solved.  

This is the opposite of indifference. This is going the extra mile. This is the working definition of:  

A Mutually Beneficial Relationship — 
Good for the Vendor. 
Good for the Customer. 

That’s what great customer care — that’s what going the extra mile — is all about. Good for the vendor. Good for the customer.