Recently a colleague gave a good business tip on responsiveness. Another member of our referral group had contacted him about getting some services done at around 10 PM one night. The next morning around 6 AM he awoke to find that he had not only gotten a response, but the recordings were attached to the message (he needed some voice messages from a voice over artist). While it may be a little extreme (checking emails and working in the middle of the night isn’t the norm), it is a good example of how to give good service to co-workers, referral sources, and customers.
Think of the last time you were on hold. How long did it take for you to get through to the right person? Odds are you waited longer than you wanted to. Nobody likes to wait on the phone, especially in the middle of a busy day at the office. If you felt annoyed yourself, how do others feel when they’re waiting on hold when they call your business? It’s a key metric to measure because it will affect your revenue in the long run!
In this social age we all live in a glass bowl. A poor experience with your business will be repeated, guaranteed. As the saying goes “bad news travels fast”. The worst action you can take if you get a bad review or comment on social media is to ignore it- this will indicate that you not only don’t care, but are guilty, even if you really aren’t. The best way to handle negative feedback is to publicly apologize and offer an appropriate recompense such as a free product or service. Show people your business is run by human beings! Everyone makes mistakes, and how you handle them reveals your character.
Maybe you’ve heard about cases where this has happened. For example, one musician who had a poor customer service experience with a large airline after his guitar was broken on a trip created a song about it and posted it on Youtube. The video went viral. The result was the airline could no longer ignore the complaint and reimbursed the musician for his loss while also apologizing publicly for the lack of quality customer service. The speed of their resolving the issue helped prevent the situation from getting worse. Though the company suffered a loss because of it, they were able to learn from the experience and prevent it from happening again.
The costs of a poor response can be detrimental to your business, and could even result in going out of business. Have a plan in place for how you will deal with issues! Give us a call if you need help with this. We help our clients create a business plan that is specific, focused, and effective.
Have you dealt with a bad customer experience in your business? How did you handle it? Join the conversation on our facebook page and share your story! https://www.facebook.com/acceler8
