We are back from taking a break with our posts and look forward to connecting with you again weekly – as we have done over the last few years. It is always interesting to hear how many companies are still fearful – of leveraging social media and use negative responses from customers as a reason to not dive in. As you have seen via many large companies Nestle, Motrin, Boeing to name a few – avoiding those customers who are complaining and or unhappy – can create issues that may become far bigger than they ever began. If you think of how you personally feel – when you are unhappy about something, speak up to that business immediately and they then find a way to fix the situation – you usually walk away not only satisfied – but far more passionate about that business or brand then you were prior to that particular situation.

Complaining and unhappy customers from our perspective our gifts for you and your business. They allow you to look closely as those aspects of your business or brand that have come into question, review how you are managing your customer service responses, allow you to engage with your customers one on one and build a relationship and make the great things you currently do better! Ironically  feedback and criticism promotes fear for many businesses – especially in today’s world of social media- where word of mouth spreads like a wild virus, yet what they forget is that by hiding or not responding this unhappiness spreads anyway. Why not take the initiative to face that unhappy person or group and use the good will and caring you demonstrate – as another way to promote the many great reasons – why they should continue to do business with you and SHARE their good relationship and experiences with others. Now that sounds like good publicity…taking lemons and making some delicious lemonade!

On Mashable.com I came across an article that speaks directly about this very issue today. Susan Payton posted an article that provides some good examples, expanding upon my thoughts in this post – to leverage that unhappy or unsatisfied customer – not only to help solve their discontent, but to take advantage of the ways you can learn more about how to make your business better and promote the way you face head on – the negative things you do or have done.

The outcome is that your customers win and at the same time so does your business and your brand. You learn about the way you can make your business better and in turn can promote the great way you engage with your customers. Think Zappos – they focused on customer service and it became their best skill because they realized when they began it was something they lacked. We always promote the positive things – but isn’t it a positive thing to know – that if I have a problem with your products or business you will be there immediately – to make sure that it gets fixed immediately?

How are you embracing complaining customers in your business? We would love to hear how you have managed some of your customer service challenges.

Best Nicole

Companies love positive feedback. They share it on Twitter (), post it on their website and use it as marketing fodder. But what about when feedback is, well, less than pleasant? What can you do with a handful (or more) of irate customers? Do you ignore them? Bury them out back? Not in today’s social atmosphere.

Rather than try to sweep these unhappy customers under the rug, look at them as a challenge and an opportunity to improve your brand and leverage them for some publicity.

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Why You Want Angry Customers

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Well, maybe you don’t want angry customers, but let’s be honest — you’ll never have 100 percent customer satisfaction. No one does. So use those unhappy customers to better understand what you’re doing wrong, and learn from the experience. And while you’re at it, turn the angry customers into brand evangelists.

There are several ways to connect with unhappy customers in a meaningful way:

• Hold a panel or forum in person; give them a tour of your facility and hold a venting session
• Work virtually; host an online panel to get feedback from them
• Work one-on-one to understand their concerns and address them individually

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In-Person Events

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Dell recently held its first Customer Advisory Panel event at their headquarters in Round Rock, TX. They invited two groups of 15 bloggers and social media gurus. One group was full of people who had negative experiences with the company and who were vocal about their displeasure. The second group was made up of people that Dell considered brand evangelists; people who loved Dell and told others.

The attendees started the morning with their gripes; customer service issues came up again and again. The heads of customer service and marketing were present and actively engaged. As they listened, they took notes, then asked questions and they promised they would make changes.

That type of customer empowerment is important. Now, whether they’ll go through with the promised changes is another story, but it was clear that Dell understood it was time to start paying attention to the public’s perception of its brand, and make some changes to keep their customers.

Nestlé is another company that has been successful at holding an event to let people engage with its brand directly. After a resurgence in interest in the Nestle Boycott a few years ago, Nestlé decided to invite a group of bloggers to what it called its “Happy, Healthy Gathering” in 2009. Mommy bloggers, who’d been tweeting up a storm about the company’s stance on breastfeeding in third world countries, were invited to tour the facilities and give their input on the company.

Whether the event truly changed perceptions remains to be seen, but it did a great deal to show that Nestlé was putting in the effort to reach its audience.

Disclosure: I was one of the bloggers invited to participate Dell’s Customer Advisory Panel.

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Virtual Panels

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Virtual panels are decidedly less effective than in-person ones. But they can be good replacements for focus groups. Pssst is General Mills’ online testing ground for new products. The company sends participants coupons and free products to try, and in return they are asked to fill out surveys. The program is so successful that bloggers who write about saving money are gladly turning others onto joining Pssst.

Similarly, the Starbucks Passion Panel was designed to get customer feedback — for better or worse. The community of Starbucks drinkers gives their input via surveys and forums.

Passion Panel member Jennifer Boyd said, “Being on the Passion Panel means that I have access to direct input and discussion with other members. It enables me to give my opinion on Starbucks’ current and future products through surveys. The panel is a great way to engage with their loyal customers and solidifies a relationship with a consumer to a brand.”

Wal-Mart’s Elevenmoms platform is another example of how a mix of online community, shopper experience and in-person visits can work together to help the company gather new insights. John Andrews, former Senior Manager of Emerging Media for Wal-Mart and founder of the Elevenmoms, said the community succeeded in getting Wal-Mart’s attention in a few areas where it was lacking.

When the iPhone was launched in Wal-Mart stores, the Elevenmoms were invited to go through the purchase process. Some had no problems, but others did. It took one blogger two hours to buy a phone. Each blogger published her experience, and Wal-Mart took the feedback to its operations staff, who took notes and improved the purchase process.

“The Elevenmoms used direct social media interaction to improve the shopping process,” said Andrews.

Other feedback caused Wal-Mart to reconsider its layaway strategy. Having canceled the layaway plan due to costs, Wal-Mart got some flack from the Elevenmoms, who felt it made it easier to make big purchases. As a result, Wal-Mart developed its Site to Store platform, which provided the benefit of layaway online, so that local stores didn’t incur extra costs.

Disclosure: John Andrews now works with Collective Bias, a company with which I have collaborated on projects.

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One-on-One

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Solving a customer’s problems and changing their perception individually is the least cost-effective method, but a little work goes a long way. And it starts with customer service personnel being properly trained to solve problems, and not to simply stick to “the script” at all costs. Look at Zappos or Disney for great examples of how service reps are empowered to solve problems.

Disney empowers each of its “cast members” (staff) to solve a guest’s problem. From the street sweeper to the reservation specialist, everyone has the ability to turn a negative situation into a good one. That might mean replacing a fallen ice cream cone, upgrading a guest’s hotel room, or simply answering politely the most commonly asked question on Disney property: what time is the three o’clock parade?

Disney is so good at customer service, they’ve opened the Disney Institute, a customer service training program helps other corporations use the same techniques that has made Disney such a success.

Likewise, Zappos is also famous for its customer service tactics. The reps don’t use scripts, and seem to genuinely care about solving problems. Many customers are pleasantly surprised when their shipping gets upgraded and they get their shoes even faster – at no additional charge.

By providing instant happiness to the customer, these brands can prevent a lot of the bad karma that comes down the road when an unhappy customer becomes an enraged customer who tells everyone he knows about how bad the company is (no one wants their own version of DellHell).

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Conclusion

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No matter how you interact with unhappy customers, the point is not to brush them off, and make sure you learn from it. Don’t just pretend to listen and then go on doing business as usual. Take the feedback as constructive criticism that can help you determine your company’s future. How you handle your failures could make you or break you.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 10:22 am and is filed under Brand Evangelism. Tagged: BLOGGERS, BOEING, DELL, DISNEY, Facebook, FEEDBACK, MASHABLE.COM, Motrin, NESTLE, NICOLE MCKINNEY, SHARE, SOCIAL MEDIA, SUSAN PAYTON, TWITTER, WALMART, WWW.BCADGROUP.COM, ZAPPOS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.