|
COMPLAINING_CUSTOMERS_ARE_GOOD_FOR_BUSINESS
| COMPLAINING CUSTOMERS ARE GOOD FOR BUSINESS
Remember the Coca Cola marketing disaster a few years ago? They
tried to switch Coke drinkers to New Coke. It didn't work.
Fortunately, the company quickly recognized the problem and had
the resources to recover fast. Their follow up research revealed
that only 1 unhappy customer in 50 takes time to complain. The
other 49 just quietly switch brands.
It's human nature to avoid unpleasant experiences like customer
complaints. Nobody likes bad news. But uncovering customer
complaints and satisfying them can give you a powerful
competitive advantage.
WHY YOU WANT TO HEAR CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
Dissatisfied customers or clients can do one of 4 things:
1. Remain silent 2. Complain to a legal or public agency 3.
Complain to friends and anybody else who will listen 4. Complain
to you
Which choice would you like them to make? The best choice may
surprise you.
You certainly don't want them to complain to a legal or public
agency. And you definitely don't want them to complain to their
friends and associates. Imagine how much business that can cost
you.
Remaining silent may seem like the best choice. But it's not,
for 2 reasons. First, because it really won't happen. It's human
nature for people to talk about their experiences -- especially
experiences involving emotions like those generated by an
unsatisfactory business transaction. The other reason you don't
want a dissatisfied customer to remain silent is because it
deprives you of the chance to correct the problem and save your
relationship with your customer.
The best choice is to have your unhappy customer complain to you.
COMPLAINING CUSTOMERS ARE DOING YOU A FAVOR
Customers or clients who take the time and trouble to complain
to you are doing you a favor. They're helping you grow your
business. They're giving you the opportunity to resolve their
problem and keep them as a customer. They're also alerting you
to a problem that may be costing you business from other
prospects and customers without your knowledge.
This applies to every business including independent
distributors for MLM or network marketing companies. If the
problem is in your area of responsibility you can correct it. If
the problem is with your company's product or system you can
advise them and ask them to correct it. You can also reduce the
impact of a company problem on your operation by telling your
distributors about it and letting them know the company is
taking corrective action.
ENCOURAGE CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
The Coca Cola Company discovered their New Coke marketing
disaster quickly because they print a toll-free consumer
information telephone number on all their product packages. The
sudden deluge of complaint calls alerted them immediately to the
extent of the problem and enabled them to respond fast to
minimize the damage. I wonder how long it would have taken them
to discover the problem if they didn't provide that telephone
number and encourage complaints?
A toll-free consumer information line is one way to encourage
customer complaints and feedback. Here are 3 others especially
suited to small businesses on a limited budget.
* Develop a customer satisfaction and comments form. Include it
with products you ship or with correspondence to customers and
clients if you don't ship products.
* Send a follow up postcard to customers a week or 10 days after
completing a transaction and ask if everything is OK. You can do
this by email or telephone if it's appropriate.
* Create a separate page at your website for customer comments
and complaints. Publicize the address on your home page and on
all communications with your customers.
Your customers and clients know your strengths and weaknesses
better than you. Get them to identify your weaknesses and tell
you what they are so you can correct them. It may be
uncomfortable or ego deflating to hear about your weaknesses.
But you'll soon forget that when you take corrective action and
see the positive impact it has on your bottom line.
About the author:
Bob Leduc helps online and off line businesses increase sales
FAST with low-cost, personalized postcards. For more
information: Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards".
Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time) Write: Bob
Leduc, Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133
|
|
| |
| |
