If I were to ask, what is the ultimate gift someone could give you in order to improve your online business? What would it be? An unlimited credit line with no interest? A high-tech office in the swanky business district downtown? A loyal, multi-talented staff?
Believe it or not, there is one thing that outshines even those. Plus, it’s free and easily available. If you’re lucky you’ve already received a few. What is this ultimate present? It’s the customer complaint.
Think about it. Customer feedback is a gift. Every time a client tells you how your online business system (product, service) affects them, it’s as though they are handing you a present. If you get pissed off because their feedback is negative, that present is worth more than gold. If they have negative things to say, chances are high that they’ve identified a blemish that you just don’t see when you look in the mirror.
As entrepreneurs we always want to hear how wonderful our service or our company is. We crave good feedback like love or chocolate, because we are intensely identified with our company. We have no perspective. So sometimes instead of a chocolate kiss, we get a slap on the hand.
How do you handle complaints? In the event that a customer tells you your online business blog is lousy, what do you do?
When you’re starting a business online, it’s easy to figure out what you’re doing right. Feedback tells us what’s working. Sales increase, positive comments appear on Facebook, your announcements are retweeted, nice people send you thank-you emails and refer new customers.
However, it can be trickier to identify systems or products that need improvement. Why? Maybe because we’re satiated with those compliments from happy clients.
Like a sponge in a puddle of milk, we’re full. Too full to bother examining our own system for flaws. We tend to operate from a position of strength. No problem there. The problems occur when we ignore the shadows.
Everybody’s got them. Every internet business has them too. And as entrepreneurs it can be easy to pretend that our shortcomings (what shortcomings?) don’t exist. Sometimes we’re not pretending, we actually don’t notice when something isn’t working. It’s impossible to see anything when it’s in the shadows.
That’s where the customer complaint comes in useful. With precision and clarity, it takes aim at your Achilles’ heel, shoots and then punctures with the accuracy generated by anger.
Recall the last time you were disappointed in a product or service. You were mad, weren’t you? What did you do? Contact customer service? Did you phone up the offending company and leave a scathing message? Or haven’t you ever been upset because of money wasted on some gizmo that fell apart the minute you used it? Yeah, me neither.
A smart online entrepreneur accepts all customer feedback with equanimity. The critic may or may not have a legitimate complaint. After all, it’s your present, and if the shoe fits, as they say. Your client has been good enough to give you some solid gold information. It’s up to you to decide what to do with it.
If it’s a legitimate concern, correct the problem and move on. If it isn’t, there’s no problem.
Either way you haven’t lost face, and you may just have been gifted with an opportunity to improve your online business system in a way you’d never thought of. Somebody has turned the light on. No more shadow.
Have you ever received a customer complaint that turned out to be a blessing in disguise?
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