<p>One of the most important things any business can do is listen to feedback from its customers and partners and put it to good use. </p> <p>One of the worst is to assume that poor service or unfair dealings will go unnoticed.</p> <p><a href="http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/preview.aspx?AssetID=MPj0433180&amp;Query=angry&amp;Scope=22&amp;CTT=1&amp;Origin=EC790000121033&amp;QueryID=Hi5GPegSz0&amp;AssetCol=MPj0442299,MPj0442223,MPj0442232,MPj0438653,MPj0433180,MPj0422335,MPj0422733,MPj0400332,MPj0285144,MPj0262265,MPj0341936,MPj0341389"><img style="border-width:0;margin:5px 5px 5px 10px;" border="0" alt="j0433180[1]" align="right" src="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/j04331801.jpg" width="296" height="199"></a>Over the last week, I have seen a number of communications, sent by others, where social media platforms from email, e-newsletters, blogs, and Twitter have been used to point out serious breakdowns in service relationships.</p> <p>It used to be that if a customer or business partner was unhappy, you might get an earful.&nbsp; Or at the worst - you loose the relationship and they tell ALL their friends about it.&nbsp; But in today's new age of communications - it goes well beyond that.&nbsp; </p> <p>Service failures can become public knowledge VERY quickly as evidenced by two posts that I saw within 30 minutes of each other one evening on twitter.</p> <p>&nbsp;<a href="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/image40.png"><img style="border-width:0;margin:5px;" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/image_thumb40.png" width="53" height="53"></a> </p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/zanesafrit">ZaneSafrit</a> Wow. We will NEVER use @<a href="http://twitter.com/directv">directv</a> again! Here's why: <a href="http://adjix.com/fx5t">http://adjix.com/fx5t</a></p> <p>2576 followers on Twitter</p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/account/profile_image/hardaway?hreflang=en"><img style="margin:5px;" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/340712315/madmen_icon_bigger.jpg" width="52" height="52"></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/hardaway">hardaway</a> 3 TVs and none work. Cox in Phx much worse than @<a href="http://twitter.com/comcastcares">comcastcares</a>&nbsp; ;-) at my neighbor to watch Obama:-)</p> <p>5387 followers on Twitter</p> <h4>In other cases, entire sites or profiles are dedicated to voicing customer displeasure:</h4> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/STATEFARM_SUCKS"><img style="margin:5px;" alt="Angela Russell" align="left" src="http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/338335372/Angela2_normal.jpg" width="47" height="47"></a><strong><a href="http://twitter.com/STATEFARM_SUCKS">STATEFARM_SUCKS</a></strong> Angela Russell ~ <a href="http://statefarmsucks.homestead.com/">Please read</a> how the opportunistic predator State Farm took advantage of a widow &amp; 2 little girls.</p> <p>9440 followers on Twitter</p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/account/profile_image/cnsucks?hreflang=en"><img style="margin:5px;" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/65052957/cnsguy_bigger.jpg" width="46" height="46"></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/cnsucks">cnsucks</a> In addition to a twitter profile providing micro company reviews, <a href="http://www.companynamesucks.com/">Company Name Sucks</a> has developed a website to capture them easily. They have over 1,000 company listings.</p> <p>4123 followers on Twitter</p> <p>(Note - the comments shown here are for illustration purposes and come from publicly available Twitter streams, websites or blogs.&nbsp; CorePurpose has not researched the associated claims or contacted the companies listed to offer an opportunity for a rebuttal.) </p> <h4>I'm not taking sides in any of these disputes - that's not the point.</h4> <p>The point is that in today's social media world, dissatisfied customers have a forum to air their displeasure quickly and to a larger audience than ever before.</p> <p>But it's not just social media platforms. People are using a wide variety of electronic mediums to make their opinions known.&nbsp; And in some cases it is getting totally out of control...</p> <p>One example, I watched evolve this week was a dispute between a local businessman - who is fairly well known in our community, and his former business partners/service providers. </p> <p><a href="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/j04386551.jpg"><img style="border-width:0;margin:5px;" border="0" alt="j0438655[1]" align="left" src="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/j04386551_thumb.jpg" width="164" height="244"></a>The businessman posted a piece on his blog/email newsletter on Sunday with some pretty scathing remarks about the breakdown of his relationship with several of&nbsp; his former collaborators. (The post did not name names, but anyone who had watched his business evolve could figure out who they were.)</p> <p>Then on Tuesday, I received an email from one of the businessman's service providers containing the other side of the story.&nbsp; </p> <p>The message was making a case defending the service provider's actions and reputation.&nbsp; It included allegations of unfair dealings, a bounced check, unpaid bills, and worse on the part of the businessman. </p> <p>In this case the service provider was an electronic marketing company.&nbsp; I am assuming that his message went out to the businessman's entire contact database for the following reasons: 1) I did not know the sender but I did know the businessman and was in his database,&nbsp; and 2) many others in our community, who I assume were in the same database, received the same email.&nbsp; I know this because FIVE more of my friend forwarded the email to me within minutes of my receiving it directly.&nbsp; AND now there is a new blog up - cautioning people not to do business with the businessman&nbsp; and actively soliciting other stories of how the businessman is not a good person to partner with. </p> <p>It's a sad situation all the way around.&nbsp; No one will win this particular fight.&nbsp; They both are going to come out with black eyes.</p> <h4>What can we learn from this?</h4> <p>Unless your company is perfect, and I have yet to find one yet that is, sooner or later someone will be unhappy with your service.&nbsp; Here are a few tips to keep in mind.</p> <p>1.&nbsp; <strong>The best defense is a good offense.</strong>&nbsp; Continually review and update your service delivery processes to avoid service failures in the first place.</p> <p>2.&nbsp; <strong>When a service failure occurs - FIX IT.</strong>&nbsp; Respond promptly, courteously, and try a little empathy for the customer's position.&nbsp; In these cases, if you show flexibility and a willingness to solve a problem - you can turn things around.&nbsp; Lack of flexibility - as in the ZaneSafrit/ @directTV example - just makes matters worse.</p> <p>3. <strong>Know who is talking about you!</strong>&nbsp; Today's new media offers lots of tools so you can scan the landscape and hear what is being said.&nbsp; At minimum have a Google keyword search set up that flags you when your company name pops up automatically.&nbsp; You&nbsp; can also use tools like <a href="http://www.socialoomph.com/">SocialOomph</a> to do the same thing on Twitter.&nbsp; - Hopefully you can then catch a mention like the one in the Hardaway/Cox example if you are paying attention.</p> <p>4. <strong>And as to putting up your dukes to start swinging in cyberspace</strong> - Please don't! Most of us do not want to be subjected to that.&nbsp; All though in the the long run, the lawyers may benefit when the fight escalates to the next level - and they very often do!</p> <h4>Yes, there are two sides to every story.</h4> <p>Unfortunately the negative ones tend to travel a lot faster than the positive ones.&nbsp; So take a tip from me and learn how to respond to feedback in this new media age.&nbsp; </p> <p>You'll be glad you did.</p> <p>Thanks for stopping by.&nbsp; Stay Tuned...</p> <p>Joan Koerber-Walker</p> <div style="display:inline;float:none;margin:0;padding:0;" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:17f25a17-0527-4028-a36a-d5c61d74bfdd" class="wlWriterSmartContent">LiveJournal Tags: <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=joan%20koerber-walker" rel="tag">joan koerber-walker</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=corepurpose" rel="tag">corepurpose</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=customer%20feedback" rel="tag">customer feedback</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=customer%20service" rel="tag">customer service</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=social%20media" rel="tag">social media</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=new%20media" rel="tag">new media</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=reputation" rel="tag">reputation</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=branding" rel="tag">branding</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=leadership" rel="tag">leadership</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=growth" rel="tag">growth</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=innovation" rel="tag">innovation</a></div> <div style="display:inline;margin:0;padding:0;" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:487ddb2e-55e5-44be-b003-d2a738edeaad" class="wlWriterSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/joan%20koerber-walker" rel="tag">joan koerber-walker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/corepurpose" rel="tag">corepurpose</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/customer%20feedback" rel="tag">customer feedback</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/customer%20service" rel="tag">customer service</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/social%20media" rel="tag">social media</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/new%20media" rel="tag">new media</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/reputation" rel="tag">reputation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/branding" rel="tag">branding</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/leadership" rel="tag">leadership</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/growth" rel="tag">growth</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/innovation" rel="tag">innovation</a></div>