Have you been dumped, but you just don’t know it?

As a representative of your company, you are part of the corporate brand. When someone decides whether or not to buy your products or services they’re also determining whether they want you.

Just today, I went to my bank to meet with a new financial planner. Within 1 minute I wanted to run from the room, get in my car and never look back. Despite being with the company for over 9 years, he couldn’t clearly articulate his thoughts or his processes. A sentence that should have taken 30 seconds to say, took excruciating minutes. I was in the meeting for an hour and accomplished absolutely nothing. He inspired no confidence.

The real issue with unhappy customers

According to TARP research, a satisfied person tells 5-8 people, a dissatisfied person tells 10-16 people. But for every 1 person who complains, 26 don’t…they just dump you.

Before you think the resolution to my issue is as simple as giving someone else our financial portfolio to manage, ponder this:

1. First, I have to complain to someone. Many people won’t (just look at the stats above). If I don’t complain, the company has no idea there was an issue in the first place.
2. If I were to complain and I was assigned to someone else I would have to walk by the financial advisor we dumped every time I visited the bank.
3. Financial advisors are a dime a dozen. I have to have a good reason to give my bank a second chance.

Do you wait for people to complain or do you have a process to proactively understand their experiences with your brand?