Certainly you have heard the expression “the customer is always right.” But if you have ever worked in a customer service industry – retail, food services, call centers, etc. – then you most likely know firsthand that this is certainly not the case. In fact, there is a whole website dedicated to humorous anecdotes around this idea (its content is not suitable for work, but if you are interested, do a search for “Not always right”). Now, in this day and age where the “voice of the customer” has become so important, it’s interesting to note that companies are starting to realize that customers can be wrong, too.
Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) has been looking into demands of picky customers, investigating the trend of customers who insist on self-service options. The research firm has decided that companies can no longer ignore this group of customers, but instead must be able to offer them what they seek. People like this tend to get annoyed with complex menus or long hold times, and these are often the customers who will jump to another company when the opportunity presents itself.
There are plenty of ways for customers to complain about poor service from companies. They can post reviews on Facebook (News - Alert) pages, blog about their experiences or write a nasty review on Yelp (heck, even disgruntled students can express their disdain for instructors on various “rate my teacher” sites!). But what recourse has there been for companies that have dealt with unpleasant clients? Nothing – until now.
The site Nastyclient.com is looking to give businesses the information they need to deal with problem customers. Businesses ranging from restaurants to contractors and more can sign up for an account, pay a $15.99 yearly fee, and then anonymously share their experiences about bad customers. According to the site’s founder, Matt Satchel, it operates a bit like a reverse better business bureau.
"We are just a resource for the service provider or business owner to rate and review their customer. We give you the ability to know about your customer before you do an estimate and we empower you with the resource to help get money owed to you when you've worked for that customer," Stachel tolda Yahoo News.
If the voice of the customer continues to grow louder, this, perhaps, can be the closed captioning on the bottom of the screen that can tell audiences (and businesses) if this customer is one of the few bad apples in the bunch. After all, customers may always believe they are right, but sometimes they are just selfish or greedy. In those cases, its best for business to be forewarned.
Now, if there was just a way for teachers to review their students online…