Poor Customer Service - Are Your Customers Driving Away Other Customers

Every customer you have is a word-of-mouth advertiser for you. Unfortunately 90% of this free advertising is negative. Your goal is to get positive-word-of-mouth advertisers.

Think about it, how do you decide where to shop? Your chief consideration may be location or price, but service is a silent draw that cannot be overlooked.

Years ago we went to a get our oil changed at the Citgo station at Rochester and Hamlin in Rochester Hills. The owner was in tough competition with the established shop across Rochester Road. We were first in line and the shop really did achieve their time goal as we were pulling in the bay in just over 5 minutes. To our surprise the owner came to the window and offered us free pop because of the "long wait" on a hot day. He also offered lollipops to our children after getting our permission. It is now ten years later and every oil change on both cars have been done at his shop. What was his cost? Two cans of pop and two lollipops. To be honest I cannot tell you how his price compares to the shop across the street, but I don't care. Anyone that takes care of the customer like he did on our first visit has integrity and places customer service as a top goal. Not only has he received our total business, we also told this story a hundred of times to friends and at conferences.

Word-of-mouth is a very powerful advertising tool. With competition as intense as it is today people are looking for ways to determine at which of the many resources available to spend their money.

The emphasis on word-of-mouth advertising is getting a lot of attention at colleges in and near Allentown, Pennsylvania. College freshmen can now go to several Internet sites to determine into which professors class they should strive. The sites list comments about the professors posted by former students. Although the colleges say the sites do not agree with the evaluations they are receiving at the end of the classes, the sites have increasing in the number of web hits they receive. According to Christina Gostomski of the Allentown Morning Call (May 16), students like the sites because they want to make sure they aren't wasting tuition dollars.

Word-of-mouth advertising is also recognized by Google as having max impact, and they have the results to prove it. According to Forbes.com (May 22) the Internet advertising company built their new service, Adwords, on word-of-mouth advertising. "The response was so enthusiastic that by February 2002 Adwords had been extended to all Google listings. It grew to 100,000 bidders in ten months, and thousands more advertisers are still signing up." according to Forbes.

Increasing positive-word-of-mouth requires that one is in tune with the customer. There are two facts that work against this free form of advertising:

1. Negative word-of-mouth advertising is ten times more common. Unfortunately people are more likely to talk bad than they are to talk well of an organization.

2. Unsatisfied customers are not likely to make their feelings known. While it is true that some are overly vocal, the majority tend to keep quiet.

To identify unsatisfied customer you must be alert to their tone of voice, how they walk out of your place of business, whether or not they look you in the eye, and (perhaps most importantly) does your place of business say, "Welcome, we're glad you're here!"

As for the vocally unhappy, conflict resolution skills are vitally important. A business person must be on there "A" game every time a conflict arises, and they must be equipped to handle the problem.

The type of word-of-mouth advertising that your organization receives is totally up to you. Now that you know you will receive word-of-mouth advertising, as evidenced by the college professors and Google, you must make a choice as to how prepared you will be to influence the ads themselves.

Rick Weaver is President of Max Impact, a national leadership and organization development company based in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Rick is an accomplished business executive with experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain and project management, team building, and process improvement. He has worked with hundreds of companies to improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results. MaxImpact offers leadership and organizational development services along with employee assessments and background checks. Contact Rick at 248-802-6138 or via email, rick@getmaximpact.com. MaxImpact is on the web at http://www.getmaximpact.com.

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Google News Updated : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:25:52 GMT Experts: Silver lining for ‘viable’ Mitt Romney - Boston Herald Experts: Silver lining for ‘viable’ Mitt Romney Boston Herald - 8 hours ago By Edward Mason Mitt Romney - once a top contender to be John McCain’s running mate - may have suffered a bruised ego when he was passed over for the little known Gov. It's not Pawlenty, it's Palin Worthington Daily Globe Pawlenty, after the pick, another day at fair Minneapolis Star Tribune Post-Bulletin - Washington Post - Grand Forks Herald - CNN all 2,700 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:13:29 GMT Comcast to Place a Cap on Internet Downloads - New York Times ABC News Comcast to Place a Cap on Internet Downloads New York Times - 3 hours ago By BRIAN STELTER Comcast, one of the country’s largest Internet providers, said this week that it would place limits on customers’ broadband usage. Comcast's Answer to ... InternetNews.com Critics Question Comcast Broadband Caps PC World CNET News - Wall Street Journal - ZDNet - InformationWeek all 386 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:08:14 GMT US Oil, Gas Producers, Pipelines Brace for Gustav (Update1) - Bloomberg ABC News US Oil, Gas Producers, Pipelines Brace for Gustav (Update1) Bloomberg - 1 hour ago By Margot Habiby Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc plan to finish shutting oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and Enbridge Energy Partners LP will close pipelines as Hurricane Gustav gains strength and moves ... More volatility seen with hurricane, payrolls Reuters Airlines bounce as oil gives up early gains MarketWatch Forbes - DesMoinesRegister.com - CNNMoney.com - guardian.co.uk all 3,463 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:21:02 GMT Hurricane Gustav Strengthens, Accelerates, Heads for Cuba, Gulf - Bloomberg BBC News Hurricane Gustav Strengthens, Accelerates, Heads for Cuba, Gulf Bloomberg - 1 hour ago By Patrick Donahue and Robin Stringer Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Gustav strengthened and picked up speed as it headed toward western Cuba and the US Gulf Coast cities ravaged by Katrina and Rita in 2005, after lashing the Cayman Islands with ... Video: Gustav Follows Katrina's Path CBS Some leave Gulf Coast ahead of likely evacuations The Associated Press Reuters - Minneapolis Star Tribune - New York Times - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal all 6,069 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:40:06 GMT Sign of the times - BBC News San Diego Union Tribune Sign of the times BBC News - 1 hour ago As Russia and the West warn of a new Cold War after the Georgian conflict, the BBC's Humphrey Hawksley in Moscow tries to imagine what it would look like. European Union to Hold Urgent Meeting on Russia Voice of America last straw" for Russia Reuters New York Times - Financial Times - Wall Street Journal - Jerusalem Post all 333 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:10:28 GMT S. Ossetia to be absorbed into Russia - United Press International BBC News S. Ossetia to be absorbed into Russia United Press International - 1 hour ago TSKHINVALI, Georgia, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- South Ossetia says it will become part of Russia and host Russian military bases under a new agreement. Video: UN does have double standards RussiaToday Kremlin announces that South Ossetia will Times Online The Associated Press - AFP - Civil Georgia - New York Times all 6,104 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:01:52 GMT Obama campaign buoyed by convention - Los Angeles Times ABC News Obama campaign buoyed by convention Los Angeles Times - 5 hours ago He sees an unusually strong jump in support after the carefully choreographed event in Denver. By Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer DENVER -- Amy Pearl is the sort of Democrat who made the Barack Obama campaign nervous. Look out, Palin The Hillary factor . . . Chicago Sun-Times Hillary supporters aren't bitter; they're concerned Chicago Tribune The Associated Press - CNN - Philadelphia Inquirer - New York Daily News all 8,528 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:00:48 GMT Datafeed Software RSS Software

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