by Sam Brock

For the first time in ten years I ventured back into an Arby’s restaurant. It was not my idea to return but provided me yet another opportunity to share my experience with the friend who was dragging me in. Ten years ago, I had a bad experience at Arby’s. I had ordered one of their famous roast beef sandwiches and found it to be a little dry. I went up to the counter and asked if I could have a little scoop of sour cream. They said, “Sure, that will be twenty-five cents.” I searched through my pockets for a quarter, and none was to be found. I ran out to the car to find some change and could only come up with twenty-two cents—not enough for a scoop of sour cream.

I never did get my scoop of sour cream, and I hadn’t been back to Arby’s for ten years. I never called the manager. I didn’t fill out a negative survey. I didn’t even lose my temper. I was a model customer. But I didn’t go back for ten years. Research tells us that the average person tells eleven people about a bad experience and that those eleven people tell five more people.

I am happy to tell you that I am above average. I have probably told over one hundred people of my situation and was still sharing the story ten years later. By now, I have collected a few “Bad Arby’s” stories that have been shared with me over the years. I tend to tell at least one of those to complement mine. If only 25% of the people I tell change their eating habits as I have, that single scoop of sour cream represents twelve thousand dollars in lost revenue. Each of us undoubtedly has some our own “Bad Arby’s” type of stories. The big question is how many people have “bad ministry” stories about your own ministry? Here are a few tips to help root out those problems.

Make it easy for your staff and those you serve to share bad things.
Allow people to share one bad thing and one good thing together. You will many times get a better bad response if they have had the opportunity to cushion it with a good response.
Give your staff a little leeway to deal with the little problems.
Make it easy to contact you to give a lot of leeway with the big problems.
Fix the problems you know of now.
Try not to nickel-and-dime those you serve.
Look at the situation from the perspective of those you serve.