A friend of mine described a recent product launch. They geared up for a flood of customer complaints and help calls. The calls did not come and for a short while, my friend equated this with a problem-free product launch. Just because a customer is not calling you, does not mean there are no problems. It could also mean that the customer has another venue for complaints and (hopefully) problem resolution. It could mean that they are just not talking about their problems...with YOU. I can almost guarantee that if there are problems they are talking to someone.
My friend found out that customers were calling distributors, talking to front line people, or just plain not talking about the problems they were having. No calls did not mean no problems, it just meant no coordinated problem resolution!
That is why you have to do everything you can to ask and beg customers to call with problems and complaints. Actually, those customers who do that, are providing you with a great service and competitive advantage, assuming you address the complaints! I know of some companies who actually reward customers who call in with a complaint. At a hospital that I worked for, I implemented a program where we paid patients if they called us with problems while they were still in the hospital. That allowed us to address, and usually resolve the problem. The result was we were out a few bucks but had a happy patient.
In the case of customer service, silence isn't usually golden!
No comments:
Post a Comment