Poor Customer Service Can Lead to a Social Media Crisis – Some People Still Don’t Get It

Poor customer service leads to a potential social media crisis – and company owners, big and small, need to realize this.

I recently had my own horrific experience with a local restaurant and the astonishing (in a very bad way) restaurant owner. I won’t go into details (too much) but the entire experience left me realizing how too many company owners and customer service reps still don’t get it. Your customers make up your business and to act as though losing them doesn’t matter because there’s always others to gain, is not just atrocious, but in today’s world where the power of one individual can have a lasting and damaging negative effect on your brand, is just plain stupid.

Working as a crisis manager consultant, and keeping this daily blog where I aim to help companies and organizations protect and prepare themselves against social media crises, well, maybe I’m just too connected with too many fantastic individuals, entrepreneurs and companies that I find myself shocked when I come across those who just simply ask for trouble.

An unhappy customer is an equal opportunity whether it presents itself online or in person. But when you disregard your clientele, how do you expect to remain in business? My recent personal experience was one on an equal scale (not the same story, but equally disgusting) as the crisis Boners BBQ created for themselves in January of this year, when they flat out posted a picture of a customer who left a poor tip on their Facebook page saying disgraceful and unacceptable remarks about her.

When you dig down a little deeper you find that Boners BBQ is a service company that has been built on bad ethics and disapproving behavior. They acted as children and found themselves in a heap of online trouble that they brought upon themselves.

In my case, I was an unsatisfied customer who simply wanted to leave a comment with the owner with the aim of helping her better her business, and with the way I was responded to – in person, not even online – lead me to leave detailed reviews across the web (which is something I’ve never done in a negative tone before) and led to her losing a, what could have been, very loyal customer.

It’s a clear example of how in-person customer service is equally important as online customer service. Customer service is customer service and reviews and comments go down in search engine history.

Some people still don’t get it and, quite honestly, it shocks me.

Here’s the take away for you

Social media crisis prevention 101
Treat each one of your customers and clients as though your entire business relies on their satisfaction and loyalty – because quite honestly, odds are that it just may.

How bout you? Have you ever been treated horrendously by a company or organization, and what did you do about it – whether or online or in-person?