The Customer Is in Charge
By
Ben DiSylvester
Executive Director
Nolan’s recent industry survey revealed that most companies are only
dabbling in social media. However, although companies are not quite
ready to engage their customers in one-on-one communications, they are
in social media anyway because their customers have put them there.
An article published by BBC Business News in October 2010
describes how consumers use social networks like Facebook and Twitter to
wield tremendous power by posting comments about their experience with
products and service. When an airline failed to compensate a passenger
for damage to a $3,500 instrument, he made a music video of his
experience. Within three days, the video was watched half a million
times, and more than five million times within six weeks. This prompted
thousands of other customers to come forward to vent their own
frustrations with that airline.
In another example, a major retailer was caught off guard when newspaper
reporters called for comment about an internal crisis. Company
executives had no knowledge of the fact that half their stores were
experiencing a major technical problem, despite the fact it was all over
the Internet.
On the positive side, some companies know that social media can be used
for them as well as against them. One travel company ran a
contest through both its traditional e-mail newsletter and Twitter; both
channels generated the same number of responses. The interesting thing
is that their newsletter goes to 2.2 million people and their Twitter
accounts number just 12,000. Savvy companies are hiring organizations
that provide customer intelligence by scanning the “chatter” to identify
potential problems for companies before they get out of hand.
There is no question that the power of the relationship is now with the
customer. This makes it even more important to find and fix the
weaknesses in your customer-service functions and customer-facing
technology. With word-of-mouth the primary factor behind as many as 50%
of purchases, it is good for sales as well. One thing is for sure: even
if you don’t know your weaknesses, your customers do, and they are more
than willing to share what they know with thousands of others.
