One of my favorite quotes from M*A*S*H (the television comedy for you young’uns) is the bumbling Frank Burns, who is a brief moment of sensitivity, blurts out:
“It’s nice to be nice to the nice.”
I’m not sure why this quote popped up when I heard about Freshbooks and the Triscuits but it seems appropriate.
A few months ago, my friend Mike McDerment (who runs Freshbooks, a cool online invoicing service) wrote a blog post about two new kinds of Triscuits – Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil. The post elicited a comment from a Freshbooks’ customer, Oceanic Communications, who lamented that these products weren’t available in Fiji.
In jest, he suggested Freshbooks should stop talking about food that others couldn’t get, or they would cancel their Freshbooks service.
In many cases, that would have been the end of the story. Everyone would have a good giggle, and then move on.
Not Freshbooks, which clearly knows a thing or two about customer service. The next thing Oceanic knows, two boxes of Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits arrive at their office – airmailed by Freshbooks from Toronto.
Boom. Freshbooks has a “customer for life” by making a simple and nice gesture.
For more, check out RWW’s post on Freshbooks and the Tale of the Triscuits.
Technorati Tags: Freshbooks, Triscuits
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[...] crackers being available in Canada and posted a comment saying he couldn’t get them in Fiji. Two days later, he had a box sitting on his table, shipped to him by FreshBooks at the company’s expense. [...]
[...] in point: About a month ago, my friend, Mike McDerment, did something truly extraordinary when he sent two boxes of Triscuits to Fiji after one of his clients, Oceanic, jokingly complained [...]
[...] month, I read the charming story of how the clever folks at Freshbooks sent a customer in the South Pacific some [...]