Beware The Silent Customer

Most of us are living lives in the fast lane. Just as technology is rapidly changing, so is our lifestyle. The way we do things are a whole lot different than we used to, we walk and talk a lot faster, always in a hurry, and even our tastes and preferences are changing. 

Our expectations are at an all-time high. We are more demanding than ever with growing affluence. We are spoilt for choice. Ask yourself as a customer, do you bother to take time to tell people exactly what you want? The answer is most probably “No”. You would expect the quality or service you want for whatever it is you’re buying and you expect the other party to know. 

I was with a close buddy recently who wanted steak for dinner. We went to this restaurant in mid town and ordered a rib-eye and sirloin steak complete with soup, salad, red wine, and dessert and coffee to end off. He preferred his steak done medium-well while I like mine well-done as usual. 

When our soup was served, it wasn’t hot. In fact, it tasted like it was mass produced and left on the kitchen stove for some time. The garlic bread that accompanied it was no better. It wasn’t freshly toasted and soaked of melted butter.  Twenty minutes later, our steaks arrived. Mine was almost burned (I could tell even with the brown mushroom sauce over it) while his was clearly rare when he cut it. Meanwhile, the waiters were busily serving other diners. I suggested we have his steak sent back to the kitchen but he said to forget about it. 

Thirty minutes later, we asked for the bill. The restaurant manager presented us the check and enquired if everything was to our satisfaction. My buddy simply replied, “Fine, thanks” and the manager happily moved on. 

“Fine! Why didn’t you tell him your steak was served practically raw fit for the lions? They messed up your steak and you said fine?” I protested. “Oh, I can’t be bothered. I’ll just make sure I don’t come back,” he replied with certainty. 

Here is the scary situation. The manager thinks everybody is happy while the customers are thinking, “We are not ever going to come back here again!” My friend did not even register his dissatisfaction on the customary customer satisfaction form located at each table. 

So how do you know what your customers are thinking about you? Just because they are silent does not necessarily mean they are happy. 

What can you do? 

• 1. Openly and habitually seek feedback from your customers – good or bad.
• 2. Even if your customer should reply that everything is fine, still ask “If there is one thing we can do better, what would it be?”
• 3. In the feedback card, use words like “Please give us your honest comment. We love feedback as it will help us serve you better.”
• 4. Then go to work on improvements based on the feedback received or your customers will know sooner or later that you are insincere about improving. 

And finally, if you do get customers who complain, remember to thank them. They are probably speaking on behalf of many dozen other customers who thought similarly but didn’t tell you. Learn from it and make sure you win them over and keep them coming back. 

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Written by Robert Chew

Principal Consultant & Corporate Trainer 

Website: www.quartonmanagement.com