And they never give you credit…it’s enough to drive you Crazy if you let it…..

The point? Customers praise and criticise companies constantly,every day at any time day or night…

Company policy for many sectors on the other hand  seems to revolve around the traditional 9 to 5 Monday to Friday…or at least when it comes to dealing with customers who have something to say...it’s enough to drive you Crazy if you let it…

Social Media works on a right now, immediate basis that allows users to comment on their customer experience which is happening …now

If that experience is a good one then a positive wave of good Word of Mouth kicks in,we have some advocates.. should that experience be a negative then we have a bunch of people who are now being termed Madvocates…it’s about the new world of customer led communication.

Old Approach not good enough..

So why do so many companies not work on the same 9 to 5 basis that customers do? Do customers only have an opinion in office hours? After 5pm does the customer cease to exist?

What about the hospitality and leisure sectors where customers start to become customers after 5pm?

Simple answer could be lack of resources,lack of commitment to their customers or lack of understanding of the whole social media platform and how it works.

There are some examples in recent weeks where companies such as Park Resorts and Cafe Rouge have shown that dealing with complaints is a purely a 9 to 5 consideration.

Too slow…

The first instance of a holidaymaker complaining  via Twitter that his week at a certain resort, not the best week of his life…”holiday from hell”…posted Friday 4.16pm but it didn’t get a reply until Monday morning at 9.34am.

The response when given on the THIRD day after the event was to direct the disappointed customer to send an email to the customer services department and “we’ll look into it”…it’s a standard response automated Tweet that says the same to all complaining customers …

Why over lay an old fashioned method (email) on a current platform (Twitter) and expect a customer to spend the time sending details? It prolongs the customers agony as well as lengthening resolution time.Why not contact said person and talk to them…there and then…?

This is not in any way a dig at the holiday company it’s highlighting that by not dealing with complaints straight away it has had time to fester and untold viral damage could have been done. Imagine how many people saw the Tweet? Imagine how many people now know that there was a problem?

How much better to have dealt with issue there and then on the Friday – offered an extra few days free maybe, be seen to be doing something and getting the customer back on side and creating positive PR.

The hospitality sector is awash with examples of poor and inappropriate responses to customers. A sector that stands or falls on customer service should know better and grasp the nettle.

Monitoring…

The competition can monitor adverse comments and see exactly how good or bad a rivals customer service is.It opens up opportunities to go the extra mile and use these platforms to best advantage.. create a following that can see that issues get dealt with.

9 to 5 just doesn’t cut it any more when it comes to social media…be there for customers before reputations get blasted,think about a strategy that is inclusive and immediate not exclusive and distant.

New Structure….

It’s time to get the Marketing teams away from the response mechanisms and start dedicating resource and budget to setting up stand alone departments. If social media is being used for marketing then a shift in thinking has to take place that re Tweets or posts glorious news about satisfaction..surely the aim is to get the complainers back into the machine and get them to keep spending?

Happy to share examples of my findings with any one who is interested,even companies mentioned…..