Turning Negative Feedback into a Positive for Your Business
Like many parents, I find myself wandering the freezer and cereal aisles at the local grocery store on a regular basis (sometimes multiple times depending on if I remember to bring my grocery list).
Cereal. Check.
Granola bars. Check.
Ice cream sandwiches. Check.
Pizza….wait what?
Recently, I found myself standing in front of the frozen pizza cooler staring at the new look of my Friday night go-to dinner item – Totino’s Pizza. Instantly, I had flash backs of the good ‘ol college days. A dorm room stocked with a microwave, hot plate and toaster oven – none of which could cook this popular, cheap pizza. Sitting on a shelf before me, was a square pizza that touted its ability to now fit in a toaster oven and even packaged so you can fit more in your freezer. Brilliant! Nicely done Totino’s! You’ve solved a bunch of busy moms’ and college students’ problems – though small problems, but problems nonetheless.
So why did Totino’s make the change? Customers complained. As difficult as it probably was to receive criticism, Totino’s took the complaints as a challenge and decided to address it head-on and make a better product.
Oh, if only we could respond to our customer’s and prospect’s complaints in such a clever way. Wait, we can.
Complaints can be the baseline for an incredible opportunity to make your business products and services better.
Still not convinced? Check out what Nature Valley did with their granola bars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdSYzLuumYw
In marketing, we call this Addressing Pain Points. A pain point it is described as “a problem, real or perceived.” When your customers and potential customers complain, they’re bringing up a pain point. It could be that they received poor customer service when they visited your store or that a product you provide isn’t easy to use.
Whatever it is, they are providing you with valuable information to grow your business. By addressing their criticisms, you are showing your customers that they matter and that their opinions matter, too.
So what do you do? Where do you start in handling the complaints and fixing the problems? Here are a few tips I’ve learned along the way in the last 15 years in the customer service arena:
- Ask a lot of questions not just about your customer, but about your business in general.
- What motivates your customers? Is it discounts? Is it service?
- What problem does your product or service solve? Do your customers lack the ability to mow their grass because they don’t own a lawn mower? Do your customers lack the knowledge to handle fixing the basic dryer problems like scrubbing out the lint trap?
- What’s the underlying issue your customers are facing? Are they too busy? Is the economy affecting their finances? Are school activities overwhelming your customers and they don’t have time to utilize your services?
- Why do your good customers come in – convenience, sales, local business supporter?
- Ask questions using survey’s (hard copies at your check out, using a digital survey company like surveymonkey.com, simply asking a question at check out, etc.)
- Talk to your loyal customers. Your customers are your income. Give them a voice in verbal interaction.
- Talk to your employees. They’re the frontline. Not only do they see the customer and their needs, they see the inner-workings of your business and may have solid feedback on how to improve your business and their work environment.
- Listen – often times we ask all the right questions, but let the answers go in one ear and out the other. Listening means paying attention and taking note of the responses.
- Gather – gather all the information from the various questions and responses and put them together. This information is like a puzzle full of various pieces that form the bigger picture. Each piece could be connected to another piece.
- Brainstorm – grab other owners, employees and brainstorm over all the information. Put a list of ideas together and discuss the pros and cons of each.
- Implement – Many small business owners get so hung up on the issues and are exhausted during the brainstorm that they fizzle out. Don’t do that. This process is so important and to fizzle out in the end makes all the work meaningless (and it cost you time and money – both of which are a valuable commodity for you).
- Observe – observe the new changes you made and how they impact your business, employees, customers and bottom line.
- Fine-tune – as much as we like to believe we had the perfect fix to solve all the problems, most of the time it needs a bit of tweaking. This fine-tuning process can involve small changes or even may require you to go back to the drawing board. Either way, it’s an important part of the process and will make your business better in the end.
Once you get through all the steps, high-five each other. You made it through the process and you’re ready to start on the next pain point.
Stuck in the process? Let us know. We can help you find a new start point along the way. Shoot me an email at Holly@startpointmediagroup.com and we can chat about how to address some of the pain points your customers are expressing.