From 1994 until today, Enterprise Car Leasing has grown from $2 billion to over $20 billion in revenues. They have found that their #1 reason for their success and growth stems from a simple rule: call and upset customer within 24 hours, find out what went wrong and fix it.
The average sales per square foot of an electronics store is $1,200. Apple stores average sales per square foot is $6,500. A small 12,000-square-foot Apple store generates more revenue than a 120,000-square-foot Macy’s Department store. Apple follows that same rule … call an upset customer within 24 hours and fix the problem. Apple has found that by following this one simple rule they generate over $1,000 in revenue per call.
Dell Computers has found that by converting just 3% of their upset customers to “not upset” equates to an additional $168 million in sales per year; they understand that upset customers tell other “potential customers” about their bad experience and steer them away from buying from Dell.
By calling an upset customer, you will generate more sales, eliminate negative word-of-mouth
(causing loss of future sales) help managers run their operations better from the things they learn from their upset customers, show employees that you REALLY DO CARE about your customers and show customers you REALLY DO CARE about their feedback. BUT, CALL THEM IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS. Any doctor knows the longer wounds fester, the harder it is to heal the wound. The same holds true for upset customers; the longer you wait to talk to them the harder it is to fix the problem.
SO, why companies don’t follow this practice makes no sense to me. Ignoring complaints is detrimental to the success of any company. Let me put this in a positive way: Happy customers buy 25% more product than unhappy customers and also tell 7 times as many people about your company. The happier you make customers, the less you have to spend on advertising … because your customers are advertising for you.
Research has shown us that happy customers …