You might come in contact with about 50 new people a week. You know what they say, “You can’t please everybody”. Or is it, “You can’t fool everybody…” Or something like that. So what if a couple of people are disappointed with our product or service every week. Who cares about a couple of complainers?
Well…you should.
Years ago I read that everybody knows about 250 people personally. That was long before social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and all the rest.
So, just for today’s discussion, let’s use the old number of 250.
If you see fifty people a week, like you say, and only two of them are unhappy with the way they were treated…and let’s see…they each know 250 people personally, that would be 500 people per week. That means, at the end of the year, with 52 weeks, that 26,000 people potentially could be negatively influenced by just those two a week.
Now today, with many social networks at our fingertips, it is startling, if not scary, to imagine the devastation that could be caused to the organization by just two complainers a week.
I would suggest treating every customer like gold.
So, who cares about a couple of complainers? We should…because you know our competition does. Every customer counts, and every customer counts on us to fulfill our obligations and to serve them well.
Never forget the impact that our customers have because of social media. It would be better if they told 250 people what a great organization we are.
Watch Kit Welchlin’s keynote presentation on customer service for more helpful tips and techniques. Check back to Welchlin.com every Monday for a new video blog.