Embrace, don't avoid, negative feedback

So about a month or so ago, I started a new blog to write about my growing interest in food.  It's a fun blog, something for me to do outside of work, and cultivate a hobby.  Overall it is a combination of writing about my cooking experiences, and providing restaurant reviews when I go out to eat.  I don't have a lot of readers yet, but there are a few that have checked it out. 

Anyway, the point of this post isn't to promote my other blog, but to respond to something I found a little disheartening.  A couple weeks ago, I posted about an experience that really wasn't that good.  I was disappointed in the food and the service.  I didn't write a scathing review and say that it was the worst place ever, but just offered my opinion saying that it wasn't one of my favorite places, and I wouldn't recommend it.  It's your typical detractor response; every company has them.  After posting, I included my review on Urbanspoon and Yelp to try and get some more readers and reach a broader audience (this is what bloggers do).  Within the next 24 hours, I received 4 comments to my post, which excited me until I read them.  The first 3 were profanity laced attacks on my review, one of which was signed by the restaurant itself.  Comments like "who gave me the right to give a negative review" and "we don't need a customer like you" shocked me. 

Here's the thing.  I don't expect everyone to agree with me, I'm offering an opinion.  And, I offered my opinion as respectfully and critically as I could.  For someone from the restaurant to respond that way is not only inappropriate, but incredibly poor marketing, and sadly something we see all too much.  No one likes hearing that they didn't do a good job, or receiving negative feedback in general.  But it's this negative feedback that helps you get better and make improvements.  Running and hiding unless you are getting a pat on the back encourages you to simply maintain the status quo and avoid the change that is inevitable. 

I've run into that problem in my work life as well.  I've been trying to encourage social media as one avenue to provide information to our customers.  On many different occasions, I would be stonewalled because "we don't want people to say negative things".  So rather than providing information to potential customers, they would rather hide from customer feedback.  Rather than take the feedback that could help us get better, we are hiding from it and maintaining the status quo.  Rather than listening to people that really care (because if they didn't care they wouldn't take the time to write), we avoid them completely.

I wasn't expecting anything from the restaurant when I wrote that review.  I didn't expect them to read it and say, "We're sorry you had a bad meal, come in again and it's on the house because we want to prove ourselves" (though let's be honest, that's what they should have done, and what I would have done to try and turn a detractor into a promoter).  But, they are wrong if they think they don't need a customer that will tell them when something wasn't good.  Everyone needs customers that care enough to offer their opinion, even if it is just on a blog. 

The Southwest Experience

I'm hardly the first, and probably won't be the last, person to blog about my experience with Southwest Airlines. The thing is, I'm continually amazed at how they deliver on their brand promise and provide the utmost customer satisfaction.

For me, I was catching a flight from Little Rock to St. Louis, and the plane was a little late in arriving. It's not a long flight, and it was in the early evening so I wasn't worried about getting in a little late if it happened. Though I'm sure there were some people that wanted to get home. Anyway, when the plane got in, the crew got to work. Passengers disembarked while the others lined up. The crew had everyone ready go, and not 15 minutes after it landed, the door to the plane closed. I have never been on a plane that taxied so fast down the runway. When we landed, a plane that was 20 minutes late to Little Rock landed right on schedule.

The thing that I really like and I really respect as a marketer is the way not only all of the employees buy in, but how the customers buy in. That plane only gets off the ground if passengers get on and off the plane quickly. The passengers have to line up, move quickly, and help out. But they do it because they know if they do their part, Southwest will continue to do theirs.

Southwest is one of those companies that just gets it. The TSA on the other hand is a different discussion for a different time...

Who can help me?

I'm stuck in quite the predicament with my internet provider, Clearwire right now. When I first made the switch from Comcast, I was excited about the new technology, and very optimistic. When the issues started, I was patient, trying to work through the glitches. Now, the problems have continued, the customer support has been terrible, and I've completely soured on Clearwire.

I've run through all of the troubleshooting steps at least five times because every time I chat or call, I get told to do the same thing (maybe they should consider keeping a record of things I've tried). Last time I was asked to try the modem in every room in the house, even though the nearest tower is to the SE and when in the second story SE window, I get virtually no signal. Putting it in the garage was a real good use of my time. So now, I want to cancel. I've been fighting for a year, and I'm tired of it. Unfortunately, I am locked into a two year contract. My opinion is that since Clearwire has failed miserably to uphold their service promise, and I have continually jumped through hoops to try and make it work, they should waive the termination fee. But who can actually help me with this?

When I ask the online chat person, they aren't able to do anything, and I have to call. When I try to send an e-mail because it is after the appropriate calling hours, I get a response that says I have to use the online chat. When I finally take time during my day to get ahold of someone on the phone, I have to do phone troubleshooting steps (this is challenging given the fact that I am at work during the day and can't troubleshoot my internet). Assuming I can ever get through those steps, I must then have a technician come out and look at my modem (apparently I'm uncapable of pointing it in SE direction, and am just making up problems because I get kicks out of talking to customer service and not being able to use my own internet). The technician though is only available from 9-4 Monday - Thursday (I'm not kidding, won't come early, won't come late because that might inconvenience the tech). This means I have to miss a half day of work because I have to wait for a tech, and I can't actually work at home because of the whole internet problem. So, do I horribly inconvenience myself to have a tech show up to tell me that it's not that bad for the five minutes that he is there, or do I pay an unrealistic cancellation fee to save myself the headache of continuing to have a modem that is as effective as a paperweight?

Why do companies do this? Rather than me being able to part ways, and chalk it up to it just didn't work for me, I am now so upset that I am telling everyone I know to stay away from Clearwire at all costs. Why is customer service so difficult? And it's not just Clearwire.

Companies spend so much time and effort on acquiring the customer that they have nothing left for their current customers. Current customers are a source of revenue and dollars. Non-customers are a source of expenses. Customer complaints should not be discouraged, dismissed, or thought of as frustrating. In fact, customer complaints should be seen as a great marketing opportunity. Handling a current customer's issue quickly and effectively is some of the best PR possible. All consumers know that there will be issues, nothing is perfect. It's how those issues are handled that really reflects on a company.

Marketing sells the first, Service sells the rest

In most business, it isn't the first sale that generates the revenue and the profits that businesses seek. It's the repeat business. Getting a customer for the first time is expensive. Sales costs, marketing costs, it all adds up. But assuming that the job is done correctly, customer purchase 2 and 3 and so on should cost the company less time and less money.

Customer retention is like dating. When you first start, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Flowers and dinners and trips. But once you get married, the maintenance is less in order to keep the same level of happiness and excitement. A well-timed flower, card or compliment.

How does this translate? It's about service. As great of a job that is done by sales and marketing up front, it is up to service to maintain the relationship and keep things moving in the positive direction. For me, this became very evident on a recent trip. I absolutely refuse to fly Delta now. I will go out of my way to avoid them. It's not that the plane wasn't sufficient, or that I didn't get to my destination, or that there aren't problems on other airlines. It's that the customer service was so poor that I refuse to deal with them any more.

As marketers, this is important for us to keep in mind. Service should be a huge part of any marketing plan that we put together, and should be kept in consideration at all times. Work with the service organization to make sure that they are living up to the promises that you are making on behalf of the company.