They Just Don’t Get It

Big Business is afraid of you.  More to the point, they will go to great lengths to keep you from complaining to others about them.  This modern approach to sweeping complaints under the rug is exactly the wrong approach.  What am I talking about, you ask?  Read on.

In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, How to Handle “IHateYourCompany.com” by Emily Steel, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122057760688302147.html, the Journal describes how companies are “fighting back” against disgruntled consumers who have launched web sites to proclaim their anger with the company.  The article goes on to describe how many big companies are buying up all the domain names that could convey negative sentiments about their companies, as in starbucked.com and boycottwalmart.org.  The problem with this approach is that companies are spending their time and money trying to quiet the people they should seek out the most – disgruntled customers.

Now I enjoy my Starbucks as much as anyone so I’ll pick on them.  If Starbucks is serious about improving its products and reputation, they should be seeking out their critics and doing everything possible to learn what the company can do fix the problems that are creating such negative sentiment in the first place.  So Howard Schultz I have some free advice for you.  Don’t hide from customers that criticize your company – seek them out and embrace them.  Create vehicles for them to communicate what your company is doing wrong and, if your lucky, what you need to do to fix the problems, directly to you.  If you only listen to happy customers or the yes-men executives you probably surround yourself with, you will never make significant improvements in your business.  You are probably spending millions on marketing to figure out what to do to improve your business when the people with the answers are spending their time and money trying to tell you what is wrong.  All you have to do is listen.

This is true for everyone, including consumerconnection.com.  It’s one of the reasons I started this blog and the reason I encourage users to “Rate This Site” on my home page.  

One other comment for you big companies who are employing this “buy and hide” strategy.  The article references FairWinds Partners, an “Internet strategy” consulting firm.  I contend they are way off base here. If your consultants don’t “get” customer service, no amount of Internet strategy is going to make you, their clients, successful. Time to get some better advisors because your problem is not Internet strategy, it’s business strategy.