“What if someone says something bad about us?”

I tell them that would be awesome! You know why? Because in my experience, some of the best customers I’ve had have been the ones that come to me with a valid concern about a product, service, etc. They are the ones that truly care and are asking for a solution instead of just walking away and never returning. To me, that’s a great opportunity to step up, take good care of them and make them a life long customer.

It does work a bit differently online though. You’re out in public now instead of in your store. But, that can be even better can’t it? Now you have the opportunity to help someone with a problem and let everyone see how you handle it. The trick is to be public and honest about it. Then others see that and your brand moves up a notch in their minds.

Just yesterday I saw an example of the wrong way to handle this-

Now, I have to speculate that he is referring to a “profile” page and not a business page. I wrote a bit about that on another blog. So maybe this page was run by a teenager that really didn’t know what’s going on…. who knows. Regardless, he had a valid issue with their product, stated it publicly and they just delete it. Bad form! The sad part is that they’re in the middle of a marketing campaign talking about how their fries are better. They practically invite new comments, and then handle it poorly.

Of course, if a business really screws something up then social media can make it grow much quicker. Think of “Delta Breaks Guitars” and Kevin Smith’s plight with Southwest. i wouldn’t want to be on the crisis management team for either of those guys!

That’s the food for thought today. Enjoy your weekend!!!