Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Jay Baer @JayBaer.
Jay Baer is The World’s Most Inspirational Marketing and Online Customer Service Speaker. Jay shows you how to use technology as an unfair marketing and customer service advantage. He combines his 23 years as a strategist for The United Nations, Cisco, Nike and more with his experiences as the founder of 5 multi-million dollar companies. Jay delivers programs that are the perfect blend of practical, real-world guidance and inspirational, big thinking. For more information, visit: www.jaybaer.com
Smallbizlady: HOW HAS CUSTOMER SERVICE CHANGED FOR SMALL BUSINESS?
Jay Baer: For a long, long time, most of our interactions with customers were in private: letters, face-to-face, phone, and email. Now, more and more of our customer interactions are in public, in social media, review sites, and discussion board. Customer service is increasingly a spectator sport, and that makes it much more important. Prospective customers can easily determine if you’re good or bad at service now. It’s no longer a secret.
Smallbizlady: ISN’T EVERY COMPANY AT LEAST DECENT AT CUSTOMER SERVICE BY NOW?
Jay Baer: They seem to think so! Amazing research from Bain found that 80% of businesses think they deliver superior customer service. But, just 8% of their customers agree. Now that it’s so often public, customer service NEEDS to get better. But progress has been slow.
Smallbizlady: HOW DID YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT TO ADVISE COMPANIES TO DO IN CUSTOMER SERVICE?
Jay Baer: Certainly, my 23 years as a consultant in marketing and business helps my firm – Convince & Convert – make sound recommendations. I’ve worked with more than 700 brands in my career, and I’ve seen a lot. But specifically around customer service and customer experience, I partnered with Edison Research on a huge study on the science of complaint. We discovered who complains, where, and why, and what customers expect when they complain. That research is baked into my new book, Hug Your Haters, into my new online course, and into our consulting recommendations.
Smallbizlady: WHAT IS THE CORE OF THE HUG YOUR HATERS APPROACH?
Jay Baer: The research proved that when you answer a customer’s complaint, that customer’s advocacy for the business increases by up to 30%. And if you can actually solve her problem, she remains a customer 70% of the time. Conversely, if you do NOT answer a customer complaint, the decrease in advocacy is as much as 50%. Not acknowledging dissatisfied customers makes a bad situation worse, every time. So, the core advice in the book is the answer every complaint, in every channel, every time. Instead of what we usually do in business, which is to answer some complaints, in the channels we prefer, when we get around to it.
Smallbizlady: IN THE BOOK, YOU TALK ABOUT TWO MAIN GROUPS OF COMPLAINERS. WHAT’S THE 1ST ONE?
Jay Baer: The first group of complainers are the Offstage Haters. I call them that because they complain in private, typically via phone or email. They are – on average – 60% of all complaints. The big key is that they expect a reply 90% of the time. If they call or email, you better answer back.
Smallbizlady: WHAT’S THE SECOND GROUP OF COMPLAINERS?
Jay Baer: The second group of complainers are the Onstage Haters. I call them that because they complain in public, typically in social media, review sites, and discussion boards. They are about 40% of all complaints, on average, but they are growing FAST with more and more customers interacting with businesses online. Only about half of this group expect a reply from businesses (because many businesses don’t interact in social media, review sites, etc.) But if you DO acknowledge them in these channels, they LOVE it. A real opportunity to build loyalty.
Smallbizlady: WHEN AND WHERE SHOULD SMALL BUSINESSES INTERACT WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS?
Jay Baer: In all the places that customers want. The problem today is that most small businesses say “I don’t have time to answer customers on Tiwtter, Facebook, Yelp, etc” But they simply must make the time to do it. Customers are selecting those channels to interact with the business because they prefer those channels – they are often more convenient for customers.
Smallbizlady: THAT’S A LOT OF WORK. WHY DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?
Jay Baer: It turns out that the channels customers are starting to prefer (social, review sites, discussion boards) are also the channels that are public. So businesses that interact there get a lot of credit, and those that refuse to interact there are at risk. And realize too that this is just an evolution of customer contact mechanisms. At one point – it’s been awhile but not that long – we didn’t have to worry about answering emails. And then email was invented, and customers gravitated toward it, and we had to figure out how to make the time in business to answer email. This is just the next iteration of the same concept.
Smallbizlady: WHAT’S THE MOST OVERRATED THING IN BUSINESS?
Jay Baer: The most overrated thing in business – and in life – is praise. Praise is overrated because when someone says “you’re so good at this” or “you’re so good at that” it feels terrific. But it’s not often educational, because we almost always already know what we’re good at. What makes us better as people, and as businesspeople, is negative feedback and criticism. You can’t get better without knowing what you can do to get better, which is why customers who complain are actually your most important customers. They are using their time to tell you what’s wrong. That’s a gift. Haters are not your problem, ignoring them is.
Smallbizlady: SHOULD BUSINESSES GO BACK AND ANSWER OLD REVIEWS?
Jay Baer: Absolutely! Even if the review was left a while ago, reply with something like, “Thanks very much for your feedback. You raise some interesting points and we’ll make sure to discuss them with the team. It’s been awhile since you left this review, and we haven’t always answered reviews on this site. But, we are doing so now. You may never see this reply, but if by chance you do, sincere thanks for taking the time to review, and we’d love it if you’d give us another chance.”
Smallbizlady: HOW SHOULD SMALL BUSINESSES HANDLE REALLY NEGATIVE CUSTOMERS?
Jay Baer: Answer them. Remember, answer every complaint, in every channel, every time. But don’t get into a tit-for-tat. Don’t try to point out how the customer was wrong, or why it’s their fault. That never works for the business. Answer honestly and without emotion, and never reply to a customer more than twice in a public setting. If you need to discuss it with them more, do it via phone, email, or private message.
Smallbizlady: HOW CAN SMALL BUSINESSES LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC?
Jay Baer: My book, Hug Your Haters, is the first book ever written on modern customer service and customer service disruption. It has a 5-star rating on Amazon, and Guy Kawasaki called it a “landmark book in the history of customer service.” Go to HugYourHaters.com to see special offers, including the ability to win limited-edition Hug Your Haters socks! Also, I’m just 10 days away from launching a comprehensive, amazing, online course based on the book, called Keep Your Customers. It’s 8 modules, 50 videos, a detailed workbook, special bonuses, and membership in a private Facebook community just for course enrollees. Send me an email at jay@jaybaer.com, and I’ll let you know when the course is ready. And, mention this post and Twitter chat, and I’ll give you $100 off the course fee.
If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz
For more tips on how to start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.
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