Week 3: Communication - Business & Consumer

·         Have you ever experienced difficulty communicating with a business?

Yes, I have. Recently I was in the process of refinancing my home and one of the requirements was I had to have my home fumigated for termites. I utilized a local company in the area, they had a very reasonable price and a 3 year guarantee on their product. However when trying to schedule the process it was a little difficult communicating with them.

When I called them with questions they rarely answered the phone and when I left voice messages it sometimes took them a day or two to respond back to me. I also utilized emails but the response time was about the same. They apologized for getting back to me so late but the issue continued to happen.

Overall they did a great job in completing the project but one piece of advice I would give them is to do a better job when it comes to communicating with your customers. You may have a great service or product to offer but if you leave a bad taste in your customers mouth by not responding to calls or messages in a timely manner that can make the difference on whether that customer will use you or not.

·         Does social media make it easier to get noticed or get your problem solved?

I think that social media is a great way to get noticed however it can be a double edged sword. It depends on how you use it and what type of notice you are looking for. If you are reaching out to a business to get a resolution to a problem you are having with either their service or product then this is a great way to get the attention of that company and a resolution.

 Most companies have social media pages setup and if they are worth their salt they’ll be paying attention to the feedback they are getting from customers on their page and will respond accordingly.

  

·         Have you ever had a positive experience communicating with a business through social media?

I have had many positive experiences communication through social media. Most companies out there want to hear feedback from their customers (positive or negative) this helps them understand what things they are doing well in their business and what things they need to work on improving. I would say I’ve have come across more positive experiences than negative ones.

·         If it was your own business on social media, how would you respond to positive or negative comments?

I would respond to both positive and negative feedback. If it was positive I would reach out to that customer and thank them for their feedback and offer them an opportunity to tell us what we can do to make their experience even better in the future.

 I would also share this feedback with my associates to make them aware of how our business is performing per our customers.

I would also respond to the negative responses to find out what it was about our product or service that they were dissatisfied about and ask for suggestions from them on how we can make their experience a better one in the future.