The old adage, “the customer is always right”, has never been more true than in this age of the Internet. In particular, social media has made word-of-mouth travel more quickly than ever before, and one disgruntled customer can easily turn dozens of other customers away. In an article for Forbes.com, contributor Aileron lists down 10 vital keys business managers should consider in providing the best customer service, and one of the keys mentioned is customer complaints:

“Complain: What a customer does when they are unhappy. They complain to friends, on social media, and even sometimes to you.Your business reputation is only as good as your customer’s last experience. Everyone that interacts with your customers should understand this.“

Indeed, one lost sale does not just mean losing a few hundred dollars’ worth of revenue. It can also mean losing an entire business that a customer can bring in. Furthermore, when an unhappy customer uses the power of the Internet to spread his or her disgruntlement, the loss can potentially multiply to a level that would be hard to control.

For this reason, it is always good business practice to let your customers’ voices be heard and to find out where improvements can be made. Companies should constantly solicit feedback through surveys and research, and one of the most effective research techniques employed in the sales and service industries is mystery shopping.

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