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The Easiest Way To Profit From Negative Feedback

Author: Tom Borg   |   July 5th, 2011

The other day I called a local charity organization to schedule a pickup of some of our household goods we wanted to donate.

The person I talked with was rude and condescending.  He used statements like, “If your TV gets wet we won’t take it!” and “If you want to know whether we will be there in the morning or afternoon you must call our office at 9 a.m.”Hey, non-profits need to get a service mindset too!

Like every bad experience there is usually a good lesson to learn that we can apply in our business. Here are some ideas what I would like to suggest for you to consider.

Whenever one of your dissatisfied customers walks out of your business, hangs up the phone or stops making a transaction while on your website, a  “reverse marketing” event has taken place. My definition for reverse marketing is anytime a potential customer meets some negative aspect of your company and has the opportunity to form a negative impression.

Reverse marketing doesn’t pay; it costs you big time. It is the wrong kind of marketing.

Over the years, studies conducted, have reported that the average unhappy customer will tell 8-10 other people about the poor customer service they received from your business or organization.  One in five will tell twenty other people about their bad customer service experience.

In today’s world, with the advent of Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other internet communication portals, reports of bad service can travel in nanoseconds and reach a global audience. Forget about China, if this bad news is communicated throughout just your own city or region, it could drive your present and potential customers away in droves.

To boost your customer service and make sure this doesn’t happen to your business or organization, it would be wise to heed the old saying of “stop, look and listen”. In other words watch what your customers are doing and listen to what they are saying when they are interfacing with your business.

At the first indication of negative impressions or feedback, start analyzing what is not right. This is where open and frequent lines of communication with your employees can become extremely valuable.

By having open and direct communication with your staff, you make it easy for them to regularly report, rather than hide, their impressions on a regular basis. When you can identify these issues as soon as they become known, you will find they are much easier to resolve.

When you are able to keep reverse marketing to a minimum, your customers and your employees will be much happier and so will you.

About Tom Borg
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