By bbr

by Sarah Warlick, copywriter and editor

In business, failure and success are often the result of communication (or lack thereof). Recently, I switched internet providers. I’d been meaning to for a while, so when a door-to-door sales rep made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, I didn’t turn it down. I did, of course, ask all the detailed questions that would ensure I wasn’t in for any unwanted surprises like termination or installation fees, extra charges or other unpleasantness later. She gave me her number in case of any difficulties and I looked forward to my great new deal.

Then the first bill came. It wasn’t as promised – even a little bit. I called the sales rep’s number and she promised to fix it and get back to me. Never happened, and subsequent calls went unanswered. I called customer service to get it corrected and expected the best. Silly me! Through some tragedy of miscommunication, the deal I had been promised didn’t exist in any form, for anyone.

As the call escalated through layer upon layer of customer service personnel, it only got worse. Everyone was polite (even me, which took serious self-control) but the truth was that this sales rep had outright lied to me. In fact, making any changes or adjustments would result in losing the ‘discounted price’ I had been billed for and incur cancellation charges to boot.

I was mad. Really, really mad. I’m not a gullible consumer who doesn’t know how to ask the right questions and I had made absolutely sure I was clear about what she was promising me. I explained myself fully to the online service managers, who admitted that I probably had been promised what I thought I had. And yet, it didn’t exist, according to the professionals I was now on the phone with. After a total failure, I got ready to suffer outrageous expense for the next two years, seething all the while.

In one final spasm of impotent rage, I composed a detailed email to the online customer service manager I had seen mentioned in the forums. (A quick Google search had revealed hordes of people in my precise situation, none of whom had found any resolution.) I shared what had happened, what I wanted and mostly for my own amusement, I mentioned that I was a marketing writer by profession and was prepared to reveal the horror of my experience in a scathing article about the telecommunications giant.

And then, a miracle occurred. Within two hours, I had a polite response from the Social Media Director of this very large company. We were on the phone five minutes later and – lo and behold – the deal I had been promised could happen after all! The extra fees were removed (to the tune of $145), the contract disappeared into the ether and my rate was as promised for the next year, with a free month of service for good measure. A customer service satisfaction survey appeared in my inbox before I could even shout for joy.

My outcome is great, but it doesn’t address the systemic failures of communication that give consumers a bad feeling about the company. Nor does it solve the identical problems of so many other customers, that weren’t solved by similar miracles. To protect your reputation, you simply must enforce consistent communication at all levels:

Business to customer. What are your sales people promising? Be sure that these critical contact points know what they can and can’t offer. Don’t tolerate dishonesty here.

Department to department. Does the customer service department have good information? Is it the same information no matter which representative a consumer speaks to?

Top to bottom. Does the top of the hierarchy know what’s going on at lower levels? After-the-fact solutions aren’t nearly as good for your reputation as resolving problems before they get to top brass.

And if you’re the consumer, remember that effective communication is the only way to get results:

Escalate. If the person you’re talking to can’t give you the answers you need, keep moving up the chain until you find someone who can.

Keep your cool. Frustration is understandable, but try to maintain your composure. Making people angry will only get you dismissed as unreasonable.

Put it in writing. The conventional wisdom holds true most of the time: a letter gets more attention than a phone call.

Go nuclear. Social media gives power to the individual consumer. We don’t all have blogs, but almost everyone has a social media account or two, and customer reviews sway thousands of readers every day. If you articulate the problem politely through a public channel, you’re likely to find someone to listen to your concerns.

My problems wouldn’t have happened without a communication failure somewhere and they wouldn’t have been resolved without persistent, effective communication (and the threat of more). Whether you’re looking at prevention or resolution, with first graders or CEOs, the answer is the same: Use your words!