{"id":120,"date":"2007-06-29T15:45:27","date_gmt":"2007-06-29T19:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.AchieveMax.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/29\/partnering\/"},"modified":"2012-11-07T14:45:51","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T19:45:51","slug":"partnering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/achievemax.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/29\/partnering\/","title":{"rendered":"Partnering: You’re Only as Strong as Your Weakest Link"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"web<\/a>Recently, I bought a new appliance at Lowe\u2019s, primarily because it was featuring a number of rebates\u00a0that drastically reduced the price compared to its competitors. The customer service was also excellent.\u00a0After receiving my gift card in the mail, I was dismayed to discover that I had been shorted $25. I spent a few days upset about this shortage, thinking that I had been duped.<\/p>\n

A week later, I e-mailed the Lowe\u2019s rebate center through the Lowe’s web site.\u00a0The return e-mail was not from Lowe’s but from\u00a0Young America, which provides promotion fulfillment for companies on the web, including rebates, premiums and sweepstakes.<\/p>\n

The e-mail from Young America said\u00a0I had already received my rebate. Unfortunately, Young America was referring to a second rebate that I had indeed received. I responded with another e-mail, explaining once again which rebate I was referring to. (Don\u2019t you hate it when they don\u2019t really read your e-mail that does have all the details?)<\/p>\n

Nothing …<\/p>\n

I waited a few more weeks and then decided to contact Lowe\u2019s customer service directly. I received an immediate response that my message was being sent to the manager of the rebate center. A few days later, I finally received another e-mail saying that my $25 gift card was on its way.<\/p>\n

Despite the excellent customer service at the Lowe\u2019s store itself, I ended up feeling cheated by Lowe\u2019s until I realized the glitch was with the partnership with Young America. If I hadn\u2019t pursued the missing $25 gift card amount, I might have stopped shopping at Lowe\u2019s. It\u2019s the little things that make a difference. (Home Depot, by the way, is closer.)<\/p>\n

The Young America web site says\u00a0that “Customer fulfillment is what happens when marketing programs are executed so well and so consistently, with so much value added at every opportunity, that the entire customer experience is elevated and the relationship with your brand is deepened.” Considering that Young America did not respond to my second e-mail, my experience was dismissed not “elevated,” and\u00a0Lowe’s brand was diminished not “deepened.”<\/p>\n

If you partner<\/a> with other vendors or outsource your services, are your partners living up to your customers’ expectations<\/a>? I\u2019ve reviewed our past experiences with vendors we use, and I have to admit there is at least one that I sincerely question our using in the future because the product was not up to our standard for our customers and cost us time to fix. Is it time to review your vendors or outsourced services before your customers make negative assumptions about your business?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, I bought a new appliance at Lowe\u2019s, primarily because it was featuring a number of rebates\u00a0that drastically reduced the price compared to its competitors. The customer service was also excellent.\u00a0After receiving my gift card in the mail, I was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-melanie"],"yoast_head":"\nPartnering: You're Only as Strong as Your Weakest Link - AchieveMax\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are your partners living up to the expectations of your customers?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/achievemax.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/29\/partnering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Partnering: You're Only as Strong as Your Weakest Link - AchieveMax\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are your partners living up to the expectations of your customers?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/achievemax.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/29\/partnering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AchieveMax\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/melanie.l.drake\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-29T19:45:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-07T19:45:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.achievemax.com\/speakers\/team\/mld.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melanie L. 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