Avoiding A Customer Service Nightmare

  

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I’m sure you know from business and personal experience that a happy customer will only tell a few people and an unhappy customer will tell the world. With people around the world becoming more and more connected through social media, it’s’ easy for a company to earn a bad reputation. How can you prevent unhappy customers from creating a reputation nightmare for your company?

Listen to Every Customer’s Issue.  Actively listen. It’s as simple as it sounds. Customers can be stubborn, but so can customer service reps and their supervisors. It’s amazing the amount of horrible customer service stories I’ve heard. One woman wrote to a restaurant giving constructive criticism and put a lot of thought into her email.  The restaurant promptly replied “Dear ___. You’re an idiot and we don’t need your feedback”! These types of responses baffle me. Whoever said responding to a customer like that was okay, is sorely mistaken. Like I've said before, your customers are your business.

Handle every “issue” like it’s the most important one.  Every customer has their idea of what type of issue is “important”.  Maybe to your business it’s not high on the priority list, but to your customer it is number one. There are plenty of websites such as "Scam Book" and others where people go to complain about horrible service.  All social media platforms are becoming used more for customer service and it's easy to see why.  If I have just 500 followers on Twitter and I tweet a horrible customer service experience, it doesn't seem that bad right? Wrong! If I have just two or three followers who re-tweet that awful experience and they have a few thousand followers, imagine how many people this story could reach in a matter of seconds! It's most definitely not good for business. Read our blog where I talk about how Healthy Choice solved my issue in less than 24 hours due to a tweet.

If you have an unhappy customer and they're giving you feedback, as harsh as it seems, take it and let them tell you how they feel. Most people just want someone to listen. This will help you avoid a potential customer service and reputation nightmare.

Have you ever complained about a company via social media? Did the company notice and respond?

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