Big Brother Is Watching Your Concierge Company–All The Time
The other day I had a surprisingly bad customer experience with a group that I know prides itself on going the extra mile to make people happy. It was so horrific I thought about flying off on Facebook to let everyone know how I’d been wronged. I didn’t, but it got me thinking about how times have really changed and how our company’s reputations are more vulnerable than ever.
Used to be that if you had a bad meal, you were treated rudely by a front-line service person, or you were left waiting forever for an appointment, you might tell three or four of your closest friends and family and that’s as far as it got. Today, people can shout about their experiences to the world with just the push of a button.
The average Facebook user has 200 friends. If that person thinks you’ve been rude on the phone to them, 200 people are going to hear about it as he hangs up and uses his smartphone to post about it–right before he starts looking online for someone else to help him out.
And it’s not just Facebook either. Google+, Yahoo Local, Angie’s List, Yelp…there are more than 50 review sites that anyone can go to to tell the world why your concierge business is the worst.
The point is that no matter whom you come in contact with and when, whether it’s somebody calling you for information, a person overhearing the tone you use with one of your independent contractors, or your best customer there are a million + Big Brothers lurking around, always watching, always making judgments, and ready to tell the world what they think of you and your company.