It's the Customer, Stupid!: 34 Wake-up Calls to Help You Stay Client-Focused

Chapter 27. Bad News Travels at the Speed of Light

In the old days, they told a neighbor or two. Today, it's the Internet that will let the world's neighbors know just how bad it really was.

It's the Internet that will let the world's neighbors know just how great—or terrible—their experience with your company really was. There are no secrets anymore. You might as well think of the Internet as a gigantic confessional and consider the world your confessor.

When you screwed up in the old days, the unhappy customer told a couple of neighbors and called the Better Business Bureau. Today, they tell a couple of million neighbors in a couple of hundred countries. There's no place to hide.

The most wonderful thing about the Internet is that it puts the world at your doorstep. The most maddening nightmare you'll ever face is living down the bad news that spreads like wildfire to your digital doorstep. Now that the World Wide Web floodgates have been opened, you can't poke a finger in the dike and hope to stop the leak. The damage is done before you can blink an eye. And legitimate or not, there is no governor on the web; people can say or allege anything they wish.

Businesspeople today have to do everything—sell, inform, update customers, solve problems—better and quicker than ever before. And although you can do very little about the toothpaste that's already out of the tube, you can—and must—control what is still in it.

Whether it's a grocery store advertising sale items that it conveniently ...