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c h a p t e r9 :SOCIAL CRM■If the office condition is as the review represents, then the right response is to
address and correct the issues noted in the reviews. After all, whether a negative review
like the above is digital, a printed page editorial, or delivered via word-of-mouth at a
cocktail party, the result is the same: It’s a customer loss for that business. Why not
pick up on the clue and fix what needs fixing?
This matters more than may be obvious at first, and Social CRM is a factor
here. Beyond exposing the immediate problem(s), there is actually a deeper business
issue that needs to be addressed. The comments in this review arise not so much from
an untidy office, but rather from a business attitude that—without words—sends a
very clear message as to that business (owner’s) view of the customer. Obviously, a
hostile staff and poor office conditions suggest but one thing: The customer is at the
bottom of the “what matters most” list. It is this attitude and the resultant manner in
which the business operates—more so than any physical manifestation —that drives
negative reviews. Think about it: Would you write a scathingly negative review about
a sweet old man running a hardware store that was a bit messy? No. But you’d very
quickly write it if that same store owner made you wait, yelled at you, or otherwise
made you feel anything less than appreciated. These are the deeper nuances that Social
CRM uncovers, and these nuances—done right—are extremely powerful as brand
touchpoints.
As someone with a leadership role in the design or marketing of a business or
service organization, one of the most important decisions is how much (or how little)
your organization will value hearing feedback and improving based on it, or on the
internal practices that lead to an unkempt store or hiring and HR policies that result
in employees that are hostile toward customers. Looked at in isolation—in a book, for
example—it seems so simple but ironically is all too common in practice. The statistics
collected around how and why many small businesses fail make the case for valuing
feedback and exhibiting genuine care for customers. Again, this is simple in concept,
but more difficult in practice. Social CRM can provide a big boost, provided your
organization is set up to accept and respond to feedback.
This is what Social CRM is all about: the constructive use of customer feed-
back. Tap into the conversations about your brand, product or service and extract the
data that is applicable to your firm or organization. Then—unlike basic social media
monitoring and analytics— identify the sources of these posts, create relationships and
connect the reported experiences deeply into your business, to the office manager who
oversees the cleaning crew or front office staff who greets your customers. Develop an
operational response that changes rather than masks the conversation. The result—as
the conversation improves—is typically more business. At the end of the day, in one
form or another, that is generally the goal. The good news is this: The fact that you are
reading this book suggests you care enough about your customers to want to run your
business in ways that please them. Kudos to you.