Have you ever been to a restaurant and the waiter asks, “how was your dinner sir?”. You reply nonchalantly, “it was fine.” In truth, the food was awful, the service was slow, and you mentioned to your wife that never will you be going back to that restaurant. The waiter and chef have no clue you were unhappy. and the business owner would be miserable if he knew they lost a customer, but ALSO had created a “Detractor. “
What’s a Detractor? A Detractor is a customer, just like me, that will tell everyone he sees that I had a terrible waiter, a lousy meal, and overall, the meal was too expensive for the value I got. “Don’t every go there!”
The multiplier impact is devastating to that business. Imagine if I told 5 people, those 5 told 5 other people, then those 25 people told 5 people….and the poor restaurant owner has no clue that I set off an avalanche that he might never recover.
If you think about it, if I told the truth, I probably would have gotten a free dessert. But more importantly, undying gratitude from the restaurant owner. He would have learned about his business, but most important, I would probably have kept my complaining mouth shut. The dessert, and the owner apology, might have converted me from a Detractor to a “Passive” customer. Passive customers don’t complain. In fact, they may try the restaurant again.
So, what this business owner needed was business intelligence letting them know that a customer was unhappy, and they had the immediate ability to fix the problem. This business owner gets a second chance.
Let’s consider the underlying advantage for any business owner about customer satisfaction. Happy customers become Promoters.
The takeaway to this story is that every business owner needs a mechanism to know the satisfaction levels of customers as often as possible. Even better, in addition getting business intelligence from customers, but the effectiveness of the business systems that serve that customer. In COVID, this might well be the life jacket to keep the business afloat.
So, don’t put your head in the sand, and rely on goodwill you got 3 weeks ago… Oh no!!!….
To avoid the loss of silent customer, or even your business, proactively collect the pulsed of your customers as often as you can.
BUSINESS OWNERS: YOU MUST KEEP YOUR FINGER ON THE PULSE OF YOUR CUSTOMER AS OFTEN AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN.
Stanley Labovitz, J.D., CEO
SurveyTelligence, Inc.
2640 Lake Shore Drive, Suite 1716
West Palm Beach, FL. 33404
1-508-400-4094
Author: Back From The Brink
