Many customers skip calling you to complain these days, and instead go viral so they can reach the masses. Here’s how to save face before they go online.
Most customers would rather have issues resolved than rant in Cyberspace. So head off these rants with these tips from training expert Beth Carvin:
- Hold focus groups and send surveys. Call it old-fashioned, but reaching out to customers to find out what’s on their minds garners better feedback than virtual chat rooms. In person or on the phone, you see and hear emotional reactions.
- Follow-up when customers leave. When customers leave without saying a word, track them down to uncover shortcomings that others may blab all over the Internet. Check throughout your normal buying cycle for customers who’ve stopped or slowed buying, and contact them.
- Find out what’s gone wrong. Give customers a variety of easy ways to vent, offer suggestions and compliment you. Prominently promote an email address, fax number, suggestion box, telephone number and Web site on everything customers receive – invoices, email, letters, packages, envelopes, etc.
- Act on feedback. Tell customers what you’ll do with their feedback, then do it and tell them what’s been done. When customers know you used it, they’ll continue to give it straight to you, not the virtual world.
