Have you ever been in a store, worked with an employee who is fantastic, and you just want to run over and tell his/her supervisor?   Have you ever had a billing issue and you felt that the person you called or emailed for help worked extraordinarily hard on your behalf to resolve the issue?   Have you ever had a customer experience that was so bad you have decided to never shop somewhere again because the company didn't seem to care?

In my previous life, I was an executive at a company that ran a community for senior level customer care executives called CCSF.   At one time, we had about 170 premium members who were Directors, VP’s and C-Suite executives for many of the top brands and businesses in the world.  I always found the networking, conversations, and discussions to be fascinating.     Often times, the interactions had similar themes like how to measure customer satisfaction, first call or contact resolution, customer retention and loyalty, how to make the call center a sales center vs. a cost center, complaint resolution, and giving the customer a voice. 

These topics were just the tip of the iceberg.  What was always amazing to me was how committed some companies were to their customers success and how challenged other companies were.    Here is some information you might find interesting or staggering from a George Washington University study titled the Cost of a Dissatisfied Customer:

• the average business does not hear from 96% of unhappy customers
• for every one complain received, there are 24 people with unvoiced problems, six are serious
• around 90% who are dissatisfied with the service receive will not buy again
• of those that complain, 50%-70% will do business again if a complaint is resolved.  95% will return if resolved quickly
• the average customer with a complaint tells 9-10 people, 13% tell more than 20 people
• those who have complained and had resolution tell 5 people

With today's tools, both great and bad customer experiences can be game changing for businesses who are proactive.  Last Week, I spoke at the MarketingProfs Conference in Boston and had the pleasure of listening to keynote by Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation.  His points were fascinating and they tied in perfectly with his message which was that for years, business professionals have taken for granted real interactions between real people and social media opens up a world of opportunities that is extremely powerful.   There are way more customers who have had positive experiences than negative ones.  And, people want companies they like to do well.  And, much like they are willing to help companies to improve by providing feedback, they are also willing to provide public praise if you provide them with the tools and let them share the fact they are a fan of your company.

As Mitch said, “customer reviews are a gift to businesses and marketers”.  That is why it makes sense for environmental and commercial real estate professionals, to engage in a social media directory like the commonground provider directory.  81% of online holiday shoppers this past year used customer reviews.  The business to business marketplace should take notice and realize that consumption of reviews will be core to how businesses buy in the future.  People run businesses and people read and contribute reviews.

If you are not taking advantage of being social, then it is time you should consider the many benefits of being an early adopter and making your company more transparent, social, and effective.  Start thinking about how you can enable your current customers to be central to your future success and funnel new, qualified customers your way...