Nothing gets consignment, resale, or thrift store shopkeepers talking more than customer service “problems.”

Yes, “problems” with those sneer quotes. Because (insert happy face here)

they’re not problems, they are OPPORTUNITIES for your customer service to shine.

Think I’m doing the Pollyanna shtick here? Nope.

“You’ve probably heard the age-old statistic that when a customer is dissatisfied, he or she will tell 14 to 17 other people how unhappy they are.
According to an article from the Harvard Business Review, if you just listen to an upset customer’s problem without taking any action to resolve it, they will tell only 7 people of their dissatisfaction.
If you listen and attempt to solve the problem, even if your effort is unsuccessful, they will tell no one that they are dissatisfied.

Finally, if you listen and then actually solve the problem, that customer will tell 5 people how effective you are!

This compares favorably with customers who didn’t have a problem in the first place. [Emphasis Kate’s] They will tell only 3 people, on the average, how happy they are with their good service experience!”

Gee, with figures like that, maybe we ought to go around annoying our customers, just so we can solve their problem.

More on this subject (keep in mind the article was written by a company which sells phone solutions.)