The Power of the Customer Creator

An organization may not be blogging, but the customers of that organization are, and that can be an amazing positive or a disastrously negative situation. Bloggers have discovered their power and are using it to affect the reputation of companies that treat them well and that those who treat them poorly.

Customers always talked about companies. In the past, however, their megaphone was small. People only were able to talk in small numbers. Now with a megaphone that has the reach of an Internet blog, people can talk to thousands with one post. They talk not only to their readers, but to readers who find them through search engines.

Doc Searls calls his weblog his “email to everyone.” That makes my point. Everyone who wants to know about how customers feel about a company can.

One Example: You are your Google results

In the Church of the Customer Blog, Ben Mcconnell and Jackie (authors of Creating Customer Evangelists) relate the story of a plumbing customer who was seriously unhappy with the service he received. The customer complained without receiving satisfaction, until finally he used his blog to warn others about the company. Now when you Google the plumber’s name. The complaint is the second listing that appears.

There are many things that the plumber did wrong in the scenario. Mistreating a customer was by far the biggest. Not resolving the situation to the customer’s satisfaction was just wrong. Underestimating the customer’s power to let the world know that was a major mistake.

If the plumber had a blog, the plumber would have

• known this would be the result of his errors.
• known how to respond quickly to set things right.
• been able to avoid the Google page embarrassment.
• not been blindsided by the entire situation.

The old rules of treading on the customer rights don’t work in the new media. Customer creators know that they have power and a major megaphone.

Control of the conversation is already gone.

The question now is how long an organization can pretend that the conversation is not happening? How much can they risk pretending the old ways work in a world where the new rules have already taken hold? How can an organization sell to cuxtomer, if the organization refuses to give creedence to how the customers think?

Do you pay attention to folks who don’t credit your thinking? I thought not.

The negative comments don’t necessarily land on the companies blog. But the blog is still the best tool for listening and responding.

Liz Strauss