Companies are in business to make money. It’s all very simple: the company wants money, so they must sell a product or service. To sell the product or service, they must appeal to the customer. If the customer is interested, he will buy and the company completes its mission. But what happens when the cycle breaks down? Most importantly, what happens when a new step is added - the customer isn’t happy after purchase?
A Full Marketing Plan
For some companies, the marketing plan stops at the sale. An ambitious company might pursue a few add-ons at check out time, but for the most part, a sale is the ultimate goal. These companies have overlooked the most critical aspect of marketing – bring the customer back. Consumer reviews can make or break a company or sales person. If a sale is made – terrific! If the customer comes back to buy more later, it’s even better. This is the ultimate goal of sales. This is why a full marketing plan, including ensuring customer satisfaction, is so critical.
The Power of Customer Reviews
Unfortunately for many companies, even those that enact a full marketing plan, sometime customers aren’t satisfied. Perhaps a few years ago this was not as great a concern as it is today. Yesterday, if an individual customer wasn’t satisfied, it did not necessarily stand in the way of more sales. Today, with internet websites such as PissedConsumer.com available to share personal testimony and consumer reviews, customers are much more informed.
If just a handful of customers are displeased with a product or service, it is only a matter of time before reviews and rants begin appearing on websites, forums, blogs and more. The power of the internet is so great; news can spread to millions in a matter of hours. A viral video or thread knocking a potential company or product can have devastating results. Companies must have an action plan in place for this sort of situation.
The Emergency Plan
There are countless stories and examples of unprepared companies. Consumer reviews are power weapons and while fighting back is not always the right motive, the customer isn’t always right either. How do you combat negative publicity? There are some steps that all companies must take to ward off as many negative consumer reviews as possible.
- Ensure you have a quality offering. If you have a terrific product or offering, you will be well-protected from poor reviews. Don’t cut corners and expect nobody to find out. They will. They always do.
- Be professional and polite. It doesn’t matter if you are a freelancer or a mega corporation. Nobody wants to work with someone who is rude or unprofessional. If you have multiple people working in an office or service center, be sure all of them are courteous and professional. It only takes one bad representative to scar a company.
- Have a plan. Even the best company will occasionally have service complaints or product complaints. Be prepared. Set up a help page or provide a phone number for the first round of questions or complaints. Decide ahead of time what your return and exchange policy will be. If you are offering a service, what is a realistic offering if the customer is not satisfied? And then, when the plan is made, write it up officially so everyone in the office or company is prepared when the inevitable strikes.