Question

140 Part 3 LIFE: Feedback Consider this Case Fear of Feedback magazine article on customer service began to customers--and this had caused a lot of positive word with a quote that ing what customers really think about us is fear. We fear said, "The biggest obstacle to know- of mouth for that company le described a toy retailer that million cus- Another examp tell us our product or service stinks, that we're sends out weekly surveys to its database of 6 million cu horrible p eople, and that we should never have set foot tomers asking them to rate their recent store experience, on earth." including the cleanliness of the bathrooms! Company Da nica, a marketing manager for a mid-sized tech- founder attributes her company's dramatic success to its gy firm, read this opening paragraph and thought, intense focus on gathering customer feedback that is so true! We have got to get more proactive about nolo Wow, Danica thought. That's what I want to see getting and using good feedback. Too many of my happen in my company. We have to get more proac people a re afraid of feedback. They seem to be tuning tive about gathering customer feedback. Waiting forit pe of painful feedback- and we need it if we to arrive on its own is fraught with peril. To know what are ever going to grow this business. customers are thinking, we must ask. Danica was a good amateur golfer and she knew the value of coaching. Her game had improved dramati cally since she had hired a coach, Roy, a rather crusty fellow who was quick to point out when she was doing Probes 1. How does this case reinforce the ideas in this chapter? How is feedback like coaching? 2. If most of Danica's customers communicate with the company only via the Internet or phone, what are the best steps she can take to enhance feedback ething wrong. Sometimes Roy could be annoying such a stickler for detail-but he had helped her improve her game to a much lower handicap. Danica thought, maybe I need to look at feedback from customers in the same way: occasionally painful, but almost always useful. The article she was reading described an Australian beer company that did a great job of using customer feedback to make company decisions. They even asked customers to help determine marketing plans and names for new products-the operational decisions gathering? Be specific about a plan of action. 3. Assume that Danica's company has been reluctant-compliant" about gathering feedback- its employees go through the motions but are not very committed. What steps could she take to change to a more aggressive feedback focus? Source: Some material in paragraphs 4 and 5 were excerpted from Ben usually made by executive committees. In many ways, McConnell and Jackie Huba, Fight the Fear: The 10 Golden Rules of the brewery has turned ownership of the company over Customer Feedback appear ing in Marketing Profs.com, March 2004.