Negative people are like acid. They burn you and try to take the positive life energy right out of you! Most people try to stay in a positive frame of mind and stay focused on what it is they want from life and how to get there, however negative people seem to sap the life from your employees and your business if you let it.
All businesses cater to both owners and victims in this world. It is a choice you and your business must make each day, “Will you become an owner or a victim” by the events going on around you. We all have them, customers that you can never please no matter how hard you try. That’s unfortunately life! What you choose to do with the negativity you are exposed to is a choice. Again, are you going to be an owner or a victim?
Becoming a victim can pervade your mind and cloud your judgment when dealing with normal mentally stable customers who are genuine and loyal to your business. I hear horror stories all the time from friends at various brand dealerships, the extreme encounters with rude, abusive, abrasive customers who want-want-want. I can hear it in their voice as they relate their stories that they themselves are stressed out dealing with this attitude day-in and day-out. Unfortunately this has become the reality of our culture and the choice is ours to deal with the behavior in a way that will not permeate our thoughts into a negative abyss.
Most negative customers want something, this could be a discount, a free service or they need to vent because their lives are filled with negativity and you or one of your employees happens to be right in front of them, in the line of fire. The problem with these types of people is that they know how to push people’s buttons and they use web based media as their weapon of choice to hurt you if and when they don’t get what they want.
Most negative people think the only way they can get what they want out of life or your business is to become manipulative and overbearing. This type of person has the belief that if they don’t complain, rant and rave, their opinions will never be heard therefore this is the only outlet for them, albeit a negative outlet. Sometimes these types of people decide to shower everyone around them with expletives and intrusive language not caring who might be within earshot. The simple thing to do is to oust them from your business if they are becoming completely unruly, yet the customer who complains and is looking for a little extra something, might be worth saving. I say this because once you win them over you OWN THEM, FOR LIFE!
Don’t let the customer you could have saved out the door before saving them because they just might come back to bite you and then you will have to save yourself. According to a recent American Express’ survey just over half of the respondents "57 percent" said they hold more belief in negative reviews than positive ones on blogs, their study also showed that 48 percent believe more in negative reviews on social networking sites.
The good news is that customers will talk more about a positive experience they have had with a company than a negative one. Three-quarters of the participants said they are very likely to speak positively about a company after a good service experience, conversely 59 percent said they are more likely to speak and post negatively about a company after a poor service experience.
The American Express findings substantiate that nine in ten Americans consider the level of customer service extremely important when deciding to do business with any company. About one-quarter of participants believe companies value their business and will go the distance to keep it.
The Internet has proved to be a valuable tool in marketing most businesses because it has made service and product quality more transparent than before the age of online reviews. Online reviews tell that positive recommendations are important however people often give more validity to the negative reviews. This event takes place because consumers can post their opinions so vividly online. Because transparency and interaction between businesses and consumers is mainly kept online, every interaction a company has with its customers becomes even more critical.
The most startling fact is that 81 percent of respondents have decided never to go back to a business again because of poor past customer service experiences. Half of the participants stated it only takes two poor service experiences before they stop doing business with a company permanently.
A customer that receives an exceptional experience will usually tell between 3 to 5 people, but a customer who has a lousy experience will tell more than 20 of their closest friends, coworkers and relatives. As this trend permeates through the web, numbers rapidly multiply and could potentially become disastrous for brands that haven’t yet put strategies in place to combat online negative postings.
The best way to combat this widespread problem of web based business bashing is to have the company ask satisfied customers to post positive reviews on the same site, or respond to reviews if the site allows comments. Slowly but surely, companies are in the learning curve and navigating through the tough lessons regarding customer empowerment. If your business gives your customers reasons to communicate, good or bad, they will do so very willingly, most times in ways that are beyond your control.
When one of your customers takes the time to post complaints about your company’s customer service or lack thereof, your company had better be paying strict attention – because that is exactly what other consumers and current customers are doing.
The reason I say this is the fact that that the average annual revenue generated per customer in the automobile service industry usually triples between year one and year five, but you will only see this revenue if you can keep them coming back to you for that length of time. Loyal long term customers will recommend your business to their closest friends, coworkers and relatives. This type of referral tends to be of a higher caliber customer, these types of customers are more profitable, they follow your business longer and spend more over a longer duration.
David
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