Sunday, August 26, 2007

Is the customer always right?

One night recently my husband and I went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant that’s part of a national chain. We’d been to that location numerous times before and on many occasions have found the service sub par. On this particular night, the service was once again mediocre and the food was not very good, especially for the price. Why we continued to go back there is anybody’s guess, but this time I swore that we’d never patronize that location again.

Still feeling cheated when I got home, I got on-line, found the company website and filled out a feedback form explaining my unsatisfactory experiences at this restaurant. The very next day I had a phone call from a company representative wanting to know more. She expressed concern, said that a report would be filed with the district manager, and said that she’d be mailing me a $20 gift certificate to come back and dine with them again.

Even without the gift certificate, the speedy and concerned response would have made me reconsider my resolve to boycott the restaurant.

Every business, and farms are no exception, has to deal with dissatisfied customers at some point. Regardless of how good your products are, there is going to be someone, sometime who isn’t happy with something they bought from you. Knowing how you will respond to such a customer should be part of your marketing plan.

Good customer service is a marketing strategy aimed at increasing market share by helping acquire and retain customers.

And it’s all about communication. According to a fact sheet by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF), customers want to be helpful to you, the grower, by giving you their opinions and letting you know when they aren’t satisfied.

Sometimes you’ll get one-time complaints from good customers who just happen to pick up something that doesn’t measure up to your usual quality standards. Other times you’ll find yourself dealing habitual complainers. But, believe it or not, many dissatisfied customers never say a word.

Experts say that many people just don’t like to complain. Even if they would like to complain, customers may not know to whom to complain or cannot find a venue for offering their feedback. In fact, some businesses not only don’t encourage complaining, they may actually make it difficult for customers to complain.

Getting customer feedback, according to the OMAF, gives a business owner the chance to return the customer to a state of satisfaction so they will be more likely to patronize the business again. Business people who offer the customer a rational explanation and demonstrate sensitivity and concern, will find that the complaining customer will respond accordingly.

No doubt, some customers are difficult, but most customers are just looking for friendliness, fairness, and empathy – in addition to value – when spending their hard earned money. If they feel that they have a relationship with the business, especially the owner, they are more likely to be loyal.

While it may seem like you’re asking for trouble, think about establishing ways that customers can give you feedback, if you haven’t already. Face to face feedback with you, the owner, is great, but since you’re just as likely to be in the field as in the farmstand this time of year, you might want to use other ways as well. These can include customer feedback cards or a feedback form on your website.

And the last piece of this marketing strategy is planning how you will respond to complaints and making sure that all your employees know how to handle complaints.

So, is the customer always right? Research shows that 80 to 95 percent of customers will come back if their complaint is resolved satisfactorily, and they will tell five other people (I’ve told at least that many about my restaurant story). If a complaining customer comes away feeling like he or she was right, you may have bought some priceless word of mouth advertising.

Copyright 2005 Diane Baedeker Petit.
This article originally appeared in the July 2005 issue of Growing Magazine.