PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

Businesses thrive on satisfied customers. Happy customers come back, unhappy ones don’t.

Keeping happy customers happy is not hard, after all, they are the ones who are happy with what you deliver. But those who are unhappy, or even of no great opinion about your business are the ones to focus on to build your business, be it on-line or traditional bricks and mortar.

Why? Simply because there are more of them.

Yes, there are more people who have a neutral to poor view on your business than there are who have a positive view. This is important because they are the ones who can take it or leave it when it comes to doing repeat business with you.

Let’s take an example. Last night I had McDonalds for dinner (not a regular occurrence!) My wife picked it up and brought it home so you can imaging my dismay that my Big Mac was missing not one piece of meat, but BOTH! So much for systems….

So I am a dissatisfied customer (a regular occurrence with the Golden Arches company - considering how often they get orders wrong). So I ring up and mention the missing meat. The response is to take name and number and they will give me a meat filled one next time I come in.

Clever tactic - I have to go back to get it… But my dinner has been shortchanged and I’m hungry NOW. Will they come out and deliver a replacement? Nope. Will I make a 16km round trip to pick it up? Not likely.

So I remain dissatisfied. I have a choice of another franchise I can buy my Big Mac from (who generally don’t get order wrong) and they will get my money next time.

The moral of the story of course, is Maccas should have bent over backwards to satisfy me - send out a driver, put it in a taxi, whatever….

While McDonalds are so big they can thumb their noses at customers and take the most convenient ’solution’ for them, for most of us in our business it IS worthwhile taking whatever steps to meet customer’s needs - especially if you have stuffed up. That way, you will turn someone from a person unlikely to do business with you again into a lifelong advocate of your business.

Action steps to increase customer satisafaction levels
1. Make sure there is a system for recording all customer feedback (good and bad) - and use it!
2. If the problem was due to some mitake made by the business, OR the suppliers, take responsibility for it.
3. If humanly possible, fix the problem there and then. If not fully explain what will be done to rectify the problem and how long it is likely to take.
4. Follow-up. Phone or email to ensure the outcome has been satisfactory.
5. Don’t waste good feedback - tell the staff - it will make a considerable impact on workplace sentiment.

Your comments, experiences and feedback are welcomed via comments