Wonderful News - A Customer Complaint
Posted on Tue, May 25, 2010
In this week's Operational Excellence Insight we discuss how customer complaints can drive improvements:
In a perfect world there would be no such thing as unhappy customers since every product or service would be delivered on time, perform flawlessly, and satisfy all expectations. The goal of any Continuous Improvement process is to make that perfect world arrive quickly. But until then, customers who are willing to complain should be treated like gems. Hearing from a dissatisfied customer is like looking down and finding a diamond lying on the sidewalk.
Consider a couple frightening statistics. Various sources report that 95% of unhappy customers never bother to complain. Instead, they just take their business elsewhere. Even worse, customers who feel they have been treated poorly will make the extra effort to tell 7-10 others about their bad experience.
Are these numbers perfectly accurate? Probably not, even though you could find them quoted on the internet. (Lean Six Sigma advocates know that 83% of all statistics are made-up on the spot.) But although you can quibble with the exact numbers, the fundamental lesson is true - customers willing to take the time to help drive improvement are an invaluable resource.
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