I’m the most valuable type of customer you could ever hope to have for your business. If you impress me, I will be loyal to you and I’ll spread the word with my friends. I figure you earned it.
If you disappoint me, I will always complain before I tell as many of my friends as possible. Just like my praise, I figure you earned my disdain if I did you the professional favor of identifying a problem to you and you either blew me off or did not fix my concern with a sense of urgency. Usually when I complain, you also get free consulting advice about how to fix the problem that prompted my concern, which makes it all the more unacceptable to me if you treat me like a curse instead of a blessing.
Customer complaints are golden. They signal opportunities for learning and system improvement, which will help your business grow. But if you ignore customer complaints, you will be left scratching your head at the consistent erosion of your top line sales.
I learned these simple lessons decades ago at one of the most successful global companies the world has ever seen, McDonald’s Corporation. When I joined them in 1977, they were a very well run organization. In the nine years I worked for them I got the best customer service and operational excellence training I’ve ever received.
Be sincerely grateful when a customer takes the time to complain. Fix the symptoms of the problems immediately. Ask the customer what it will take to make it right and do what they ask. Most customers simply want what you promised and failed to deliver in the first place. After you’ve stopped the bleeding, make sure you understand clearly why the problem occurred and develop a sense of urgency about fixing the underlying cause. Make it a learning experience by involving your managers and employees in the process of improving the system. If possible, continue to follow-up with your customer to make sure they are completely delighted with your actions.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!
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Sage advice. I’ve found it is difficult for organizations to keep knee jerk reactions from poisoning a difficult interaction with a disappointed customer. But, as you say, if you do listen and fix it is always worth the investment.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
January 5th, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Welcome back, Fred. We don’t like bad news. But leaders have to develop a thick skin and learn to get over the emotions of the bad news and get about the real work of fixing problems that affect customers with a sense of urgency. Thanks! Bret
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I am glad you addressed this issue. I have noticed customer service is lacking in both in large companies and local businesses. I attribute the poor customer service directly to the recession. Companies are not giving raises and removed perks, so the employee morale is low. Hopefully, companies start listening their customers because as you shown in class WOM has expanded rapidly and worldly.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
January 6th, 2011 at 8:48 am
Welcome, Trisha! In a recession, when competition for slack resources is even more intense, exceptional customer service becomes even more important. Its the time it should be getting better, not worse, if you want your business to remain competitive. Thanks! Bret
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Thanks for the post Bret. Very true and amazing that this self-inflicted erosion of revenue is easily remedied. Too often, the culture perpetuated top to bottom is “you’re just one person, we don’t need you”. What a mistake!
In today’s connected world, one dismissed customer can easily reach hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people with a credible, negative review. The question is, how much is your business reputation worth?
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
January 6th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I think business are slow to realize just how much power a single consumer has in this new hyper connected environment. This is one reason why I complain so openly, not just for the business I have a problem with, but so other businesses can get the message before it bites them. Thanks! Bret
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Thanks for explaining your reasons Bret. I think what you are doing is honorable. In fact, I find myself looking out now for good and bad customer service more than I ever did before. I agree that in a recession, you have the best chance to make a positive mark on your customers. Employees should provide good cs regardless of the economic climate. If your employees need bonuses or raises to provide good customer service, then there is clearly something wrong with your system!
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
January 6th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I think you should, Ajo. There is no reason we should expect less in hard times. We word hard for out money, and it hard to make it stretch. We deserve the value of a promise. Thanks! Bret
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Hi Bret,
I totally agree with all your points and I want to chime in with Ajo that good customer service is especially important during a recession. One reason: your business will likely be pinged by more new clients (first-time or returning after a lapse)during a recession. This could be because because they’re either looking for a new service provider to replace one that went belly up, or they are trying out your service for its potential cost advantages versus a more expensive competitor. Either way, these new customers don’t have a reserve of customer loyalty to fall back on. They may also have fond dewy-eyed memories of their last vendor relationship, and/or even nostalgic memories of their old relationship with your own business several years back — and both could be powerful disincentives to liking you now. So making positive first service impressions during today’s new contacts is all the more important.
One other aspect of responding to customer complaints: companies would do well to review not only the response procedures that they train out to service providers (which is the focus of your next post) but also all of the cs-relevant systems and infrastructures that would likely come into play for problem resolution, to see if any gaps exist in those systems. No amount of listening and empathy can make up for a system that is designed in such a way that a shortfall can’t be fixed by an empowered employee at the point of customer contact. In fact, that kind of continued system failure is a sure way to generate not only bad client word of mouth, but also frustration among your best service providers.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
January 7th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Beth, you really do need to be blogging
The points you make in the second paragraph are right on. Thanks for adding value to this post! Bret
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