• Walkers give businesses no chance to fix what was wrong. • Research tells us that walkers tell twenty people about the bad deal they (think they) got – about five times as many as a satisfied customer would tell!
• It’s cheaper to keep customer loyal than to acquire new customers. • A cellphone company calculated it cost $200-$300 to acquire a new customer, including advertising, direct marketing etc. • But keeping that customer cost only $20-$30!
• Talkers give us an opportunity to return them to a state of satisfaction so they are more likely to buy from us again. So as much as we might not like negative feedback, customers who complain are giving us a gift.
• We cannot possibly try and keep everyone happy. • What we can do is ascertain why some people aren’t happy… and try to address that. • Welcome constructive feedback as a way of gathering free marketing data and use it to increase sales and profits.
• By caring about the customer enough to ask what is wrong, and how we can fix it we can turn that complaining customer, the walker, quite quickly into a friend. • We just have to look at things from their point of view. • Sometimes it means we have to admit we ‘stuffed up’.
• If customers get good service when they’ve complained, they will come back. • They’ll go out of their way to go longer distances. • They will be willing to pay higher prices and say good things.
• The point is to not alienate people that aren’t happy. • Or for that matter, people you don’t like… people who your friends don’t like…or people that have grudges against you, your family or friends. • Treat everyone the same when you’re in business.
• It is difficult to perceive you as the enemy when you are expressing appreciation for the chance to do something constructive about the problem. • It also helps you adjust your own attitude.
• At least you can provide more information – the background for understanding the realities that are perceived as the problem. • Sometimes you can’t achieve anything – but at least you have the opportunity to try.