Companies: Beware the irate customer

Greg Gianforte says patience is being lost. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Businesses can no longer afford to be complacent about bad or even just satisfactory customer service as social media has made it all too easy to vent grievances online, an industry expert claims.

Greg Gianforte, founder and chief executive of software solutions company RightNow, will speak in New Zealand next month on how companies and corporate executives can grow their businesses through better customer service.

Gianforte started his US-based company in 1997, and listed it on the Nasdaq in 2004. It is now one of the largest employers in Bozeman, Montana, employing more than 800 people.

The software platform is specifically built for businesses that deal with a lot of customer inquiries. More than 2000 companies around the world use RightNow, and Gianforte has worked with Telecom, Air New Zealand, Vodafone NZ and ANZ.

He said his mission "was to rid the world of bad [customer service] experiences".

The biggest mistake companies make is assuming "one size fits all" and this mentality needs to change in order for businesses to be able to deliver efficient customer service, he said.

Gianforte said recent statistics from US showed that by 2013 there will be more mobile devices with internet access than PCs with access, which means more people will be accessing the web through their phones than their computers.

Companies have to work out what their mobile strategy is going to be, consumers are spending more and more time on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and less time on company websites - some customers might not even go on a company's website, he said.

The world was changing, it was one competitive market now and businesses had to respond to customer inquiries within a single business day.

"US consumers are angrier than consumers in New Zealand. Instead of calling a business or a supplier, and trying to resolve the issue, [US] customers are jumping on social media sites and discussing their bad experience there.

"But I think New Zealand consumers are losing their patience."

Gianforte said the global financial crisis and economic recession has made consumers more savvy and less willing to put up with bad service.

"In the last three years a large percentage of consumers are saying they've stopped doing business with a company if they've had a bad experience. This has gone up a lot, 82 per cent of customers have stopped [dealing with a company or supplier] due to a bad experience and won't go back. They've got to do a better job - 85 per cent said they'd spend up to 10 to 20 per cent more if they had a better experience."

Gianforte said a good customer service strategy meant companies could charge more than their competitors because consumers valued them more because they felt respected.

"People don't like to be disrespected. They tend to go somewhere else. There is more choice today than ever before for customers, this is a competitive global market and businesses cannot afford to be complacent."

Gianforte said "brick and mortar" customer service in New Zealand was very strong and there was a genuine warmth about people in the industry.

"When people ask 'how is your day?', they really want to know. The brick and mortar service is fantastic. People look you in the eye and treat you like an individual.

"The challenge for customer service is that customer service is a challenge."

He said the traditional model of competition was changing, it was no longer about who had the best product or which product was the cheapest but what company gave the best experience so you wanted to come back.