Don’t Attack Bad Customer Feedback

A Bear walking through the woods happened upon a nest of bees that had just made some honey. Hungry as he was, he was determined to take a little honey for himself. One small bee saw what the Bear was about to do and stung the Bear hoping to deter him away from the nest.

The Bear immediately was enraged and decided to destroy the nest of bees after the tiny sting. The entire swarm saw what the Bear was about to do and rose together to attack the bear at once. As the continued to sting the bear all over, the bear’s only chance to get away was to dive into a nearby pond.

Lesson: Often customers may provide bad feedback for a product or service that was provided by your company. While this can often be infuriating, biting back can be worse. When you attack a customer, whether their opinion was right or wrong, it only makes you look bad. Other customers may see this and respond negatively to your business even if the customer was wrong. This can hurt your business in the long run and force you to lose many more customers.

When hit with negative feedback from a customer, the best way to handle it is to be humbled by it. Take the criticism and think about how you can improve their experience the next time. This will not only save face in the other customer’s eyes but also may gain more business from the first customer who was unhappy. When you react to negative responses, you may get more negativity swarming your business. Instead silence can often be powerful. The customer who continues to be negative will not be slowed down with more anger towards them. Be kind, quiet, and allow other customers to see your professionalism through others criticism.

This post is from a contributing writer to CEO Blog Nation. 

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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4 Comments. Leave new

  • I feel the best way to be able to eliminate the threat of receiving negative feedback in the first place is listening to our customers in real time and being able to act immediately before they get their hands on platforms like online reviews and social media site. The problem is we don’t always hear WHAT they say WHEN they say it. Me being in the hotel industry came across this useful tool called Geteco ( http://www.geteco.com )that allows the guest to leave a comment (Speak into a phone or use in room phones) and for us to directly respond to that. It all goes into a database and we can analyze feedback given on site.

    Reply
    • I completely agree with what you have just mentioned Dilip. Customers and guests alike love to be heard and listened to so their queries can be solved asap on site if possible. I feel that’s the secret behind true guest satisfaction. On a separate note thanks for the tip on the Geteco tool. I just visited the site and it has definitely peaked my interest. Guest feedback tools like these can be essential to my guest loyalty program!!

      Reply
  • […] Don’t Attack Bad Customer Feedback – What if Aesop Owned A Business? When hit with negative feedback from a customer, the best way to handle it is to be humbled by it. Take the criticism and think about how… 00Share […]

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